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Barnes & Noble claims on its Web site that the Nook has several advantages over the Kindle -- for one thing, a Nook book can be lent to friends. You can forward the text to another user.
The current thing being talked about is extremely limited. You can lend to one friend. One time. You can't pick two friends, not even serially, so once you've loaned one book to one friend, that's it.

What do you say to Kindle users who like to read in the bathtub?
I'll tell you what I do. I take a one-gallon Ziploc bag, and I put my Kindle in my one-gallon Ziploc bag, and it works beautifully. It's much better than a physical book, because obviously if you put your physical book in a Ziploc bag you can't turn the pages. But with Kindle, you can just push the buttons.

What if you dropped your Kindle in the bathtub?
If it's sealed in a one-gallon Ziploc bag? Why don't you try that experiment and let me know.

Jeff's right on the Nook. I was excited about the ability to "share" books. Since it's only a one-time deal (and only for 14 days), it quickly loses its appeal.

I'm tempted to try the Kindle in the bath experiment. If it's sealed in a Ziploc bag and then gets wet, I wonder if Amazon will replace the device.

This trompe l’oeil cover opens just like a book, and features a delightful quote from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Made from durable, subtly textured cotton canvas and coated for extra protection, this cover is also lined with a soft synthetic suede interior that helps protect your nook from scratches and handling while you read. For added convenience, an angled pocket on the inside of the cover is perfect for notes and cards.

Out of the gate, the Nook has much cooler covers for the Nook than Amazon has for the Kindle -- even now!

Share favorite eBooks with your friends, family, or book club. Most eBooks can be lent for up to 14 days at a time. Just choose the book you want to share, then send it to your friend's reader, cell phone, or computer.

Barnes and Noble's new Nook eBook reader looks cool. The part that sets it apart from the Kindle (for now at least), is the ability to lend a book to someone else.

The color touch screen is nice, but the lending is the killer feature.

Your move, Amazon.

On Monday, the Kindle 2 will become the first e-reader available globally. The only other events as important to the history of the book are the birth of print and the shift from the scroll to bound pages. The e-reader, now widely available, will likely change our thinking and our being as profoundly as the two previous pre-digital manifestations of text. The question is how. And the answer can be found in the history of earlier book forms.

I'm all for the Kindle, and the wireless content delivery internationally is killer, but I don't know if it's enough to be a milestone in the book's history.

Problem: You spend too much on books and don't have time to go to the library.

Solution: Rent classics or new releases from sites like Paperspine.com. Much like Netflix, the online movie-rental service, Paperspine sends books to your mailbox for a fee. Monthly plans start at $14.95 for up to three books at a time, with free two-way shipping, no late fees and an unlimited rotation of copies. The site stocks more than 200,000 fiction and nonfiction titles, searchable by genre or categories such as "bestsellers" and "at the movies." Members can also purchase over 400,000 unused titles at discounts of up to 50%; nonmembers pay a yearly fee of $19.95 to get the reduced book-purchasing rates. Bookswim.com, another rental service, lets monthly subscribers keep the books they like, at second-hand prices. The site focuses on recently released best-selling paperbacks and hardcovers. Their starter rental plan, for $19.98 a month, delivers three books at a time with no shipping or late fees. Students also can rent textbooks at pay-per-book semester rates (delivered through a third party, Chegg.com). Booksfree.com rents paperbacks and audiobooks in CD or MP3 formats, with plans starting at $10.99 a month. Audible.com, owned by Amazon.com, has more than 60,000 audiobooks, podcasts and audible magazines, which can be downloaded to most digital players or streamed to a computer.

--Paola Singer

I love the idea of renting books. Since the Kindle, though, if it's not an eBook, I think twice about if I really want to read the book right now.

I would love the ability to rent, or at least resell, eBooks (Kindle or others).