It looks like Amazon is going to be adding a couple of new features to the Kindle and Kindle apps over the coming weeks.
First, Amazon is going to update the Kindle for iPad and iPhone apps to accept newspaper and magazine subscriptions, which have been limited to Kindle hardware products. The Kindle for Android app and other apps will get the same update too later down the line.
Amazon certainly wants to start selling subscriptions on all the iDevices out there as soon as possible since that’s such a big market. It makes you wonder if they will start adding more images and color content to their periodicals.
As for the new ebook lending feature, it will be just like with the Barnes and Noble Nook. In all honesty it sounds a lot cooler than it really is, thanks to limits set by publishers.
With ebook lending you can let someone borrow an ebook 1 time for 14 days. During that time you will not have access to the lent ebook, and once you get it back you cannot lend it again—ever. Publishers determine which ebooks are lendable and which are not.
Looking over at Barnes and Noble’s ebook lending section, there are actually more than I expected. In fact, they have over 107,000 lendable ebooks. Overall B&N lists about 1.9 million ebooks, of those about 272,000 are paid titles, so almost 40% of B&N’s paid ebooks have the lending option.
Source: Kindle Forum
The percentage of LendMe e-books at B&N is higher if you leave out the “really cheap” and “really expensive” titles. Of the 88,127 e-book titles listed in the usual fiction price range of $7.00-$14.99, 48,090 (54+%) are lendable.
Search links:
http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?STORE=EBOOK&FMT=LEND&PRC=7-15
http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?STORE=EBOOK&FMT=EP&PRC=7-15
The division is pretty much by publisher. Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Harlequin, and Dorchester basically don’t allow lending on any of their titles.
The other big publishers generally do allow lending on their titles. That includes Penguin, Macmillan, Kensington, Scholastic, Disney, Soho, Samhain, Workman, and Barnes & Noble.
Thanks, Doug. I didn’t know which publishers were onboard with ebook lending. Good to know.
A lending web site for Nook owners (www.booksfornooks.com) started shortly after the Nook hit the market. They have been very successful in bringing together Nook owners that wish to share there lend-me books to other members. A sister site (www.booksformykindle.com) was launched as soon as the lending feature for the Kindle was announced.
Membership for either site is free. The sites are aimed at Kindle or Nook owners that are seeking others for sharing. Members can search inventory, set alerts, and add books to their wish list. BFN has only been operating since early this year, they are averaging 500 successful loans per month.