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Kindle e-book lending service reinstated after modification of code

23.03.11 | Philip Jones

Lendle, the US-based tool that allows Kindle users to lend their e-books, has been reinstated after Amazon said that its concern related to its "Book Sync tool". The news that Amazon had locked the services out of its API caused a sensation yesterday [22nd March] as news sites and Twitter erupted with consternation. Authors and publishers have previously raised concern over e-book lending and its impact on book sales.

But an update on the Lendle blog read: "Late today, we received an email from an Associates Account Specialist at Amazon informing us that their concern only relates to our Book Sync tool, which syncs a user’s Kindle books with their Lendle account. Amazon informed us that if we disabled this feature, our access to the API, as well as our Amazon Associates account, would be reinstated.

"We appreciate Amazon’s willingness to modify the position stated in the original access revocation email and work with us to get Lendle back on line. We have complied with the request to disable the Book Sync tool (which was a very useful, but non-essential, feature of Lendle)."

Lendle said it had "learned a lot through this process". And added: "We need to work towards a Lendle product that does not rely on APIs provided by Amazon or any other third party. To that end, we’ve already begun brainstorming the next version of Lendle. Suffice it to say, we’ll continue to make good on our promise to keep Lendle the easiest, fastest, fairest and best way to lend and borrow Kindle books."

• Kindle
• Philip Jones