As books grow more expensive, rentals are becoming more and more popular. After all, once you’ve read a book, you’re finished with it (unless you’re like me, with a compulsive re-reading disorder). Renting books is just cheaper. Plus, if you’re a hoarder – as in, the library and your house have been mistaken for each other – renting books saves space. Amazon realizes this, and they’re introducing a new option for their books: renting with the Kindle. This plan is still in its prototype form, and it definitely needs some work, but it’s a sign of how popular rentals are becoming.
Amazon’s program has a couple of kinks to work out. Not only are they only renting digital copies of their books, they also charge the renter money depending on how long the book is rented. A digital copy is nothing like the feel of a solid book in your hands or the smell of a new book’s pages. And with the pay-per-loan length, Amazon isn’t giving renters a good value. BooksFree is a book rental company that rents real books, charging only a fee for membership. And if you’ve been lucky enough to receive (or even give!) BooksFree’s new gift membership, then you know how a book rental should be done. Instead of buying a book for someone, consider giving them access to thousands of books – books they can hold and touch and feel.