Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but I just heard this morning that Amazon will stop allowing downloads of purchased Kindle books starting after February 25, i.e., two days from now. It appears that the point is to lock you in to Kindle e-readers.
I like my Voyager fine for now, but I don’t like being locked in to anything, so I downloaded all my books to be safe. However, that gives me a bunch of DRMed azw3 files, so it still feels like being locked in. What do you all do? It seems like an app called Calibre might be the answer or part of one anyway. My ideal situation would be to have all my ebooks purchased from anywhere to be available to read in any reader I decide to use. (Yeah, yeah, if wishes were horses …)
Not really an answer, but I just want to make you know that you can read Kindle books on any device, by using the Kindle app. You’re not locked to Kindle devices. I read Kindle books on my Android phone.
I have a Kindle. It is jailbroken, and I just put whatever kind of files I want on it and read them, often using KOReader. I do not bother with any DRMed azw3 files.
I have a Kindle. Most of my reading is paperback books.
It’s mine. I can loan or sell that paperback book. There is a local place that gives credits for used books. I use the credits to buy used paperbacks at that store.
Used bookstores have beèn doing trades for used books since before my childhood. I’d estimate used bookstores have thrived for a hundred years.
It’s only digital books that refuse to transfer full ownership and have the unmitigated gall to say we can’t sell or even loan them later.
OK, let’s table the question of how to jailbreak a Kindle for now. I have 150-odd DRMed azw3 files now. I like the idea of not having to bother with them, but how do I get there?
(2nd question: can you use KOReader on your Kindle, or are you talking about other devices?)
Yes, good point. I actually do that now. However, f I got a different e-reader (or specifically a different e-ink e-reader) that probably wouldn’t work though. In other words, the lock-in isn’t awful, but it’s not great either.
Ah, got it. So, if you don’t start with DRMed azw3, you must not be getting your books from Amazon. Where is that? That is, where should I be getting e-books from now on?
Humble Bundle, Tor Books, Internet Archive, Drivethru RPG, Library Gutenberg, Library Genesis, Libreture, Kobo… Search online for the book(s) you want; just look for formats like EPUB, Mobi, PDF. The author’s web page often has a good link. Even random indie publishers usually offer standard DRM-free formats for a fraction of the cost of a physical book. Also if the book is a few years old it is often downloadable for free from sites like the Internet Archive (free as in cost; there is still a license unless it is in the public domain so you may not turn around and distribute or sell it in that case, not that I am in the business of selling used ebooks…)
Point is, you are not locked into a specific store or format, so you can shop around.
I’m a little unclear on exactly what change(s) Amazon is making. It appears that you can definitely still download ebooks to your Kindle so that you can access them offline. It’s not clear if the Kindle app for the PC or tablet will still be available, but I think it will. The best that I can decipher out of this mess is that the Kindle firmware will no longer allow you to transfer files from a computer to the Kindle over USB. Which is fine with me because I have my Kindle permanently in “airplane mode” so that Amazon can no longer control or update it. There is no way that I’m ever opening up my Kindle to allow Amazon to meddle with the software.
My usual practice has been to buy books via the Kindle app on a PC, and then transfer the file to the Kindle over USB. Usually I will de-DRM it first, which also allows me to change the formatting with Calibre to some other style that I prefer, like changing paragraph formatting or adding justification.
Yes, as @DPRK stated above, Calibre with the right plugin can remove DRM from Amazon books in the AZW3 or MOBI formats and also convert them to other formats like EPUB. The plugin I have with my current Calibre version is different from the one cited above; not sure if it’s still available but this isn’t stuff we’re allowed to talk about here because it’s not strictly legal even though it involves unlocking a book that you’ve paid good money for and are led to believe that you actually own.
Were you able to download books within the Kindle app on a PC and then transfer those to the Kindle via USB? If so, it’s not clear to me whether you’ll still be able to do this or not. But you won’t be able to download them onto your PC (so that you can transfer them) from Amazon’s “Content and Devices” page.
It must have been awhile since I bought a book from Amazon because I have no recollection of a “Content and Devices” page. The way it used to work was that when I bought a book through my Amazon account (not through the Kindle app, and not even on the same PC) there was a dropdown that let me choose which device to deliver it to. I would choose the Kindle app on a laptop. There, I would import the file into Calibre with a de-DRM plugin, then copy it to the Kindle via USB cable using the Kindle’s intrinsic ability to appear as an external hard drive when plugged in over USB.
I read the entire other thread that you linked and am still unsure how much of this may be broken. One thing I recall – though I don’t recall the specific reason for it – is that it was necessary to run an older version of the Kindle app and disable updates.
I was unaware that Amazon had abandoned AZW3 and was now going with EPUB. Since I have no intention of letting Amazon mess with the firmware on my Kindle this means the PC transfer method using Calibre to convert from EPUB to AZW3 is my only option, and that option may not work with the old version of the Kindle app.
Or, put another way, the world continues to get enshittified and Amazon is making it very difficult to buy books from them any more. I may have to give up on them entirely. Or buy a new Kindle to deal with all the new protocols while keeping the old one with my hundreds of e-books permanently offline.
The bit about EPUB was info from a related thread that was linked above and I may have misread it. Every book I’ve bought from Amazon in recent years was AZW3. According to stuff that I quickly Googled, it appears that it’s the “Send to Kindle” feature that’s affected here. You can no longer use that feature for MOBI or AZW3 files but only for EPUB, but the process converts EPUB to AZW3.
I think the “Content Library” page is relatively new but it’s really just a centralized place with what you describe - there’s a list of your books with choices such as “Deliver or remove from device” and then you choose which device to deliver or remove the book from. Or you can choose “Download and transfer via USB” and then choose the device.
As far as I can tell, the “download and transfer” option is only needed if for some reason the Kindle can’t be connected to wi-fi - I’m not sure why you would buy a book from Amazon , remove the DRM and then transfer it to the Kindle device using Calibre, but I think it would still work, as you aren’t using the download and transfer vis USB choice. When I’ve used that choice, it the book ends up in my “downloads” folder - I don’t have a Kindle app on my computer so my guess is you will still be able to do what you describe.
So they aren’t letting you download via USB starting 2/26. I’ve already downloaded my books, and I think you can get the AZW files via Kindle for PC, then follow the instructions in the link above.
Amazon is still using their formats, but EPUB is a nice format to use if you want to buy a non-Kindle, for example. My husband likes his Kobo reader, but that doesn’t read Kindle-format books.
I have been doing much the same as you for years. The reason for keeping an older version of the app was so that books would download in a format that allowed you to import them into Calibre. The newer versions of the app downloaded the files in a different format. About 12 months ago I started getting purchases that would not download using the older version and required a new version of the app. They could be transferred to my Kindle or read in the app on my phone or the browser reader on my PC. I didn’t update the app but I guess this will be the case with everything from the 26th.