After buying my Kindle I discovered its ability to borrow and lend kindle books. I instantly loved the concept. A seeming endless source of free legal reading. It was heaven. The only downside was that Amazon does not offer any service that allows users to connect and borrow/lend books to each other (since it is built on the idea that you would borrow a book to a friend instead of a stranger). After some quick research I discovered 3 sites that dedicate themselves to connect Kindle owners to borrow and lend books. I tried them all.
1. Lendle
You can’t borrow if you don’t lend, and you can’t lend if you don’t buy.
Pros:
Free.
Decent size community.
Pays you to lend.
Cons:
Availability is often very limited.
Depends on Amazon allowing access.
Search engine is a hit and miss.
Review:
Lendle was the first site I tried and I loved it instantly. They work on a 'points' system where each point grants you one book request and the point is used only if you receive your book. You get points just for signing up, but then you earn them by lending your own books. The process is easy, painless and I have fun just browsing the site.
On May 23, 2011 Lendle announce they were going to pay users $.50 for each book they lent towards an Amazon gift Card.
Lendle also offers you to become a patron for $25 which gives you more request points when you lend. Allows you to 'book' your spot in line (which is convenient with popular books like 'The Hunger Games') and gives you a nifty banner. You also get different achievements and you get paid $1 per lend instead of $.50. It also removes the 'become a patron' banner.
Minor things I don't like are the lack of adding books to a wishlist to keep better track of them and a more improved search engine. I have found at least one book that just does not show up on the Lendle site at all. And some that sometimes show double entries. It is also amazingly easy to get request points on Lendle which may be a good or bad thing depending how you look at it. As of this writing I had 114 requests available.
2. BookLending
Pros:
Free.
Large community.
Cons:
No stats on book availability.
No clear borrow/lend system.
Review:
BookLending is one giant Amazon reference link. The book titles, the book images all direct you towards Amazon where you can buy the book. The actual borrow or lend links are the small buttons. I personally dislike this because it feels deceitful.
While the open borrow/lend concept sounds great on paper I believe it is counterproductive since users can freely borrow without offering nothing in return.
3. eBookFling
Pros:
Offers both Kindle and Nook lends.
Cons:
You have to pay for extra credits.
Review:
eBookFling doesn't allow you to browse through their books without signing up which gives you a sense of 'private club' but it's really just smoke and mirrors. eBookfling works on a 'credit' system where each credit gets you one book request. The difference is that on this site you can buy credits. Once you sign up, eBookfling offers you to buy 10 credits for $9.99 which is a one time offer (regular credits are 3 credits for $8.99, 10 credits for $19.99, or 20 credits for $29.99). This idea is not bad if you are willing to pay a fraction of what a book would cost you to purchase, but I personally don't like this concept. One, because I refuse to pay for something I can get for free legally. And two, because people can buy credits to borrow books without offering books themselves.
This site's main advantage is that it is the only one that offers Nook lends. It also allows you to create a wishlist.
1. LendInk
Pros:
Free.
Lets you know if a book is actually available or not.
Has Kindle and Nook lends.
Cons:
Odd 'add book' system.
Site feels dead.
Review:
Sign up process is simple. One thing I did not like is that as part of the sign up process you have to add a book to the system. And you have to type it down which just feels sloppy. The bar has the capability to auto fill as you type and I believe this is error prone. You get 3 credits for signing up and adding at least one book.
The book availability system is also very weird. For each available book there is a separate entry. Which is not so bad compared to other systems, but I think it has the capacity to cause problems. For example if you search for the Hunger Games you get 28 separate entries of the same book. I assume each entry is a separate owner that listed the book as owned, and depending which of the multiple entries you select you only request the book from that user? So what if the user is no longer active on the site? This is me just theorizing. I don't know if the system works like this, but it certainly feels that way.
the drawback here is that this site doesn't appear to be on the radar. When you do a Google search for lending sites you usually find the other three pretty quickly. I actually don't even remember how I stumbled upon this site.
WINNER:
Lendle
After trying out and spending around a week with all three websites. choosing to lend my books through Lendle only was a no brainier. And this was before they announced they were going to pay for lends. I have received as much as I've given and even decided to become a patron.
But no matter which site you decide to go with (or even all three) it's nice to know that you are reading and borrowing books in a legal and free way.
True Blood, Vol. 1: All Together Now by Alan Ball
