Kindle to Add Library Lending Feature

Kindle users will be able to go to the virtual library soon. A new feature scheduled to launch later this year will allow anyone with a Kindle (or a phone with the Kindle app) to download e-books from their local libraries for free for a limited span of time, USA Today reports. Library e-books have been available to users of Barnes & Noble's Nook and Sony's Reader, and the Kindle Library Lending Feature brings Amazon in line with those rivals, notes the Financial Times.

“We’re doing a little something extra here,” says Amazon’s Kindle director. “Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no,” but with the Kindle, you can highlight text and add notes to your heart’s content—and if you ever check out the book again, all those notes, and any bookmarks you’ve placed, will be intact. Other borrowers won't see them. (More e-books stories.)