Comments on: Netflix for Books

By: rwalling

rwalling — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 02:22:35 +0000

That’s a good point, Chris, but I think you’ve overlooked one thing: With their lack of funding, libraries today don’t carry many *any?) technical books from the past few years, and don’t often have new releases at all. If you want something published in the past 6-12 months it’s a good bet you’re local library is not going to have it.

By: Chris Yeh

Chris Yeh — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 15:12:28 +0000

I’m just not sure that these businesses really provide a significant advantage over a plain old library. Have we gotten so lazy that we can’t drive 5 minutes to a library once every few weeks?

By: http://

http:// — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 16:57:06 +0000

My wife uses Books Free, which is exactly like Netflix – 4 books out at any one time, mailers supplied to return the books, queue of books to send next.

By: http://

http:// — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 04:38:38 +0000

I’ve seen all these services, and joined Bookins. It seems the most straightforward, and their automated technology is very cool: they let you print prepaid postage, they track all shipment, they all the matches, etc… its just very easy to use.

By: Jeremy Cunningham

Jeremy Cunningham — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:10:12 +0000

I decided to go with PaperbackSwap.com. They have a nice interface TONS of books and nice lists that you can keep. They have lists including To be read (TBR), Book I’ve Read, and Wish list. It is very easy to read and they even have live chat with other members to ask questions to. With the first 9 books listed you get 3 free books. I signed up last night and already have 2 books on there way to me. If you like it use Acruix as the referal then I get a free book…. http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php?r_by=Acruix

By: http://

http:// — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 16:17:46 +0000

I really like this idea as I read about a book a week. I will have to check out these services. Anyone have any reviews on the other services?

By: Scott Mitchell

Scott Mitchell — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 15:39:04 +0000

I use FrugalReader myself and have probably “rented” maybe a dozen books. It’s an ok service, although I’ve found maybe 10% of the “requests” never arrive. Some folks have it to you real quick, others take forever or just don’t ship. I guess there’s no real incentive other than being a good netizen and wanting to be able to “rent” more books from others. Also, the stock available through FrugalReader is a little sad. It’s mostly best sellers, pop trash, etc. I’ve used it primarily for business books myself, since I’m not a big fan of the potboiler fiction books, which dominate the library there.