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Oyster alternatives
Oyster offers unlimited access to over 100,000 books for $9.95 a month, with new titles added all the time. We are currently rolling out invitations for iPhone and iPod Touch. We created Oyster to evolve the way people read and to create more of the special moments that only books can offer. From anywhere a mobile device can go—a bustling subway car, a quiet coffee shop, or lost at sea with a Bengal tiger—our mission is to build the best reading experience, one that is both communal and personal, anytime, anywhere. The best Oyster alternative is Scribd
Here are the latest news about Oyster:
2015. E-Book subscription service Oyster to shut down
Oyster, which debuted its “Netflix for books” app two years ago, has announced in a blog post that it will shut down the service by early 2016. If you have bought a book or are an Oyster Unlimited subscriber, you will receive an email about your account in the coming weeks. You will still be able to access and read purchased books indefinitely. Oyster Unlimited was priced at $9.95 a month, with Scribd being its primary competitor when it launched in September 2013. Competition intensified further when Amazon introduced its own e-book subscription service in July 2014. Despite launching with a challenging business model in a market dominated by a single player, Oyster's app distinguished itself from Kindle with features such as its user interface, curated book lists, essays and extensive selection.
2015. Oyster adds light-adjusting technology for easier e-reading
Ebook subscription service Oyster introduces a new feature to its e-reading platform that adjusts the color and brightness of mobile users’ screens to enhance the e-reading experience. Named Lumin, the software reduces the amount of blue light emitted by LED screens, which some recent studies suggest can be detrimental to readers’ eyes in dim environments and may disrupt sleep patterns. Lumin aims to help Oyster users read at night with less strain by replacing blue light with a gentler, amber light. While backlit e-ink screens are generally considered less harsh than those of smartphones or tablets, Oyster’s technology claims to cut the amount of blue light emitted by both types of devices by at least half.
2015. Oyster launches own e-book store
Oyster (the Netflix for Books) that charges $9.95 a month for unlimited access to a library of over 1 million titles, is expanding that model by launching its own e-book store. The store will enable Oyster to provide a truly extensive range of books to its readers. The interface isn’t changing significantly — you’ll simply see a much broader selection of books, with titles available via subscription displayed alongside those available for individual purchase. The e-book store is launching with all of the Big Five publishers in the United States on board, including Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. Competitor Scribd, by the way, also sells e-books individually but says it’s focused on the subscription model.
2014. Oyster created author board and online literary magazine
Ebook subscription service Oyster introduces two new initiatives. First, the Author Advisory Board invites prominent authors to offer their perspectives on how Oyster operates. Board members “will provide input and feedback on product and content decisions at Oyster to help ensure that streaming services for books are beneficial to writers, readers and publishers in the long run.” The second initiative involves Oyster expanding its discovery efforts to the web with the launch of a digital magazine called The Oyster Review. The publication is freely accessible online, even to those who don’t subscribe to Oyster’s ebook platform and will feature original content related to ebooks in Oyster’s catalog, much of it authored by others. While Oyster subscribers won’t receive exclusive additional content, they will have the unique opportunity to easily access and start reading books featured in The Oyster Review.
2014. Oyster adds social Book Lists to drive discovery
Ebook subscription service Oyster introduces a new feature called Book Lists, allowing users to suggest and share custom collections of titles. Book Lists are now available to all Oyster subscribers at no extra charge, accessible through each user’s profile page. Readers can create lists of any length and share them selectively with other Oyster subscribers as well as on social media platforms outside the e-reading service. User-generated recommendations provide Oyster readers with a third way to discover new titles, alongside the platform’s built-in recommendation system—which is powered by both an editorial team and an algorithm—and browsing freely within the Oyster catalog. This new feature comes at a time when ebook subscription services are refining their discovery methods and promoting them as key attractions for readers. Entitle, another subscription ebook provider, recently upgraded its recommendation system to enhance how users find new content.
2014. Oyster launches cross-platform web reader
Oyster, the unlimited ebook subscription service, announced the introduction of its web and mobile web reader. Now accessible on both web and mobile web browsers, this expansion represents Oyster’s second new platform launch in the last month, bringing the service to a significantly broader audience of readers. Similar to reading your favorite blog, pages in the web reader will scroll seamlessly from top to bottom, while also providing the option to choose from one of five reader themes that Oyster users enjoy on Android and Apple devices.
2014. Oyster comes to Android, Kindle Fire and Nook tablets
The ebook subscription service Oyster, which was previously available solely on iOS, is broadening its reach to Android, Kindle Fire and Nook HD tablets. New functionalities include a “read time” feature for books (a similar feature is available on Kindle e-readers) and the capability to navigate a book’s pages using the volume buttons on an Android device. Oyster, which provides unlimited reading for $9.95 a month, now offers over 500,000 book titles from two of the major five publishers — HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster — along with numerous small and medium-sized publishers. This places it approximately on par with Scribd, another ebook subscription service, which is accessible on iOS, Android and the Web.
