The Next Best Book Club discussion

I heard of a site called http://www.booksfree.com where you can rent books and send them back, sort of like Netflix.

I was wondering- does anyone know of a similar site for ebooks? Or a similar site to this one? Also, has anyone used booksfree- would you recommend it?

Thanks for any help!

I have a booksfree account, and I absolutely love it. They send you the books in a pouch-type envelope, and include the same sort of envelope to mail it back. It's awesome.

I'd love to know of one for ebooks as well though!

This sounds great. But approximately how much does it cost to rent a book? Do you have to pay for the postage also?

I used booksfree for a while several years ago. At least at the time, the postage back and forth was pre-paid as part of the subscription cost - pretty much exactly like Netflix for books.

It was a great idea, but for me, the selection wasn't great for my preferred genres of reading so I wound up cancelling my subscription. I keep meaning to check them out again though to see what sort of selection they have these days.

I haven't ordered any for a while (I've been trying to save cash...wedding's ain't cheap!) so my subscription is on hold, but as far as I can remember, when you pay the subscription you pay th postage.

As far as prices,
http://booksfree.com/available_plans....

If you go there, it lets you decide which plan is best for you and tells you how much it will cost. I pay 10.99 a month for 1-2 books.

I rent ebooks from my library. There is a wait for books but it is worth it :)

Shae wrote: "I rent ebooks from my library. There is a wait for books but it is worth it :)"

How do you do that? Does your library have a webpage or something that you can download them?

I didn't realize that libraries rented ebooks. I thought that you could just borrow the ebooks. ?

♥Meagan♥ wrote: "I heard of a site called http://www.booksfree.com where you can rent books and send them back, sort of like Netflix.

I was wondering- does anyone know of a similar site for ebooks? Or a similar ..."

Try this if you have a Kindle:
http://booklending.com/

Booksfree.com sounds cool, but I'm kind of curious about the appeal of such a program. Why not just use the library and inter-library loan?

I heard about something similar to Booksfree and Netflix once, but it was for audio book. I can't remember what it was called.

I haven't ever heard of renting an ebook ... borrowing from the Library, yes, but not renting. Hmmmm.

Ok so I said rent instead of borrow. I "borrow" ebooks from the library.

Shae wrote: "Ok so I said rent instead of borrow. I "borrow" ebooks from the library."

Izzokay. All cleared up now. :o)

Krystal wrote: "Booksfree.com sounds cool, but I'm kind of curious about the appeal of such a program. Why not just use the library and inter-library loan?"

Plenty of people don't live near a library and even more live near ones that don't have an inter-library loan programme.

Andreea wrote:
"Plenty of people don't live near a library and even more live near ones that don't have an inter-library loan programme."

*headslap* Oh. Duh. That makes sense. I've lived in a number of itsy bitsy towns, but they've usually had some kind of library (often just one or two rooms in an old house, but still--a library). If we couldn't get what we needed at the tiny library, we'd make a special trip to a larger town that had a larger library. So the idea that people might not live within driving distance of a library didn't occur to me.

I have used Booksfree for about six years now. I used to have a membership with audio and paperback books but since my commute has stopped, I am back to only paperbacks. I absolutely love it. For about $17 per month I can read as many books as I can. I get 4 and read 2 and send back so that I always have 2 new books. I share my membership with my mom and she uses it more than I do now.

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing! I'm one of those that lives near a library and I utilize it as much as possible, but my library will only loan within its county system (not a true inter-library loan system).

Unfortunately for me that means I don't have unlimited access to titles.

I can't go outside the county system, bc libraries require you to show prove of where you live.

I will definitely have to check this site out. Thanks again!

Kristi wrote: "What a great idea! Thanks for sharing! I'm one of those that lives near a library and I utilize it as much as possible, but my library will only loan within its county system (not a true inter-libr..."

Same here. I can go to the neighboring counties and go to their libraries with my card, but I can only check two books out at a time.

Really? Hmmm, maybe I'll have to see if they do that here. That would be great, even if it is only 2 books. It's usually just one or two that I just can't find at my library.