[fjtorres]

I don't think a subscription service for ebooks is going to work anytime soon.

To succeed, such a service needs to be valuable to a broad range of readers while appeasing the publishers. Publishers that want public libraries to pay on the order of $4-5 per checkout of an ebook and even then often hold back their most desirable titles.
On the reader side, the service must offer a big enough spread between the ala carte purchase price and the average rental cost *and* offer a deep enough catalog that readers can be reasonably certain of finding a desired title.

I don't think Scribd can meet either test for the class of reader that would be most interested in a subscription library. Not at $10 a month.

The pricing spread is key: consider Hulu and it's "day after TV" model. For $8 a month you get a back catalog of TV shows and movies not unlike what you can get from Amazon or netflix or by buying dvd sets. And, you get to watch current shows ln *your* starting the day after it airs. A person can get value from Hulu even if they only watch 4 shows a week, 16 episodes per month, resulting in a $0.50 per episode cost, compared to the alternative of buying the episodes ala carte for $2-3 each. The spread is substantial: $8 vs $24-32, even for light TV viewers.

Books are different from TV in that each book requires a substantial commitment of time. While it can be easy to find people around here who easily consume 2-3 or more books a week, 20-30 a month, the vast majority of readers don't read that many a year. For a 20 book a year reader, the Scribd subscription works out to $6 a book. Not much of a saving over buying when best sellers are averaging around $7 these days.

For Scribd to make economic sense, you would need to be something like a book a week reader who doesn't check out library ebooks, read PD classics, or buy much in the way of indie titles. (And who never picks up free or $0.99 ebooks.)
Of course, that reader profile is rare and you're not going to build a business off them.

Worse, the BPHs aren't going to be amused if they see significant numbers of their "priceless cultural artifacts" bringing in half or less of what they (grudgingly) charge public libraries.

I simply don't see a sweet spot in pricing (for a worthy catalog) that could make sense for savvy avid readers without scaring off the BPHs for "devaluing the perceived value" of books even more than the eee-vile outfit that must not be named.