Mar 22
One of the major arguments around buying paper books instead of electronic copies is that you can always lend or borrow a paper book to or from your friends when you want to.
A few months ago, Amazon unveiled a similar feature for books purchased through the Kindle Store, which allowed Kindle book buyers to loan a title to a friend for 14 days. Barnes and Noble has a similar feature for books purchased for the Nook. From that feature, Lendle, a social network and lending service that connects Kindle book owners with people interested in borrowing a title from them, was born.
Now, Amazon has revoked Lendle’s API access, effectively shutting the service down because – according to Lendle – they don’t “serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.” Lendle and its users are upset to say the least, but Amazon’s eBook policy makes it clear: when you buy a book from the Kindle store, you’re essentially “renting” the book from Amazon – you don’t entirely “own” the book, and Amazon reserves the right to change how you can use the book when they choose to.
Still, its unlikely that Lendle, its users, or any other similar services will find much sympathy from Amazon on the matter. The eBook argument is analgous to digital music: as much as customers say that the ability to preview, demo, or try out content makes them more likely to buy it, companies that sell that content see those features as a gateway to lost sales instead.
[via TechCrunch]
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