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Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app

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31–40 of 98 posts

Re: Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app

#31
post #21

This is a tough sell. An iPhone screen is not great to read on and to get enough mileage out of this you'd have to read a couple of books a month on it. If I could get something like this on my Kindle which is actually good on your eyes I might consider it.

Amazon has a Kindle owners' lending library:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=10007398...

Re: Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app

#32

For $9.95 a month, I'd rather support my local library/bookstore. Unlike movies, where I could watch 5-6 on a really lazy Saturday, books take quite a bit more time. I'm a pretty regular reader and I'm lucky if I get through 2 books a month. Based on: http://gawker.com/5971571/are-you-an-above+average-book-read... I read about the average (outlier) person, so for $9.95 I'd rather own the one or two books I can read t…

The books I'm reading now are 5.69 a book. If it's a long month or they are short books I can get through maybe two a month.

So while $9.95 is slightly cheaper, it just doesn't seem worth it to me. I'd rather pay more and keep adding to my book collection.

Re: Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app

#33
post #7

The "Netflix for books" is, and has long been, libraries. And yes, almost all of them have an ebook program in addition to their huge supply of paper books.

Frankly, the e-book programs for the last few libraries I've been around have been awful. Hard to use, one was Windows only (we don't have Windows at home), selection of really lousy books... Basically, anything else that shows up presents a compelling alternative to the library ebook systems I've seen.

Re: Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app

#34
post #2

This looks neat but I find it weird that they targeted the iPhone first instead of the iPad. Isn't reading on iPhone hard?

I read the entire "Game of Thrones" book series and "The Count of Monte-Cristo" (and most of the other reading I've done in the last two years) on a iPod touch.

The new 5th Generation screen is quite nice in Landscape mode.

Re: Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app

#35
post #28

Why hasn't this already been done by Amazon, or Google Books? I understand Prime has something similar, but only for select books. Is this purely a publisher licensing issue? If so, wouldn't Amazon/Google have more leverage to make it happen?

If you read the article, Oyster is for select books too (100k, vs. Amazon's 350k). But for Amazon you have to have a Kindle. Won't work with the Kindle app on tablets, phones, or desktop.

Re: Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app

#37

The model is just too compelling for consumers: Pay a reasonable price, get access to all the content you want without having to own it I quite like owning my books, actually. There's already an alternative to doing so, called a library; since the book sales business did quite well int he pre-internet days despite the widespread availability of libraries, I'm not sure why the author thinks a functioning e-book librar…

I feel the same way. I love owning my stuff. My MP3 files, my ebooks, my hardcopies, vinyls, cd's, etc. All this "in the cloud" stuff just adds an extra overhead to my already stressful life. "Will this company perish and all my shit be gone? Is it secure?" are questions I always think about.

When I have that physical copy, the (mostly) only person I have to blame is myself for not maintaining my items integrity.

Re: Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app

#38

The model is just too compelling for consumers: Pay a reasonable price, get access to all the content you want without having to own it I quite like owning my books, actually. There's already an alternative to doing so, called a library; since the book sales business did quite well int he pre-internet days despite the widespread availability of libraries, I'm not sure why the author thinks a functioning e-book librar…

To be fair, isn't comparing this to a library similar to comparing Netflix to Blockbuster?

Re: Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app

#40
post #38

The model is just too compelling for consumers: Pay a reasonable price, get access to all the content you want without having to own it I quite like owning my books, actually. There's already an alternative to doing so, called a library; since the book sales business did quite well int he pre-internet days despite the widespread availability of libraries, I'm not sure why the author thinks a functioning e-book librar…

To be fair, isn't comparing this to a library similar to comparing Netflix to Blockbuster?

Except that libraries tend to be free.
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