2014. Oyster Teams up With Spritz to Bring Faster Reading Experience
Ebook subscription service Oyster and text streaming startup Spritz have joined forces to deliver a reading experience like never before. With growing enthusiasm around Spritz’s capabilities, Oyster is excited to offer the first platform where the public can read a full-length, in-copyright book using Spritz’s speed-reading technology. Available at OysterBooks.com/Spritz, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”—the acclaimed business book by Stephen Covey with over 20 million copies sold to date—is available for free reading with Spritz technology. The 432 print pages of the book can be completed in under 2 hours. This initiative represents a pioneering collaboration and Oyster and Spritz are eager to receive feedback from users about the experience. They will review the response and consider introducing additional full-length, in-copyright books to the public together in the future.
2014. Oyster partners with Disney to provide books for kids
Ebook subscription service Oyster has added approximately 100 titles from Disney and created a separate section for children with around 10,000 ebooks. Alongside the Disney books, which include titles like Toy Story, Cars and the Disney Princesses, the section will feature titles that were previously available on Oyster but were either grouped under "Young Adult" or not categorized. Several companies are attempting to provide children’s ebook subscriptions. One such option is Amazon’s Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, which starts at $2.99 per month and offers unlimited access to a library of children’s ebooks, apps, movies and games on Kindle Fire tablets. Kindle FreeTime Unlimited includes 1,600 ebooks, including about 100 Disney titles. Disney previously offered its own ebook subscription service but has since discontinued it.
2013. Scribd and Oyster sing more book publishers
Competing ebook subscription services Oyster and Scribd have secured agreements with new publishers to expand their offerings. Oyster has teamed up with Perseus. While Oyster did not disclose the exact number of titles Perseus will be distributing through its service, notable additions include *Friday Night Lights*, *Masters of Sex* and *Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage*, all available to subscribers for $9.95 a month. Meanwhile, Scribd has reached an agreement with self-published ebook distributor Smashwords, which will more than triple Scribd’s existing catalog. Smashwords' titles will increase the number of ebooks available through an $8.99 monthly subscription to over 325,000. These titles will also be offered for individual purchase on the broader Scribd platform. It’s worth noting that Oyster also has a partnership with Smashwords. Currently, Oyster and Scribd appear to have very similar, if not entirely overlapping, catalogs.
2013. Ebook subscription service Oyster opens to all, brings app for iPad
Not only does Scribd aim to be the "Netflix for ebooks," but its rival, Oyster, is also expanding its e-book subscription service to a broader audience and launching an app for the iPad (following the release of the iPhone app a month earlier). The iPad app is quite similar to the iPhone version but makes better use of the larger screen to enhance the browsing experience. Oyster features books across various categories, much like Netflix, displays which books your friends are reading on the platform and allows users to navigate pages by scrolling up and down or tapping on the edges of the page. Oyster charges $9.95 per month for access to over 100,000 books from both major and minor publishers, but it now offers a free month to attract more users to try out the app.
2015. E-Book subscription service Oyster to shut down
Oyster, which debuted its “Netflix for books” app two years ago, has announced in a blog post that it will shut down the service by early 2016. If you have bought a book or are an Oyster Unlimited subscriber, you will receive an email about your account in the coming weeks. You will still be able to access and read purchased books indefinitely. Oyster Unlimited was priced at $9.95 a month, with Scribd being its primary competitor when it launched in September 2013. Competition intensified further when Amazon introduced its own e-book subscription service in July 2014. Despite launching with a challenging business model in a market dominated by a single player, Oyster's app distinguished itself from Kindle with features such as its user interface, curated book lists, essays and extensive selection.
2015. Oyster adds light-adjusting technology for easier e-reading
Ebook subscription service Oyster introduces a new feature to its e-reading platform that adjusts the color and brightness of mobile users’ screens to enhance the e-reading experience. Named Lumin, the software reduces the amount of blue light emitted by LED screens, which some recent studies suggest can be detrimental to readers’ eyes in dim environments and may disrupt sleep patterns. Lumin aims to help Oyster users read at night with less strain by replacing blue light with a gentler, amber light. While backlit e-ink screens are generally considered less harsh than those of smartphones or tablets, Oyster’s technology claims to cut the amount of blue light emitted by both types of devices by at least half.
2015. Oyster launches own e-book store
Oyster (the Netflix for Books) that charges $9.95 a month for unlimited access to a library of over 1 million titles, is expanding that model by launching its own e-book store. The store will enable Oyster to provide a truly extensive range of books to its readers. The interface isn’t changing significantly — you’ll simply see a much broader selection of books, with titles available via subscription displayed alongside those available for individual purchase. The e-book store is launching with all of the Big Five publishers in the United States on board, including Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. Competitor Scribd, by the way, also sells e-books individually but says it’s focused on the subscription model.
2014. Oyster created author board and online literary magazine
Ebook subscription service Oyster introduces two new initiatives. First, the Author Advisory Board invites prominent authors to offer their perspectives on how Oyster operates. Board members “will provide input and feedback on product and content decisions at Oyster to help ensure that streaming services for books are beneficial to writers, readers and publishers in the long run.” The second initiative involves Oyster expanding its discovery efforts to the web with the launch of a digital magazine called The Oyster Review. The publication is freely accessible online, even to those who don’t subscribe to Oyster’s ebook platform and will feature original content related to ebooks in Oyster’s catalog, much of it authored by others. While Oyster subscribers won’t receive exclusive additional content, they will have the unique opportunity to easily access and start reading books featured in The Oyster Review.
