Amazon has announced that it will allow Kindle users to lend books to each other, providing publishers agree.
Lending will be allowed under strict conditions and only for a fortnight.
“Each book can be lent once for a loan period of 14-days and the lender cannot read the book during the loan period,” Amazon said in a statement. “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.”
The company says that the service will be available later this year.
The inability to pass books on once they’ve been read is one drawback of Kindle and other ebook readers such as the iPad, Nook and Sony Reader. All employ DRM to prevent unauthorised copying of purchased titles.
