Still not on the eBook bandwagon? Then check out BookSwim, a book rental club that offers newly released novels and nonfiction bestsellers published in hardcover format. $9.95 per month will get you one book at a time with free UPS shipping on returns (you have to pay $3.99 to get books sent you). Other plans offer more books and free shipping both ways. For the holidays, BookSwim is offering a free $10 gift certificate to anyone. You can even send one to yourself.
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I like the idea of ebooks, but I don’t like the idea of having to buy a dedicated ebook reader, but I also don’t care for most of the ebooks published in adobe pdf formatted for a printed page. We need a good open standard.
@Eugene like the epub format? That seems to be the movement right now.
This idea is way out of date and hardly relevant to most people.
First, I don’t know if the BookSwim people know this, but many communities have an organization called a “library” that allows people to borrow books for free for as long as they want. No charge!
Next, with the advent of Kindles, Nooks, and other e-book readers, books can be delivered for free, wirelessly, with instant access. The price is higher than BookSwim. But the book is yours for the rest of your life. (Or until Amazon strips it from the machine.)
I’m a confirmed Kindle/Audible user and I’m not going back. However, its a large country and there may be a market for BookSwim. I’ve noticed that there are long waiting lists for most best sellers at the library. I don’t know why so many people want to read only recent releases, but they do. By the time they get the book they want on the library waiting list, it might be six months old. Whether BookSwim can scratch that itch remains to be seen.
CLT
Yeaaaaaah.
Libraries are free.
And if you must must must have the newest book right now, many libraries also have a ‘for charge’ option where you can get your new best seller pretty much immediately, but for a limited time and a small charge (in my system, less than the shipping charge that bookswim lists). My system also provides downloadable ebooks and audiobooks. While not all systems do, it certainly is not uncommon. I can’t believe this company was able to get capital on a business plan that amounts to “charging for what people get more easily and faster, for free.”
I live in a very rural area and with no access to a good library. The closest one is about 2 hours away. Definitely, don’t want to order every book I want to casually read. I use booksfree and it has been a wonderful tool for me. Don’t judge others just because you have access to a good library. As far as ebooks, no way, not for me.