Website creates a virtual library to lend Kindle books

By Laura Khalil Published July 18, 2017

KindleLendingClub.com provides a platform to browse, lend and request hundreds of thousands of Kindle ebook titles. When the site connects a book borrower and lender, the borrower can download the title to her Kindle reader, smartphone, iPad or PC within seconds. The service is entirely free for both lenders and borrowers and the book is automatically returned to its owner after 14 days. KindleLendingClub.com is, in effect, a crowdsourced virtual lending library.

Amazon rolled out Kindle’s new book lending feature on December 30, 2010. Kindle owner and KindleLendingClub.com founder Catherine MacDonald heard about Kindle book lending in response created a community on Facebook where people could meet to lend and borrow. The Facebook community immediately caught on like wildfire, attracting hundreds of people, and Catherine realized that this demand for a way to easily borrow and lend ebooks online warranted a custom-developed web application; KindleLendingClub.com was born. In public beta for just over a week, the website is already serving 7,000+ people and it has facilitated 2,500+ book loans.

Recommended Videos

The site is still very much in beta and has a few kinks to work out. The selection is limited, but the site has been live less than a month, and we’d expect to see the selection and variety grow over time as the idea of sharing e-books with strangers kicks off.

The Amazon Kindle lending program only permits an owner to lend a copy of any given ebook once, ever, and only for a maximum of 14 days. Book borrowers who do not want to wait their turn to borrow a popular title, who want to reread or refer back to a book, or who just don’t have time to finish reading the book are likely to buy, she says. “I recently borrowed Jonathan Franzen’s ‘Freedom’ and I just didn’t have time to finish it. Now I’m going to have to purchase my own copy.”

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Laura is a tech reporter for Digital Trends, the editor of Dorkbyte and a science blogger for PBS. She's been named one of…

Topics

Computing

iPad is the best secondary screen I’ve used with a MacBook

You can extend your MacBook's screen by using an iPad as a secondary monitor.

I spend an unhealthy amount of time lurking in communities where people share aesthetic desktop setups. One of my friends recently set the group chat on fire with a triple monitor setup that had two vertical screens and an ultrawide curved panel at the center. An impulse swipe later, I achieved a similar makeover for my desk at home.

Here’s the problem, though. My $600 workstation overhaul did bring me visual joy, but not much utility. For reporting assignments, I spend the majority of the year away from home, working from deserted cafes or unnaturally uncomfortable bunk beds. I do miss the convenience of large secondary screens. Interestingly, that yearning is addressed by a rather unconventional device —the humble iPad.

Computing

Here’s how Apple’s first foldable MacBook might win me over

The Zenbook Fold 17 open on a table.

Rumors have persisted for years now that Apple is working on a touchscreen MacBook, but I’ve never been truly convinced. For one thing, I don’t see how a touchscreen could improve my MacBook experience enough to justify the inevitable price rise. This is Apple we’re talking about, after all, and there’s just no way that a touchscreen MacBook will possibly come cheap.

As well as that, I’ve long agreed with Steve Jobs’ belief that adding a touchscreen to a regular MacBook is an ergonomic nightmare. Constantly reaching up to the display is a quick way to exhaust your arms, and paining its users isn’t really part of Apple’s playbook. The Mac operating system isn’t designed for touch either, and in any case, adding a touchscreen would result in all manner of greasy fingerprints on your monitor. It’s never seemed like a good idea to me.

Computing

The MacBook Air proves you don’t need AI to create a world class laptop

Apple MacBook Air 13 M4 front angled view showing display and keyboard.

Our review of the M4 MacBook Air has just dropped, and it’s fair to say it’s one of the best laptops money can buy. For the first time ever, we gave it full marks and a five-star score, with our reviewer dubbing it “as close to perfect” as any laptop they’d seen. There’s no question that it raises the bar for thin and light laptops.

You name it, the MacBook Air has it: impressive performance that belies its lightweight design, build quality that will stand the test of time, a quiet and fanless operation that ensures you can work in peace, a comfortable keyboard and expansive trackpad, and so much more.