BooksFree.com - Renting Paperback and Audio Books

[KenR]

If you love books, this site is for you. It allows you to rent paper and audio books the way some sites rent movies on DVD.

After signing up, browse the Web site and select titles you would like to add to your list by clicking the red Add To List button. These titles are added to your list. We automatically ship the number of titles your membership plan allows. The remaining titles on your list will be queued up for future orders. We recommend keeping at least 10-15 titles on your list at all times for the greatest enjoyment of our service. When you return titles you have read in the provided prepaid return mailer, we automatically ship your next selections. In the event your next selections are unavailable, we'll ship the first available titles on your list in the priority added. If your list currently has no available titles on it, we'll order them from one of our distributors and ship your order the following business day (older titles have limited availability).

Paperback books are shipped 2-3 books per order via Media Mail and should arrive within 5-10 business days. Paperback book members must return the same number of books they receive in order for the next order to generate properly. Audiobooks are shipped one entire title per order via First Class mail and should arrive within 2-5 business days. We always ship the entire audiobook, regardless of the number of discs.
 
Rent All You Want
With Booksfree you can rent as many titles as you want. The number of titles you rent depends on your membership plan and how quickly you return each order.
 
Over 88,000 Titles
As a member, you'll be able to choose from more than 79,800 paperback titles and 13,800 audiobook titles-- from classics to new releases. Our Web site is open 24 hours a day and makes finding books simple and convenient.
 
Free Shipping Both Ways
Shipping is always free both ways. There are never any hidden charges or late fees.
 
About Booksfree
In business since 2000, Booksfree provides reading and listening enjoyment to thousands of satisfied customers each month.

http://www.booksfree.com/

from http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/

[Deozaan]

So basically it's like paying for library service, except you have to wait for shipping?

[nudone]

So basically it's like paying for library service, except you have to wait for shipping?

-Deozaan (January 02, 2007, 07:33 PM)

haha.

(oh, you're right.)

[cthorpe]

Could be useful for someone who doesn't have access to a good library.

[Deozaan]

Could be useful for someone who doesn't have access to a good library.

-cthorpe (January 03, 2007, 03:31 PM)

Most libraries I know of will at least try to get books from other libraries if they don't have them. In that case you might have to wait for shipping, but you still wouldn't need to pay anything.

If I was going to pay money to rent books via the internet then I think I'd use some e-book website like Safari. Even still, I'm not fond of paying to "borrow" a book. If it's worth paying for at all, it's generally worth just buying so you can keep it as long as you'd like.

[cthorpe]

I used to live in an area where the closest libary was a 45 drive, and even then it was little more than an 18 wheeler trailer on blocks.  So, even if the library was willing and able to get books from other libraries, it would still take me 1 1/2 hours to get there, pick up the book, and get back home.

I agree that I wouldn't want to pay to borrow books, and luckily I now have access to a major university library, but I still think this service could be very useful to some people.

Carl

[briandorsey]

So basically it's like paying for library service, except you have to wait for shipping?

-Deozaan (January 02, 2007, 07:33 PM)

As an alternative, there is a community book trading site called http://BookMooch.com.  You can list books you don't need any longer on the site, and for every book you mail out (book rate, so it's cheap) you can request any other book on the site and someone else will mail it to you. You also get 1/10th of a point for listing books, so it's pretty easy to get started.

I've been using it for a month now, and loving it.

[katykaty]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/home

Not quite the same thing, the general idea is that you leave books you've finished with in public places and see what happens to them.

[momonan]

I so much love both these ideas.  Thanks for the links.