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Kindle Allows E-Book Lending ... Sort Of

You can loan to a friend for two weeks, with publisher's OK

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 30, 2010 3:32 PM CST

(Newser) – Amazon today gave its Kindle users the ability to lend e-books for the first time, an innovation the Nook e-reader had first. The privilege comes with similar limits, however, as ReadWriteWeb explains. First of all, it's up to the publisher whether a book can be loaned, which could create a pretty random spread of loanable and non-loanable titles. Books can be shared only once, and for a period of 14 days.

During that time, you can't access the book yourself—a fair approximation of loaning a physical book—after which it reverts back to your control. And for now you can loan only via the Amazon website, not through the Kindle itself. (Go to the "Manage Your Kindle" section of your account.) The recipient has to accept the loan via email and download it, though they don't need a Kindle to read it. Various Kindle apps are available for them.

File photo of a Kindle.
File photo of a Kindle.   (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 4 comments
John Loudon
Jan 10, 2011 11:01 AM CST
I think kindle is actually a great wee of hardware. I am a print lover. I like owning the books, I have so far read two books on my kindle since christmas. I enjoyed both immensly, though I did have that little feeling of sadness about the fact I could sit them on my shelf next to book 1 (which I had in print). I am sure my wife will like it better. Less books in print means more house space. When your books reach into the thosands it can become a full time job managing them and keeping them in good nick/ order. Digital copies solve this issue. I think I will use both to be honest, for books I collect I will by in print, if I want to try a book I will use kindle. Or if its a large series like Starwars or something with 300+ books I will stick to kindle save the space for the ones I really like and want to re-read. All this being said the kindle has its faults, not so much in the tool itself but in the quality of the books you get on it. This will be resolved in due time though. with regards to @schimidtkoff kindle are outselling print 2:1 on amazon the worlds biggest online book store. So I highly doubt it will just fall into that list of 'obsolete' its a great idea, they did it well, not all high tech and in you face, packed with apps and touch screen crap, it actually mimics and in some areas beats reading print.
schmidtkoff
Dec 30, 2010 6:16 PM CST
buy your kindle as a nice hight tech gadget. but do not delude yourself. you are giving up the freedom ownership. is this not unlike microsoft's terms and conditions. buy a real book. trade it, sell it, lend it freely. as many times as you like. i refuse to give up the freedom of books. when the last book is sold and all that is left is a reasonable facsimile, held on a server somewhere i will still have a library full of them. it's a gadget. they come and go. i hope this one goes into the next report on things that have become obsolete. and you can call me a hopeless romantic!
Snarfeh
Dec 30, 2010 4:01 PM CST
Well, at least, you get your book back.

 
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