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Something like a Netflix for books and articles. I'd pay just to rent textbooks for general education classes. It would need to have a gigantic library though,
by chris11 18y ago
Something like a Netflix for books and articles. I'd pay just to rent textbooks for general education classes. It would need to have a gigantic library though, big enough to guarantee that I would be able to find any book through there if it wasn't in a library.
PDF versions of the books would be nice to, so I could access the book anywhere immediately.
And it would need a good selection of scientific books. I have a scientific couple books that I want to read, but haven't because they aren't in any local library systems and used copies are going for over $40 on amazon.
- Oxryly 18y agoAdd in graphic novels and I'm in. It would have to emphasize breadth and new releases to make it clearly superior to the local library.
- chris11 18y agoYeah libraries are awesome. I grew up going to the library. That does mean that I am used to not spending money on books. I usually only buy a book if it is going to be read more than once and I know will find it useful. So I really want full access to the book before I decide to spend money on it.
- staticshock 18y agoThis is an interesting thought. Does anything already exist as a service for college students to rent textbooks?
- TheSOB88 18y agoYes, there are quite a few, actually. But they usually don't give you significant advantages over the old buy new/sell used model.
- chris11 18y agoWhile access to textbooks would be nice, it wouldn't need to be a major selling point. If the book is for a class in my major, I want to own a copy so I can use it as a reference after the class is over. And used textbooks can be had for a decent price. I just paid $40 including expediated shipping for a circuits book. The book is in great condition, and I am happy with my purchase. And renting textbooks is pretty expensive, especially for older books. I bought a different used textbook for around $15. The book is in great condition, and renting it would have cost $40.
- trjordan 18y agoIt would be hard to maintain, since a lot of textbooks change version number relatively frequently.
- Harkins 18y agoAsk your local library system about interlibrary loan. You may have trouble with books released in the last 6 months (it's peak borrowing time, libraries like to hold them for their local patrons), but otherwise you can get basically everything.
- gecko 18y agoIt's called Bookswim, available at http://www.bookswim.com/ http://www.bookswim.com/ , and I have no idea whether it's good, because I cannot conceive of using them over the library.
- mazuhl 18y agoI'd like to be notified when authors have new book coming out. You get this from some publishers, but what if the author jumps to another publisher?