2014. Oyster adds social Book Lists to drive discovery
Ebook subscription service Oyster introduces a new feature called Book Lists, allowing users to suggest and share custom collections of titles. Book Lists are now available to all Oyster subscribers at no extra charge, accessible through each user’s profile page. Readers can create lists of any length and share them selectively with other Oyster subscribers as well as on social media platforms outside the e-reading service. User-generated recommendations provide Oyster readers with a third way to discover new titles, alongside the platform’s built-in recommendation system—which is powered by both an editorial team and an algorithm—and browsing freely within the Oyster catalog. This new feature comes at a time when ebook subscription services are refining their discovery methods and promoting them as key attractions for readers. Entitle, another subscription ebook provider, recently upgraded its recommendation system to enhance how users find new content.
2014. Oyster launches cross-platform web reader
Oyster, the unlimited ebook subscription service, announced the introduction of its web and mobile web reader. Now accessible on both web and mobile web browsers, this expansion represents Oyster’s second new platform launch in the last month, bringing the service to a significantly broader audience of readers. Similar to reading your favorite blog, pages in the web reader will scroll seamlessly from top to bottom, while also providing the option to choose from one of five reader themes that Oyster users enjoy on Android and Apple devices.
2014. Oyster comes to Android, Kindle Fire and Nook tablets
The ebook subscription service Oyster, which was previously available solely on iOS, is broadening its reach to Android, Kindle Fire and Nook HD tablets. New functionalities include a “read time” feature for books (a similar feature is available on Kindle e-readers) and the capability to navigate a book’s pages using the volume buttons on an Android device. Oyster, which provides unlimited reading for $9.95 a month, now offers over 500,000 book titles from two of the major five publishers — HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster — along with numerous small and medium-sized publishers. This places it approximately on par with Scribd, another ebook subscription service, which is accessible on iOS, Android and the Web.
2014. Oyster Teams up With Spritz to Bring Faster Reading Experience
Ebook subscription service Oyster and text streaming startup Spritz have joined forces to deliver a reading experience like never before. With growing enthusiasm around Spritz’s capabilities, Oyster is excited to offer the first platform where the public can read a full-length, in-copyright book using Spritz’s speed-reading technology. Available at OysterBooks.com/Spritz, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”—the acclaimed business book by Stephen Covey with over 20 million copies sold to date—is available for free reading with Spritz technology. The 432 print pages of the book can be completed in under 2 hours. This initiative represents a pioneering collaboration and Oyster and Spritz are eager to receive feedback from users about the experience. They will review the response and consider introducing additional full-length, in-copyright books to the public together in the future.
2014. Oyster partners with Disney to provide books for kids
Ebook subscription service Oyster has added approximately 100 titles from Disney and created a separate section for children with around 10,000 ebooks. Alongside the Disney books, which include titles like Toy Story, Cars and the Disney Princesses, the section will feature titles that were previously available on Oyster but were either grouped under "Young Adult" or not categorized. Several companies are attempting to provide children’s ebook subscriptions. One such option is Amazon’s Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, which starts at $2.99 per month and offers unlimited access to a library of children’s ebooks, apps, movies and games on Kindle Fire tablets. Kindle FreeTime Unlimited includes 1,600 ebooks, including about 100 Disney titles. Disney previously offered its own ebook subscription service but has since discontinued it.
2013. Scribd and Oyster sing more book publishers
Competing ebook subscription services Oyster and Scribd have secured agreements with new publishers to expand their offerings. Oyster has teamed up with Perseus. While Oyster did not disclose the exact number of titles Perseus will be distributing through its service, notable additions include *Friday Night Lights*, *Masters of Sex* and *Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage*, all available to subscribers for $9.95 a month. Meanwhile, Scribd has reached an agreement with self-published ebook distributor Smashwords, which will more than triple Scribd’s existing catalog. Smashwords' titles will increase the number of ebooks available through an $8.99 monthly subscription to over 325,000. These titles will also be offered for individual purchase on the broader Scribd platform. It’s worth noting that Oyster also has a partnership with Smashwords. Currently, Oyster and Scribd appear to have very similar, if not entirely overlapping, catalogs.
2013. Ebook subscription service Oyster opens to all, brings app for iPad
Not only does Scribd aim to be the "Netflix for ebooks," but its rival, Oyster, is also expanding its e-book subscription service to a broader audience and launching an app for the iPad (following the release of the iPhone app a month earlier). The iPad app is quite similar to the iPhone version but makes better use of the larger screen to enhance the browsing experience. Oyster features books across various categories, much like Netflix, displays which books your friends are reading on the platform and allows users to navigate pages by scrolling up and down or tapping on the edges of the page. Oyster charges $9.95 per month for access to over 100,000 books from both major and minor publishers, but it now offers a free month to attract more users to try out the app.
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