Toward the end of 2010, Amazon finally bowed to pressure over lending e-books. Well, maybe 'bowed to pressure' is a bit of a stretch; let's say that they made a concession. Kindle owners have the option to lend eligible Kindle e-books once, for up to 14 days. This isn't exactly full-blown book lending like we do when passing around dead tree books, but it is a toe in the water start a la NOOK and a way for you to access free e-books (if only for a few weeks at a time). Publishers have the final say in terms of whether a title is eligible for lending or not, so the feature does not apply to all Kindle e-books, but once you get past the eligibility issues, the process is relatively straightforward.