4 ms·

I never understood Oyster business model. My 81 year old father figured out years ago how to connect is Kindle to his local public library. He literally check

I never understood Oyster business model. My 81 year old father figured out years ago how to connect is Kindle to his local public library. He literally checks out nearly any book, all FOR FREE and reads it on his kindle. Maybe this is a US centric thing and Oyster was targeting international users. But local libraries have been offering this service of digitally checking out books (even current books) for free for nearly 10 years. Don't get me wrong. I never like reading about businesses shutting down because that implies people will be losing their job. I just never understood this business to begin with, maybe someone could shed some light on what I'm missing

lucisferre 11y ago
Actually, if I remember correctly, when Oyster came out I couldn't use it because I wasn't in the US.
Splines 11y ago
I'm lucky to live in a county with a good library system that supports this model, but what about the rest of the country? Are they all served as well as me? $10/mo doesn't seem too outrageous if you have no other alternatives. If you are a heavy reader then this makes sense vs. buying from Amazon or another retailer. I suppose it comes down to strength of library - for $10/mo, can you match other book seller's content? I took a look for a few books I've been reading recently - it seems about a 50% match. Personally, not for me.
philtar 11y ago
> My 81 year old father figured out years ago how to connect is Kindle to his local public library. I am a full time professional software developer and I do a lot of technology things on the side and have a technology side business. It took me forever to connect a kindle to my library, and when I did, most of the books I wanted weren't available.
- qq66 11y ago
  An example of "beginner's luck," which is often the tendency of experts to overthink things when just trying the most basic thing often works. :)
  - bgilroy26 11y ago
    Also libraries and their features can be very regional.
- mkaziz 11y ago
  It also depends on the library. My small suburban library doesn't have a lot of ebook offerings, but my friend's big urban library has about a 75% hit rate on books I want to read.
jacalata 11y ago
My local library offers digital checkouts that have terrible availability, limited time only and a limited number of titles in the first place. Your dad is lucky, and/or his reading taste skews more available than mine.

lucisferre 11y ago

Actually, if I remember correctly, when Oyster came out I couldn't use it because I wasn't in the US.

Splines 11y ago

I'm lucky to live in a county with a good library system that supports this model, but what about the rest of the country? Are they all served as well as me? $10/mo doesn't seem too outrageous if you have no other alternatives. If you are a heavy reader then this makes sense vs. buying from Amazon or another retailer. I suppose it comes down to strength of library - for $10/mo, can you match other book seller's content? I took a look for a few books I've been reading recently - it seems about a 50% match. Personally, not for me.

philtar 11y ago

> My 81 year old father figured out years ago how to connect is Kindle to his local public library. I am a full time professional software developer and I do a lot of technology things on the side and have a technology side business. It took me forever to connect a kindle to my library, and when I did, most of the books I wanted weren't available.

qq66 11y ago
An example of "beginner's luck," which is often the tendency of experts to overthink things when just trying the most basic thing often works. :)
- bgilroy26 11y ago
  Also libraries and their features can be very regional.
mkaziz 11y ago
It also depends on the library. My small suburban library doesn't have a lot of ebook offerings, but my friend's big urban library has about a 75% hit rate on books I want to read.

jacalata 11y ago

My local library offers digital checkouts that have terrible availability, limited time only and a limited number of titles in the first place. Your dad is lucky, and/or his reading taste skews more available than mine.