Rent Books Netflix-style with Online Book Rental

Why do so many people rent movies from Blockbuster instead of checking them out from the library?

One advantage of Blockbuster is that they usually have many copies of new releases in stock, as soon as they are released. A lot of libraries do not get movies until several days or weeks after the DVD has been released (if ever). And, they tend to have very few copies. The library lets you check out new releases for longer than Blockbuster allows you to rent them. Plus, Blockbuster's rental fee discourages many people from renting, whereas the library's cost-free nature encourages gluttonous movie consumption. All of this means that it is unlikely that you will get the movie you want when you show up at the library, but you will probably get it at Blockbuster.

Are book rentals analogous to movie rentals? I think nobody can say for sure, until we've seen what happens with these book-rental outfits.

For a long time, I've wanted to try to set up premium library services. Imagine that somebody pays a membership fee to a library, say $25.00 a month. In return for that fee, they get to keep books three times as long as non-premium members. In addition, they get online checkout with delivery services (by mail or in person).

Plus, they can direct 25% or so of their membership fees towards the purchase of specific books. For example, if I was a member for a year, I would have 12x$25*(25%)=$75 of purchasing power. I could order $75 of books through the library's website. The library could purchase the books and have them delivered directly to me, but I would have to return them to the library at the end of the (extended) check-out period.

Or, if I don't want to return a book (one that I forced the library to order, or one they already have), I could buy the copy I already have checked-out from the library. The library could use this money to purchase a new copy of the book, or it could use the money to purchase a different book instead.

I think a service like this has the potential to be better than a library because of the convenience of having books mailed to you from a self-selected queue, and possibility of better selection. Unfortunately, from a quick glance at the books available, it seems they don’t even match the selection of my local library.

Now, if Amazon was to start a service like this, I think it would be phenomenal. (Perhaps integrated with the kindle?)

I'd guess because they're assuming/hoping most people are slower to read books so there'll be less back and forth?

Does seem like a big problem though. Local distrib centres might help once they were sufficiently "big".