I got a press release today from Paperspine, a new Netflix-modeled book-rental service that “enables members to read more books without the high cost of purchase or the inconvenience of numerous trips to the library.”
“We believe we can revolutionize the book industry by offering the convenience of the Internet with the borrowing system long used by local libraries,” said Paperspine co-founder Dustin Hubbard. “As a Netflix customer and avid reader, I thought the same model could work for books.”
December 5th, 2007 at 10:08 am
HA! I’m a BookSwim subscriber, couldn’t be happier with the money I save over bookstore prices and the stress I save over library late fees. I read your post and checked out Paperspine…total copycat. Looks like they hacked BookSwim.com, copied the code and changed the colors. Even their graphics are a carbon-copy. I love how the press release you got explains the idea like it’s a brand new concept. Way to look out!
-Rob
December 5th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Rob, expect to be contacted by the BookSwim marketing department shortly. But if I’m not mistaken, BookSwim’s model is awfully similar to Booksfree, which was, I believe, founded even earlier.