Today I read that bookrenter.com has raised a $ 16 million round of financing from investors. The company has an interesting business model which us business school students can definitely relate to. It can be summarized as a "netflix for college textbooks". Instead of paying the outrageous prices that college textbooks cost for only using them one semester, customers will have the chance to rent the books and have them delivered.

While I think this is an interesting twist to the rental model and am considering becoming a customer soon, I think its long term future is grim. In the digital age and with the constant innovations we are seeing in the ways to consume media, I believe physical textbooks may disappear in a few years. University libraries will have a few stacked up for the sake of thos who refuse to move on, but the typical student will have other options.

We can make this argument extensive to netflix. The days when we actually insert a dvd in our dvd player and watch a movie will soon be over, so the company has to think about making serious investment in acquiring streaming media content.