Amazon will remove the option to download/transfer Kindle e-books via USB by February 2025
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It's a streaming service for books at that point.
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Oh, good. I was thinking about buying one but I guess I won't anymore.
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Oh snap! This has opened up a whole new rabbit hole for
memy friend. -
More loss of control over our data.
Boycott Kindle's and their store if you dont agree with this.
Amazon is too big, they control too much. -
The color ones have lower resolution screens and less contrast+brightness than black and white. If you read comics it’s a big step up, but if you read mostly black and white text, it’s a downgrade.
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They're removing the ability to download ebooks from Amazon. You are still able to add books via USB to your device.
The piracy is because you could download your Amazon ebook, strip the DRM and transform it to a more generic format, and distribute it. Unfortunately this now means you'll be unable to make copies of your books for "backup in case Amazon decides to remove access" purposes.
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Good luck doing that to my 2012 5th gen Kindle that's been off the update schedule for an eternity.
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Some hypothetical advice needed…
I bought books through Amazon and used the Kindle app on my phone and Mac. Is there still a method to get these books into an alternative like Calibre or am I screwed if I’ve updated the Kindle app on my Mac?
I want to delete my Amazon account, but I’d love to keep the books I “bought” and “own”.
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https://www.cloudwards.net/remove-drm-from-kindle-books/
This currently works, but I don't know if it will continue working forever - probably not too much longer after this announcement.
The "old Kindle PC app" might keep working in the future, but my guess is that it's going to be done soon as well.
edit: One thing I ran into was after installing the kindle app and turning off the auto-update, it still updates. So keep the installer handy and just reinstall it as needed.
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I agree on the outdated UI, but at least it gives you a ton of options that official apps would never allow you, or babysit you too much to offer.
I've literally used Calibre 2-3 times, and while the UI seemed daunting at first, it was logicaland did did its job quite fast. And I usually don't need tonuse it afterwards for another long period.
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The only effect this will have on me is that I'm going to stop buying books from Amazon.
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The title is misleading, they’re removing the ability to download and transfer from the Amazon side
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For me a big hesitation for getting an e-reader was not feeling like I owned my own media. I love books and felt like this was a very of it ain't broke, don't fix it problem.
After getting one as a gift, I'm a huge fan, I read more than ever and really prefer the e-reader format now.
Unfortunately I think society at large is so used to not owning things anymore that there probably won't be too many people turned off by this. Glad to hear it matters to you - would encourage you to give a different brand / platform a try. -
Nothing is certain, but it looks like you will still be able to download books into local memory so you can read them. As long as the apps still work that way, it will be possible to access the book files.
You do need a tool that can remove the DRM from the books files the Kindle uses. DeDRM used to do this nicely, but it has not been updated to handle the most recent version of Kindle DRM. It will not works on any books published since early 2024.
There are commercial options that can remove even the latest DRM from Kindle books. I use Epubor Ultimate. It was the first to handle the most recent Kindle DRM, but I'm sure there are other by now.
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It is probably worth noting that I am removing the DRM so I can read them on devices that do not have Kindle apps.
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https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill is a thing, although you have to get the exact model in order to make it work.
I really wanted https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book to be a thing, but its very hard to get the parts and assemble (in my opinion).
https://gitlab.com/guyjeangilles/piereader looks promising.
Honestly, the biggest hurtle does NOT appear to be the hardware, its getting the ebook in an open format. If Amazon removes the ability to download the files, then it really doesn't matter what you run, you cant read your book.
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I have a sizable collection of legitimately procured ebooks, it's not that rare if you prioritize it.
But I agree, it's not about hardware. There are plenty of super premium eink displays these days. I don't even want integration with a eink reader at all. I'm happy reading off an OLED screen in a tablet. All I need is convenient library, management and display software that will handle both text and comic book formats.
Everybody seems to be trying to mimic the Kindle ecosystem with all its quirks and hardware dependencies when what I really want is book Plex.
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Yeah, it's been hit and miss with downloading from the Kindle. I mostly get books from the library and strip the DRM from there. I figure it's a win-win, because the library gets a record of the checkout, but then I get to read it at my leisure while the next person gets to read it.
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Wait, you guys were buying books from Amazon?
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I used my kindle for 10 years now, and I never bought one. I did buy ebooks 3rd party plenty.
