BookSwim is Like Netflix for Books: But Will it Succeed?

Posted by Lolita Beckwith Categories: Internet

Netflix is the granddaddy of the rent-by-mail craze, making it tres easy to rent DVDs and video games without stepping off your curb. Now comes BookSwim, with the same paradigm: create a queue of books to read, wait for them to be shipped to you, send them back when done so your next title can be sent out. No shipping or late fees, and keep the books as long as you want. BookSwim claims to have over 150,000 titles, and plans range from $20 USD (3 books at-a-time) to $36 USD (11 books!). We’re curious to see if BookSwim takes off, as it faces stiff competition from a little something called the Public Library, which we hear is free. But, if you live far from the library, BookSwim could be worth a shot.

Read More | BookSwim

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Google Book Search Allows You To Download Novels

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Google, Internet

Is there no end to Googlemania? Google Book Search service allows free downloading and printing of classic novels, as well as many obscure books that are in public domain. You can download them to PDF for reading at your leisure, or print them for instantaneous gratification. Formerly, this service only allowed access to out-of copy books online.

Book Search is part of Google’s Books Library Project, which digitizes books from major libraries and is partnered with the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University, the University of California and the New York Public Library. Way to go Google! Even we will use this service and think that the keyword generated text ads we have to put up with are worth the price (or in this case, “non-price”).

Read More | Google Book Search

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