New Experiences in Reading

[Nyssa]

So I started my free month of Oyster this morning, and am a little disappointed. Only 1.5 out of the 9 titles for which I searched were available. The .5 is for a Cliff's Notes type version (I don't remember the name) of one of the books and the 1 was a book I already own. :(

[Paul]

Nyssa wrote: "So I started my free month of Oyster this morning, and am a little disappointed. Only 1.5 out of the 9 titles for which I searched were available. The .5 is for a Cliff's Notes type version (I don'..."

Sorry to hear that. At least it's a free month.

[Nyssa]

True.

I'm still trying to figure out how the determine their selection. I know they rely on the New York Times for their newer books, and that they offer a lot of public domain titles.

I have since found a few of the titles recommend to me by GoodReads. I'm just not ready to read any of them yet, as I'm trying to catch up on my reads for this group, and my series challenge.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Wow.

Keep us updated.

[Nyssa]

So, I've been looking around Oyster again today. *Comments in parentheses are mine.

On the homepage (once you start your account) you find:

Your Reading List
Popular on Oyster
#Oysterdaily
Recently Added
Oprah-Approved
New York Best Sellers
Whodunnit?
Rebels & Groundbreakers
Essays & Opinions
Award-Winning Fiction
Pulitzer Prize Winners
Great Americans
Globetrotting Memoirs
Chillers & Cliffhangers
Bad Role Models
Adventure Stories
Whistleblowers
Sweeping Histories
Economic History & Theory
Writers on Writing
American Writers
Crime Fiction
European History
Scientific History
Dating & Relationships
Psychological Thrillers

... and many others, some of which are posted below in the "More" section.

Their main categories under "Explore" are:
Biography
Business
Children's
Fiction & Literature (yes that is one category)
History
Mystery & Thriller
Politics & Social Science
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science Fiction & Fantasy (sigh)
Sports
Technology & Science
Young Adult
and then "More".

"More" takes you to a huge selection of (sometimes questionable) sub categories:
Popular in More
Practical Resolutions for 2014
Essays & Opinions
Childhood Favorites
Food Culture
Rigorous Thinking Required
Movies & Film
Art
Oyster Designed Editions
Travel Writing
Gender Studies
General Cookbooks
Entertaining Essays
On Film & Cinema
The Neversink Library (??)
Drinks & Drinking (really?)
UFO's & Extraterrestrials
So You Want to Be an Artist
Knitting
Party Every Day
Architecture
Philosophers & Thinkers
Geniuses & Madmen
Talking to Animals
Education
Poetry
Currently On Our Mind
Vegetarian Cooking
Pets & Animals
California Stories
Design
So You Want to Be a Chef
Poetry 101
Fashion & Style
Classic Novellas
Cultural Essays
Scary Things
Literary Miscellany
New York Stories
International Cookbooks
On Writing
Short Stories
Humor
Villains We Love to Hate
Creative Lives: Artists' Memoirs
DIY Projects
Our Guy, Shakespeare
So You Want to be a Farmer (Seriously?)
The Business of Food
Trivia Night Bootcamp
Travel
Famous Weirdos
Wild Animals
Occultism
True Crime
Essays on Art & Literature
Book to Blockbuster
Thoughts on Food
Tabloid Fodder
----------------

I decided to add the homepage list after doing the other two, but did not add everything I saw there. I'm just tired of typing at this point....

[Nyssa]

Unfortunately, however, with all of those many, many (sub)categories, I'm still finding it difficult locating many of the titles that I want to read!

I was happy to find both Roots: The Saga of an American Family and The Color Purple though.

[Jackie]

Is it the search engine that's giving you trouble or do they have a lot of categories with little books that interest you? Do you have time limit to read and download?

[Nyssa]

Jackie wrote: "Is it the search engine that's giving you trouble or do they have a lot of categories with little books that interest you?"

The latter.
Although, the search engine can be annoying in that it may start searching before you're done typing, if you don't type quickly enough. However, it doesn't matter, because it will update and continue searching once you're done.

I do wish they had a "clear all "button, though, for when you want to search for numerous titles. As it it is now, you have to select and delete the last search criteria or exit and re-enter the search area each time.

Jackie wrote: "I Do you have time limit to read and download?"

No. The only limit mentioned is the following:

How many books can I read or download on Oyster?
Oyster offers unlimited access to read any book in our library. There is no notion of borrowing or renting individual titles on Oyster. We store the last 10 books you’ve opened for offline reading.

[Nyssa]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned in the group before.

I'm trying out an international, book Price Watch site called Luzme. No fee at all and no registration required (unless you would like to choose a specific country and specific stores, as well as set up a watchlist specifically on the site).

They track prices in The US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, Germany and Spain, from a variety of stores/sites.

In the US the retailers are: Amazon, Apple, Diesel (?), Kobo, B&N, Sony, Omnilit (?) and Google. It looks like this:



You can also link it to GR, Librarything or Amazon, if you want.

The search function seems a little ify. I had to search for the book Transformation via author instead of title, and there were one or two books it didn't find at all.

[Lee]

It looks like its a pretty fair collection. I can see it being worthwhile to pay for a library system like this if you don't have other options.

Is there a mobile mode? When I'm on my phone or tablet I sometimes switch between modes - whichever is easiest.

I've been playing around with my library's ebook selection. It isn't bad. But I get annoyed when I see books that I paid for and haven't read yet...

[Nyssa]

Nienna wrote: "It looks like its a pretty fair collection. I can see it being worthwhile to pay for a library system like this if you don't have other options.

Is there a mobile mode? When I'm on my phone or ta..."

Are you talking about Oyster? If so, yes, Oyster is an app, but I do not think it specifically has a mobile mode.

If you're talking about Luzeme, that is not a paid library service, it is a free price watch service, and I do not think they have an app. I do not know about mobile mode as I haven't tried it.

[Lee]

Oyster.

Didn't realize post #55 was from earlier in the month.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

That's cool!


I've been using http://camelcamelcamel.com but it only does Amazon.

[Emily]

Ok it's possible I am the only person who didn't already know this, but did you know that the Brooklyn Public Library offers an out-of-state library card for $50 that gives you access to their Overdrive catalog for e-books and audiobooks?

http://brooklyn.lib.overdrive.com/B53...

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Emily wrote: "Ok it's possible I am the only person who didn't already know this, but did you know that the Brooklyn Public Library offers an out-of-state library card for $50 that gives you access to their Over..."

That's cool! I used to use the Philly Free Library but I think they stopped that now.

[Jackie]

I didn't know that. I wonder how long is the wait though.

[Jackie]

Amazon just started this Friday their version of "Netflix for Books":
http://money.msn.com/business-news/ar...

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Jackie wrote: "Amazon just started this Friday their version of "Netflix for Books":
http://money.msn.com/business-news/ar..."

Yeah, they have this huge banner with it up now. But it's extra on top of Prime.

[Jackie]

Yeah, it's a separate program. I guess if you have a sucky library and are a heavy reader it would be worth it. Definitely way less than buying books all the time. Plus, because it's Amazon and they've monopolized the ebook market, there will be a lot newer choices compared to other Netflix-like sites.