You're kidding, right?

I honestly thought this was a joke when i first saw it.

A company is trying to start a "Netflix for books". Um...isn't that the library? I get that for free, thanks.

They honestly are trying to charge people $19.99 a month to have 3 books out at a time. Books just aren't that expensive these days. I could buy 90% of the books i want for well under $10...so i could just buy 3 books a month for close to that.

Besides, that's what the library is for! They don't delivery to your mailbox, and i could see people who live out in the sticks needing it...but if you live in a city this is just silly. Just go to your library, fill out a card, and pick up the book.

The Nashville Library system even lets you search online, find the book you want, request it be sent to your nearest branch, and they hold it for you. Just walk up to the desk, grab the book, go home. No searching through rows of Dewey Decimal chaos. Easy. Done.

Now, i know some of you (i would be one of them) will tell me the library has movies too, so why Netflix. Easy: The library's movie selection is minimal, most of it is on VHS, and there are few copies of most movies. Now, the library is one of the reasons my wife and i only have the $8.99 Netflix plan. We occasionally still get stuff from the library (for instance, right now we are listening through the unabridged Harry Potter books), so the two work in tandem.

I really hope this new service doesn't hurt a library system that is already having to be trimmed back. But i think most book worms (in major metro areas) are going to be smart enough not to use the service. Hopefully.

Update: There are apparently at least a few companies that offer this kind of service. This one has cheaper plans, which seem slightly more reasonable for books.