Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Would birders rent books?

Did you know that a literary version of Netflix exists? Booksfree.com offers rental plans for paperback books and audiobooks on CD or MP3; subscribers create a wish list online, receive items via mail and return them at their leisure without late fees or shipping costs.

In its selection of nonfiction paperback titles, I don't see a section for nature or another birding-related topic; do you see one?

The audiobook selection does include a nature section, but it contains more titles related to pets than wildlife. Fortunately, it does offer various birdsong collections and a few birding-specific audiobooks.

Do you know of any birders who've used Booksfree.com? Would it serve the company to beef up its offerings?

4 Comments:

Blogger Patrick B. said...

If I didn't pass the library every day on my way to work, I might consider using something like this.

They need something like this for the Kindle for sure.

February 09, 2010 1:16 PM  
Blogger Rick Wright said...

Interesting--I hadn't heard of this. It strikes me as kind of pricey; many birders probably wouldn't have to add a whole lot to the quoted $13.49 a month to support their habit a n d own the books in the end. CD's are another matter: if they suddenly stocked all of the major reference collections of bird vocalizations, I'd be severely tempted.

February 09, 2010 5:36 PM  
Blogger 海產 said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

February 10, 2010 6:23 AM  
Blogger Grant McCreary said...

I have too much of a collector's mentality. So I could never go for this.

However, I could see some birders utilizing such a service to get field guides to places they are visiting. But even so, you'd have to do a whole lot of traveling to make it worthwhile.

February 10, 2010 6:31 PM  

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