Have you seen this announcement from Amazon?!

[fancynancy]

I think it will be a very nice addition.  I have a friend who devours books.  She reads at least one book per week, and usually more on her Kindle.  That can get pretty expensive.  Now I can lend her books.  I, on the other hand, take at least a month to read a book, so I don't spend as much, and won't use the feature much because it's not enough time for me (unless I'm on vacation).  I think it works out very well because it gives a break to those who spend the most on books.

[cc1013]

I wonder if the new lending feature will be limited to K3s or if the older versions will also get it.  Any thoughts?

[cjottawa]

I can understand allowing publishers to decide (the creatures).  And I can understand limiting the number of times a book can be borrowed to prevent huge lending library co-ops from springing up.  But, (and there's always a 'but') loaning a book one time in the history of ever is a bit strict.

B&N has been marketing their lending feature as competitive advantage over Amazon and the Kindle.

Amazon's strategy levels the playing field with limited risk to themselves.

It's an excellent business move though not one that really supports Amazon's stated goal of being the "the most customer driven company in the world."

If B&N wants to complete, they're forced to ante up and offer more flexible lending policies.

There may be other issues at play such as publishers licensing rules prohibiting loans exceeding 14-days and the one time limit.

Time and market pressure will tell.

[metal134]

If Amazon ever decides to support ePub or libraires ever decide to support mobi (or especially, both), Nook won't stand a chance.  And that's unfortunate.  I am not a Nook owner, but if Amazon ends up monoploizing the market, that's bad.

[kb7uen Gene]

This announcement could be a possible hint to the future of what Amazon might do in terms of trying to keep up with the Nook and other Ebook readers.  We could finally see epub and the other formats which allow us to take advantage of library lending.

I think unlimited lending should be made available to the troops, and all the other terms of the current arrangement would be the same.  For the troops, who are basically on call twenty four hours a day regardless of whether it is their day off or not really deserve something like this being made available to them.  I would hope the publishers would recognize the importance of what they do, but that might be a pipedream on my part.

Gene

[Ann in Arlington]

If Amazon ever decides to support ePub or libraires ever decide to support mobi (or especially, both), Nook won't stand a chance.  And that's unfortunate.  I am not a Nook owner, but if Amazon ends up monoploizing the market, that's bad.

Some libraries do support mobi, but with a different DRM scheme than Amazon uses which is why you can't borrow for the Kindle.

[Meemo]

+2

I don't know how often I'll borrow books but I'm interested in lending them.  One reason I quit borrowing as many library book as I used to was once I could afford to buy books, I liked not feeling the pressure to have to get them in by a certain date.

There are some books that wouldn't work for me for a 2-week lend.  For example:  I'm hoping I finish Fall of Giants tomorrow, it's a library book that turns into a pumpkin in 22 hours - in fact I should be reading right now!  I think it might stay on my nook longer as long as I don't go "out" of the book, but I'm just not sure.  Besides, I have another library book already loaded that I'll have only about a week to finish but it should be a quick read.  Shorter books, though, I can finish in less than a week.  So I'd be careful which books I tried to borrow with a 2 week lending period. 

[JennaAnderson]

Second, later this year, we will be introducing lending for Kindle, a new feature that lets you loan your Kindle books to other Kindle device or Kindle app users.

I have sooooo many books in my TBR pile that I can't imagine wanting to borrow more.

 

[kcmay]

Second, later this year, we will be introducing lending for Kindle, a new feature that lets you loan your Kindle books to other Kindle device or Kindle app users. Each book can be lent once for a loan period of 14-days and the lender cannot read the book during the loan period. Additionally, not all e-books will be lendable - this is solely up to the publisher or rights holder, who determines which titles are enabled for lending.

I'm especially excited about this feature! YAY!! It's the one Nook feature I sorely wished the Kindle had. Hopefully they'll remove the 1-time limit eventually (or make it a higher number, like 5).

[Toby]

Sounds exciting to me. I'd like to borrow the medical nonfiction book that my father purchased, for the tidbits of info. that I might be interested in. If I really liked the book, I'd more likely buy the book, than keep the book on my list of books to read, which is a very long list.

[mom133d (aka Liz)]

I'm especially excited about this feature! YAY!! It's the one Nook feature I sorely wished the Kindle had. Hopefully they'll remove the 1-time limit eventually (or make it a higher number, like 5).

I can see publishers not wanting you to keep lending the same book to one person, that could lose a sale, but limiting my loan to just once? I questioned that when I saw B&N's loan policy. I have a friend with a Nook and is willing to loan me books for my Nook app but really, I don't know if I could finish a title in a 2 week period. At least, not what he and I typically read.

[Terrence OBrien]

     I suspect the 14 day period and restriction to one loan per book are because Amazon doesn't know what will happen. This is just as new to them as it is to the rest of us. They are going to watch sales vs loans, track what books get loaned, contrast loanable books to non-loanable books, etc. They can always make things looser, but it's really hard to tighten them up once they are in place.
   

[Elk]

Given how easy it is to loan an ebook, even over long distances, the "loan once' policy makes sense.

Publishers do not want to see a person buy a book, then to loan it to dozens of people over the next year via an internet forum.

The shipping cost, and wear and tear, prevents this from happening with a physical book.

[Ade]

If you loan an e-book to three people and two of them don't finish it within 14 days, that could be two more book sales rather than just the one possible with one-time lending.

Great point! Hopefully in time we will see multiple loans made available. It could easily be still restricted to one loan of an ebook to one account, just allow loaning to more than one account.

[sabinfire]

Great concept (and one I hope continues to evolve in its implementation), but 14 days is too short a time-limit for reading a book.  Some shorter books it might work with, same if you're a hardcore reader with time on your hands, but for most people I don't think this would work out too well.