Monday, October 25, 2010

Lending E-Books.


One of the complaints people have had about the Amazon Kindle is that you can't loan someone a "Kindle" book. If I buy a bound copy of a book and I want to lend it to my brother, I can do that. If I buy a "Kindle" copy of a book, I can't lend my brother the book, unless I lend him my Kindle.

Complain no more. The problem has been solved. Amazon will soon begin enabling the lending of a book from, say, my Kindle to my brother's Kindle. This also solves another major book problem: the unreturned loaned book.

An Amazon Kindle "book-loan" is only good for two weeks. After 14 days, the digits evaporate from my brother's Kindle. The only downside is that I can't read what I've loaned out while it is out on "loan."