Where Is My Ebook Library? Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)? Anyone? [Part II]

I think with Part I of this piece we have sufficiently covered my past abuses of the internet and my chemical excesses. Now it’s time to see what might arise out of the U.S. Department of Justice’s settlement with five major publishing houses and it’s ongoing suit with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for eBook price-fixing.

In a recent piece in the blog arm of The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Quentin Fottrell pointed out the lack of a true Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) (N-like service for Ebook borrowing). After highlighting a few options including Amazon Prime, eBookPrime.com and Lendle.me, Mr. Fottrell succinctly pointed out that each service was lacking when he wrote, “But so far, there is no book streaming or rental service with the scope and selection of Spotify for music, or Netflix for movies and television.”

Fottrell is not alone in believing this should, must and will change soon.

“We’re increasingly addicted to instant gratification,” says Simon Lipskar, president of Writers House, a literary agency in New York City. He continued with, “I anticipate that we will see more eBook publishers take this approach in the near future.”

The problem, quite simply, is that it won’t happen fast enough. When you’re morbidly obese it doesn’t make sense to read. You’ve clearly given up on yourself and there will be few social occasions when “book learnin'” will matter to you. Hence, Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), The History Channel, and Shark Week.

Each allows a limited understanding of a topic peppered with commercials, like sandwiches with copious amounts of peppered bacon. Look at Ricky Gervais back when he was bigger. Between a shark’s nose for blood in the open seas and the History Channel’s love of Nazis, he was able to conclude that, “Sharks would have found Anne Frank.”

The world needs avid readers. If Jimmy Carter can, through his foundation, almost “singlehandedly” eradicate Guinea Worm, certainly someone can step into the breech and have a go at ignorance.

“Paying $9.95 a month for the premium Spotify is probably more than I used to spend on purchasing songs or albums,” says Neil Schlager, founder of Schlager Group, a publisher of materials for students and teachers, “but I’m happy to do it because the service has value to me.”

To paraphrase Louis Armstrong, “What a wonderful world it would be if people read more in spite of budgetary hurdles.” Reading is punished in the world we live. We need “Netflix Books.” Someone? Anyone? Bueller? Gates?

Also Read: Where Is My eBook Library? Netflix? Anyone? [Part I]