Wait, you guys were buying books from Amazon?
Yeah, some of us made that miskate years ago. I can transfer mp3 just fine, why can’t I transfer a book file too? Lots of people entire book libraries are being held hostage by Amazon.
DRM ripping was a pain, I used some sketch program that had only worked with a specific old version of Kindle for PC to turn all my books into ebubs.
I love my kindle, but not buying books from Amazon anymore and next ereader won’t be kindle.
Fun unrelated fact, kindle unlimited books could also be downloaded for USB transfer.
Yeah it is strange. I have bought mp3s on Amazon and downloaded the DRM free mp3 to listen to on my preferred player of choice. But, why is the stance on books different?
Amazon was originally a bookseller, so it was their main source of income. I don’t know how much money they make from MP3s, but it probably isn’t much. I don’t think DRMing their music is worth it for them. Many people view music as a service now and don’t even own any music. I keep expecting Amazon to switch over to streaming-only like Google did.
Then use the library for the rest of the series if needed. :-).
Put it on airplane mode the day I bought it. Calibre is godsent
Kindle jailbreak ftw
A friend of mine was curious about this Kindle jailbreak of which you speak. Could you elaborate on how the jailbreak works for a Kindle?
Tell your friend to search for winterbreak
You should definitely not try to find info on how to take your Kindle on a WinterBreak ;)
Oh snap! This has opened up a whole new rabbit hole for
memy friend.
Good luck doing that to my 2012 5th gen Kindle that’s been off the update schedule for an eternity.
The title is misleading, they’re removing the ability to download and transfer from the Amazon side
So i won’t be able to download my ebooks from amazon.com to my PC, right?
Correct. If you do it now, there’s a notice about this feature going away.
The discontinuation does not eliminate the ability to drag and drop files onto a Kindle; it simply removes a method that facilitated piracy by transferring older retail book formats via USB.
Err, what? So it’s only going to block certain file types?
Oh, good. I was thinking about buying one but I guess I won’t anymore.
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.
I got a second hand 2011 model for free. I leave it in airplane mode and copy the books over via USB after converting them with calibre. I would not buy an amazon e-reader in the future. Simply because they are a shitty company.
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”.
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.
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 others by now.
It is probably worth noting that I am removing the DRM so I can read them on devices that do not have Kindle apps.
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.
It’s a streaming service for books at that point.
So no download from their website?
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.