Oh wait, _you_can_. It's called a fucking library.
Yet Amazon would like to reinvent this idea in a not-much-more convenient way, that you have to pay for:
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Amazon is set to launch a Netflix-like subscription service for books.
The service would reportedly work exactly like Netflix, where you pay a monthly subscription fee to receive a set number of books each month. Since this is a rumor, it's still not entirely clear how the service will work or how much it will cost.
If the cost is _anything_ that's too much. With DVDs, it's one thing; Blockbuster was never free. But with my library card, I can take out books from any library in the county. And if they don't have what I want? They can use a library exchange program to get it.
The worst part is that people will do this. People are paying ridiculous, rapey prices for eBooks because they don't care or aren't thinking about it, so they will also probably do this and figure the slight convenience is worth paying for something that could essentially be free.
We can also take videos out of the library. And ILL them.
ReplyDeleteIf the price is right, I can see it being a useful service just for the convenience. Remember, the Kindle gets books instantly and wirelessly wherever you are.
No matter how you hear about a book, being able to flip through it on the spot? That's an innovation that's worth _something_.