Amazon's Kindle e-reader is a nice device. You want to know what's not so nice? Not being able to share your favorite copy of one of those thick-as-hell Lord of the Rings books with a friend.
According to the Wall Street Journal, you'll be able to lend select Kindle e-books — once — and only for 14 days.
To add more craziness to the digital sharing, books that are lent out from your Kindle will not be accessible until they are "digitally returned" back.
Note that the key words for all this digital lending is "select e-books." Not all of Amazon's 720,000 e-books will gain the feature. Amazon says that the sharing decision will be up to publishers and right holders. Amazon is slated to flip the switch on e-book lending by the end of the year.
What do you think? How do you feel about the restrictions? Will this new sharing feature bridge the gap between e-books and physical books? At least it doesn't cost any additional fees just to lend an e-book right?
