Document rental service brings "deep web" content to the mainstream

DeepDyve, a search engine that specializes in indexing the contents of documents published deep into a Web site, is announcing a Netflix-like service that allows users to "rent" documents such as medical journal articles on a per-use basis.

The company says that there's a market of more than 50 million "sophisticated consumers and professionals" known as "knowledge workers," who use the Web for research but that some of the best information for them is only available through expensive subscriptions that traditionally serve the academic or corporate worlds.

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DeepDyve has aggregated more 30 million journal articles that it is "renting" for 99 cents for 24 hours. There are also two subscription models - a $10 plan that provides access to 20 articles per month with viewing times of seven days or a $20 unlimited plan - read as many articles as many times as you'd like.

But it's not just the search capabilities. The service also provides you with things like personalized suggestions, bookmarks, alerts and related articles. For anyone who's ever had to do serious specialized research, you know that the Google results experience is hardly ideal, especially for discovering additional information related to a specific article.

The company is offering a 14-day free trial on the subscription plans to check out its library of articles.