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Amazon Stymies Lendle E-book Lending Service

Posted by Soulskill on from the pulling-the-rug dept.

CheerfulMacFanboy writes "CNET quotes Lendle co-founder Jeff Croft: 'They [Amazon] shut the API access off, and without it, our site is mostly useless. So, we went ahead and pulled it down. Could we build a lending site without their API? Yes. But it wouldn't be the quality of product we expect from ourselves.' Croft also said 'at least two other Kindle lending services got the same message' yesterday.'"

5 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Read... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Without the functionality being sanctioned by Amazon's own API, we aren't sure if there is a legal sinkhole waiting to ruin us.

    10$ says Amazon has their own 'lending' service come online involving modest per-loan fees within 6 months.

  2. Hay guyz by Alex+Belits · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's make a web site that completely and entirely depends on some interface provided by large perpetually hungry company!

    And compete with that company!

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
    1. Re:Hay guyz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why would you buy a book that can:

      a) be remotely disabled

      b) be remotely altered

      c) decide when/where/how you read it.

      All under the control of Amazon... a profit driven company.

      It's basically sleepwalking into 1984.

  3. Dear Amazon by argStyopa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While I understand that the Kindle is sold somewhat as a loss-leader and a mechanism to try to sell ebooks for absurd prices (it's bad enough that paperbacks are $9; to charge that same price that costs you NOTHING to duplicate, NOTHING to store, NOTHING to ship, NOTHING to advertise is...hard to swallow), at some point even your lawyer-swaddled management must recognize that if one too blatantly attacks all *reasonable* means of use of that hardware, the only things left are going to be people who are willing and able to use your hardware WITHOUT your consent/cooperation, ie pirates.

      Cutting off Lendle (and with a classy c&d sent from a 'do not reply' email address and no recourse to appeal or discuss), secretly editing books, purging books that people have purchased - all of these things simply indicate that you as a vendor are untrustworthy. Therefore the trusting will go elsewhere, the unscrupulous will continue to use Kindles and here's the kick: you're not going to see a DIME of their activities.

    --
    -Styopa
  4. Re:Capitalism At Its Finest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You've previously stated that you make close to $150k, why not just say that instead of skirting around the question?

    Oh, I know, it's because you know no one will take your claim of being "poor" seriously. Well, fortunately for us, this isn't 4chan and your posts never get erased.

    Have a nice day. :)