Meet Oyster: The Netflix For Ebooks

Netflix has undoubtably changed the landscape of TV and movie watching. Established in 1997, the company started out delivering DVDs, and now, as we all know very well, many a TV show/movie buff cannot imagine having a life without streaming media from Netflix. While its services are not available in every single country in the world, it has subscribers in hordes where it’s available. Hence, to be compared to Netflix is, well, kind of a big deal.

And that’s what the new iOS app Oyster is being compared to.

Oyster is making waves in the ebook scene, what with its current offer of more than 100,000 ebooks being made available to members for a really reasonable price of $9.95 a month.

If you’re an avid book reader like I am, then you probably headed over to Oyster’s web site as soon as you read that previous statement. I wouldn’t blame you! If you did, you also probably know now that the system is currently in private beta, and you can only request inclusion at the moment.

While that is a bummer, to be sure, the mere idea of being able to read as many books as you want in a month for that fee is too enticing to pass up on. Oh, did I already say that they have a collection of more than 100,000? And, for sure, that is only set to expand as time goes by. No wonder Oyster is already being compared to Netflix!

With the way technology is being used in daily life today, it is only to be expected that the ebook service has more than its massive collection to offer. It also has its own recommendation engine, which takes a look at your reading habits and preferences to suggest books that you may want to read. There is also, naturally, the social aspect, which connects you and your friends. And, for those who have privacy concerns, there is an option to go anonymous.

Oyster is still in its very early stages, but I suspect we’ll all be using it when it opens to the public.

[Image via Oyster]