Amazon shuts down Lendle

[elf]

Lendle.me, a site for connecting with people to lend those Kindle books that allow lending (1x per book, for two weeks only) has been effectively shut down by Amazon. (They shut off the API that allows for easy listing of what's available. Lendle could still help people find each other, but it'd have to build its own database of ebooks.) CNET seems to have the most details, including the mention that "According to Amazon, Lendle does not 'serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.'"

(Insert rant: because of course, people who got to read a book for free would never buy one later--not to get a permanent copy of that book, nor other books by the same author.)

Several other ebook lending sites for Kindle & Nook, have sprung up recently, and they've got to be wondering what's in store for them. Since loaning books seems like a fairly obvious connection to selling books, readwriteweb speculates that Lendle ran afoul of some other aspect of Amazon's Terms of Service.

Comments

[jumpuphigh]

And I sprained my eyes while rolling them.

Seriously? The thousands of dollars that I have spent on books that I never would if someone hadn't initially lent me a book should count for something. Once again, a company is working to actively drive business away. I just don't understand it.

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks for the heads up.

[delladea]

Unfortunately I'm not surprised. Thanks for the heads up.

[elf]

Looks like it's back up; presumably, Lendle fixed whatever aspects of its site relied on Amazon's API.

Amazon adopted the lending feature, but it's not like they wanted people to USE it. Or at least not most of 'em. Apparently, they didn't expect people to use their online social networks to find other people to share books with.

Because sharing books is such an alien concept; who would ever expect it to happen in social settings? Or to set up a meeting place for book exchanges?

[jumpuphigh]

The sarcasm in your comment just oozes off of the screen. :D

I'm about to fill my tub, put my ereader in a ziploc and take a hot bath. I love my ereader. /has nothing to do with this post; just sharing

[jumpuphigh]

I wonder what happens if you strip the DRM and then try to use the lending feature.

[elf]

Won't work; the DRM-stripped version isn't the same version that's in Amazon's cloud. The stripped version has different digital metadata, different hashtag and all that.

I don't know if non-DRM'd self-published ebooks are eligible for the lending feature. It didn't come up at B&N; all their books are DRM'd.

[musyc]

put my ereader in a ziploc and take a hot bath

...

The elegance of this solution never occurred to me before.

[jumpuphigh]

I give full credit to elf. It didn't occur to me either. She suggested it.

Now, I think I should take a bath. :D

[jumpuphigh]

Stripping DRM and emailing, while not an elegant solution to lending an ebook that you purchased, still is probably the best bet for users.