Web site touts free e-mail book service
Whether by surviving on Ramen noodles and Mac ‘n Cheese for an entire semester, setting the temperature in their apartments to fifty degrees, sleeping in their clothes, studying on the bus, or re-using the same piece of dental floss for a week, students are always trying to find ways to save time and money.
ArcaMax Book Club hopes that they’ve found another way to help people find entertainment with no money down.
A free service, ArcaMax provides on-line versions of books to subscribers. They currently have over 400 books and add about 80 new books each month. Subscribers can either read books on the club’s Web site, or choose to have to book e-mailed to them, either in chapter installments daily or the entire book. Titles range from fiction and biographies to philosophy and religion. There are also sections for poetry, science fiction, non fiction, plays and short stories.
Subscribers can also sign up for weekly update e-mails featuring additions to the online library, featured authors, trivia questions, and offers from various sponsors. The “Top Ten” most subscribed to books include “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexander Dumas, “Emma” by Jane Austin, “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu and “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Though free, some Utah State University students have misgivings about the service.
“It’s a fantastic idea but I have a hard time reading for a long time on the computer,” Rachel Hamatake, a junior majoring in broadcast journalism, said.
Casey Thompson, also a junior majoring in broadcast journalism, agreed.
“It’s a great way to save trees, but it’s not for me,” she said.
“I like the fact that it is online and I can download it at anytime, however I would like it to be something I can easily reference and go back to later,” Nile Meservy, a graduate student in human resouces said, “But they do have a good selection and I can find things I wouldn’t normally be able to find.”
Although the service allows people to catch the latest installment to their favorite novel in between classes, Natalie Knowlton, a junior in the family and consumer science program won’t be subscribing any time soon. “I probably wouldn’t use it because I don’t like staring at a computer screen that long and most of my reading is done on the run,” she said.
For more information, or to sign up for books by e-mail, visit ArcaMax at www.arcamax.com.
-limarc@cc.usu.edu