Amazon’s killing a feature that let you download and backup Kindle books
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The only surprising thing about this is that the functionality existed in the first place.
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The optimist in me says they're doing this to avoid piracy.
The pessimist in me says they're doing this so they can purge books because of the Trump administration.
Either way, I can't say I'm a fan.
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Por que no Los dos?
You will own nothing and like it!
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If only there were some way to get books to read in a format where a billionaire's trillion dollar company can't gatekeep them.
Some sort of physical product, perhaps one made out of trees?
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That's terrible...
Just fyi there is some good publishers like baen that still support and don't plan on removing ebook format downloads.
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Ugh, thanks for the warning. Time for me to download and de-drm all my old kindle books and never again buy anymore.
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That's why I avoided Kindle and picked a Kobo. Sure you can remove DRMs from the books you've bought. But at some point they could block you from doing that. They can change anything at anytime and there's nothing you can do about it.
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Absurd. Glad I have a Kobo.
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It's the old bait and switch, they had to have this feature to build initial trust in ebooks.
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I know I switched ages ago but I've never managed to port my existing library of ebooks off the kindle
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If only there was a library for geniuses where I can read in a format that billionaires aren't able to gatekeep what I read on my e-ink device.
Some sort of website, perhaps one on the internet?
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While I don't disagree, I still think using a Kindle device is stupid.
No reason that they can't just go 'oh we didn't sell those books, we should clean up all that unauthorized content' at some point in the future.
Buy something that's not made by Amazon, even if it costs a bit more or has worse features, because well, they're not to be trusted.
(Or custom non-connected firmware if that's a thing for Kindles. Never really looked so no idea if that's a thing.)
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Totally did not see this coming. Like, fifteen years ago or whenever.
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early models didn't have wifi, only usb or cellular from one provider or another--and those models' 3g connectivity was killed off years ago.
this will obsolete all the non-wifi kindles still in use.
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Yep. Not to gloat, but I never touched Amazon's ebook marketplace.
My current e-reader is a second-hand Kindle that has a permanent message asking if I would just please connect to a WiFi network just one time just for a moment PLEEEEEASE.
I get my books from libgen, Gutenberg, or Kobo, and keep them on my computer. They're organized in Calibre, and I transfer them over on a USB cable.
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I’m waiting for them to get rid of the send-to-kindle email thing to receive books from calibre. I’m surprised it has survived for this long. I’ve wanted to try out a kobo but can’t justify it cause my 10+ year old kindle still works perfectly fine for reading. But once they remove that feature or drop support for my device, it’s kobo time.
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That is no different than Kobo. Thus far, Rakuten have been pretty good about not caring more than the bare minimum. But there is nothing stopping them from doing the same bullshit with firmware updates to the kobos and drm updates to the store and apps.
I am finally migrating from kindle to kobo (tried kindle to boox last year and it was bad...) but I am under no illusions that I am just hoping one company is better than another. I mean, the other is Amazon so it is a pretty safe bet. But still.
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I have both. My kindle's old and I just keep it permanently on airplane mode and sideload it.
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I recommend actually listening to some authors.
The "gatekeeping" back in the days before ebooks was infinitely worse than it is now. These days? Basically anyone who can fill out a webform can publish a kindle book. And other stores aren't much harder. And those ebooks can be sold indefinitely.
Contrast that with needing to find a publisher who is willing to allocate some of their limited production time to you. And then hope that Borders et al are willing to put you on the shelf. And then realize that you are never getting another penny for that book because the first MMPB run ran out and you aren't getting a second because you didn't sell enough to justify it.
