We need….

…a Netflix for books. I for one, would be happy to pay $19.00 a month to read novels and more specialized books that I have no desire to own.

0 Comments +

  1. Home delivery is a big part – but I’m also thinking about the fact that current releases are inevitably hard to get at public libraries. I guess the model I’m proposing is one that is more like old fashioned private subscription libraries. I like the idea of being able to set things up online in my queue, and the fact that I was paying the money would push me to get through the book and get it out of my house faster. I like public libraries, but I’m really beoming one of those people where an extra trip anywhere is enough to kill my enthusiasm.

  2. Home delivery is a big part – but I’m also thinking about the fact that current releases are inevitably hard to get at public libraries. I guess the model I’m proposing is one that is more like old fashioned private subscription libraries. I like the idea of being able to set things up online in my queue, and the fact that I was paying the money would push me to get through the book and get it out of my house faster. I like public libraries, but I’m really beoming one of those people where an extra trip anywhere is enough to kill my enthusiasm.

  3. One of the advantages of being affiliated with Baruch is their excellent library and of course their very good iterlibrary loan system. They find things for me so I don’t have to hunt them down. And I do all my legwork online; I only show up in person to pick up and drop off books.

  4. One of the advantages of being affiliated with Baruch is their excellent library and of course their very good iterlibrary loan system. They find things for me so I don’t have to hunt them down. And I do all my legwork online; I only show up in person to pick up and drop off books.

  5. Re: library, in Boston at least, can be one of the cruisiest. . .

    You’re right about the men’s room. But there’s cruising, and then there’s cruising. 😉 It’s still cruisey elsewhere in the library.

  6. Re: library, in Boston at least, can be one of the cruisiest. . .

    You’re right about the men’s room. But there’s cruising, and then there’s cruising. 😉 It’s still cruisey elsewhere in the library.

  7. The Boston Public Library, eh?

    I’m not sure if it would have been a good thing or a bad thing to have known that when I worked across the street from it back in ’92-’93.

  8. The Boston Public Library, eh?

    I’m not sure if it would have been a good thing or a bad thing to have known that when I worked across the street from it back in ’92-’93.

  9. A couple of friends and I do the book exchange thing, where I finish a book and pass it along, and then that person passes it along, and I eventually get it back. The boyfriend wants to make an online library thing where you can see what books our friends have, and request to borrow them.

    The best thing about moving and not unpacking your stuff until 6 months later: rereading the books you love but forgot you had.

  10. Books seem too intimate for a netflicks type operation. A DVD is a light easily cleanable sterile disc that comes in a disposible package. You only touch it long enough to get it in and out of your player.

    I hold books in my hand. For hours. I smell the pages and they smell me. They absorb my scent, the oil from hands and the occational bit of ash or chocolate that gets left in my whiskers.

    Just seems like a whole different ballgame that DVDs.

    On the practical side of things, being heavier, books would cost much more to ship. They are all different sizes and weights. Shipping logistics and billing would be a nightmare. Storage logistics would also be a pain in the ass. From the generic looks of netflick DVDs, I suspect they burn them on demand and then reuse them when possible. I don’t think there would be nearly as much demand for books, and you couldn’t just print a new one when you need it. There is also always some bastard that has kept the same tome you want for months and hasn’t even cracked it open. Then you have a glut of books few folks want after they go out of fashion.

    Good idea for consumers. Would be quite a chore making it work from the retailers side.

  11. Traces of meals past

    I often eat while I read. Encountering food stains on pages doesn’t squick me so long as I know they’re Mine but Other People’s Stains make me queasy. I don’t eat while reading borrowed books which makes reading them much less a pleasure.

  12. Home delivery is a big part – but I’m also thinking about the fact that current releases are inevitably hard to get at public libraries. I guess the model I’m proposing is one that is more like old fashioned private subscription libraries. I like the idea of being able to set things up online in my queue, and the fact that I was paying the money would push me to get through the book and get it out of my house faster. I like public libraries, but I’m really beoming one of those people where an extra trip anywhere is enough to kill my enthusiasm.

  13. I agree 100%. i just signed up for a laundry delivery service in SF. they pick up your laundry, dry clean or wash it, and deliver it back to you and don’t even charge for delivery. its like Kozmo of laundry.

    i would definitely pay 19 bucks a month for a book service. i have huge fees from the public library because i am just too spacey to remember returning them. if i could stick it in a mail box, i’d do it.

  14. No sooner have I accomplished a career change than you’re ready to put me out of a job!

    If you need something specialized, let me know – I may be able to find and photocopy if not check it out for you.

  15. FYI:

    Half.com takes a smaller cut. Selling price threshhold from other sellers may vary, though — sometimes higher than Amazon, sometimes lower.

  16. It’s more about the stuff that I’m interested in looking through but not really keeping and don’t really need: Do I want to own the new walter mosely? no – but trying to get it through the library feels like too much of an effort -I’m really just looking for some entrepreneur to cater to my sloth.

  17. Re: Traces of meals past

    I’d forgotten this. I used to use public libraries. Particularly in Cleveland. For almost a year I was a salesclerk in the Met satellite gift shop that used to be inside the NYPL lending branch on 42nd across from the Research Library. I was mugged in our neighborhood the first month there. The guys also took the library book I was carrying. The library software at that time prevented me from paying the charges for a lost book until after the maximum for overdue fines was reached and I wasn’t able to borrow other books once the fines started accumulating. From then on there was always some reason why I couldn’t settle the account on each day I tried.

    Since then I’ve have only borrowed 3 books from UNT’s library on Steve’s card.

  18. And lo, here you have one, prostituting himself before your sloth.

    Seriously, if you need someone to do this, I’m your fella. I’m in some library almost every day and am usually in at least five different ones every week. So it’s not like I’m going very far out of my way.

    Note: if you choose to avail yourself of this service, you must be mindful of all due dates and responsible for all fines.

    Btw, I made a copy of that High Performance article about you since I didn’t find it in your files.

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