Amazon Is Killing the Ability to Download eBooks to Your Computer (pcmag.com) 33
"Amazon has long allowed you to download its ebooks to your computer," notes PCMag.com, "where they can serve as a backup or be transferred to other devices.
"However, that feature will end on February 26, 2025, along with the ability to transfer books from your computer to your Kindle via USB." If you attempt to download your ebooks right now, a message says: "Starting February 26, 2025, the 'Download & Transfer via USB' option will no longer be available. You can still send Kindle books to your Wi-Fi-enabled devices by selecting the 'Deliver or Remove from Device' option." After February 26, you will still be able to download Kindle books [onto your Kindle] from the Kindle Store via Wi-Fi, and you can also use the Send to Kindle page on Amazon to send a variety of files to your Kindle.
Should you want to transfer your titles from your Kindle to your computer while you still can, go to Amazon.com, sign in, and click Accounts & Lists > Content Library > Books. Navigate to the book you want to download and click More actions > Download & transfer via USB.
Tom's Guide shares their reaction: Most people probably won't notice this latest example of an Amazon service getting worse, but the feature has existed for over a decade and is useful for backing up your purchases or converting them to formats compatible with other non-Kindle e-Readers or devices. It's also useful for those times when you don't have access to Wi-Fi, and of course, there's peace of mind knowing you have copies of your books... All in all it is a reminder that you don't actually own many or most of your digital purchases, as what you are typically actually "buying" are licenses to use content that can be revoked at any time.
If you find this decision annoying and want to find alternatives, here are a few. To start, might we recommend the Libby app which lets you borrow ebooks from your local library. You can also borrow audiobooks... You can also try purchasing books from places like Google Books and Apple Books, both of which offer a number of ebooks. eBooks.com offers DRM free books and EPUB formats. For those looking for free ebooks there is always Project Gutenberg which has over 75,000 free books largely those in the public domain though there are some more recent titles as well.
"However, that feature will end on February 26, 2025, along with the ability to transfer books from your computer to your Kindle via USB." If you attempt to download your ebooks right now, a message says: "Starting February 26, 2025, the 'Download & Transfer via USB' option will no longer be available. You can still send Kindle books to your Wi-Fi-enabled devices by selecting the 'Deliver or Remove from Device' option." After February 26, you will still be able to download Kindle books [onto your Kindle] from the Kindle Store via Wi-Fi, and you can also use the Send to Kindle page on Amazon to send a variety of files to your Kindle.
Should you want to transfer your titles from your Kindle to your computer while you still can, go to Amazon.com, sign in, and click Accounts & Lists > Content Library > Books. Navigate to the book you want to download and click More actions > Download & transfer via USB.
Tom's Guide shares their reaction: Most people probably won't notice this latest example of an Amazon service getting worse, but the feature has existed for over a decade and is useful for backing up your purchases or converting them to formats compatible with other non-Kindle e-Readers or devices. It's also useful for those times when you don't have access to Wi-Fi, and of course, there's peace of mind knowing you have copies of your books... All in all it is a reminder that you don't actually own many or most of your digital purchases, as what you are typically actually "buying" are licenses to use content that can be revoked at any time.
If you find this decision annoying and want to find alternatives, here are a few. To start, might we recommend the Libby app which lets you borrow ebooks from your local library. You can also borrow audiobooks... You can also try purchasing books from places like Google Books and Apple Books, both of which offer a number of ebooks. eBooks.com offers DRM free books and EPUB formats. For those looking for free ebooks there is always Project Gutenberg which has over 75,000 free books largely those in the public domain though there are some more recent titles as well.
Still buying from bezos? (Score:2, Insightful)
You're the problem, not him.
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I would, but there isn't much to boycott. What have you bought recently that's made in MAGA-land?
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"Made in Viet Nam."
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You're the problem, not him.
If he's not the problem, then there's no problem buying from him.
Clown.
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Exactly. Support open formats.
If it's not available as an EPUB, I'm not reading it. Their loss.
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Exactly. Support open formats.
If it's not available as an EPUB, I'm not reading it. Their loss.
Buy real books and you will never have to worry about someone taking away your access to something you bought.
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Sure. But how is a digital book in open format not a real book? I still have digital books that I bought as OEBs in the last sentury. The Calibre abomination converts them fine and they read on all devices that I have - computers, fondleslabs, including the e-ink ones, whatever.
Netflix too. (Score:4, Interesting)
Their enshitification went under the radar. They "redesigned" their PC app, I use quotes because ultimately all they did was change the standalone app to an Electron based browser UI front end. Except do you remember what the browser couldn't do? No 5.1 surround. No download options. I guess they didn't see people wanting to take laptops on a plane to watch Netflix as a feature anymore. Or consider that some people have PC based home theater systems.
Fuck this enshitification world we live in.
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Their enshitification went under the radar. They "redesigned" their PC app, I use quotes because ultimately all they did was change the standalone app to an Electron based browser UI front end. Except do you remember what the browser couldn't do? No 5.1 surround. No download options. I guess they didn't see people wanting to take laptops on a plane to watch Netflix as a feature anymore. Or consider that some people have PC based home theater systems.
Fuck this enshitification world we live in.
Quite frankly, this is news for me and you can paint me surprised. I am indeed very surprised that they still allowed it until now. I guess they are just playing catch up with the trends in this case.
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I purchased a Google Chromecast a year ago.
The recent Netflix app update means the app requires a lot of patience to use. I scroll down and it now takes a second or more for images/posters to appear (on a 500 Mbps internet connection).
The previous versions of the Netflix app did not have this issue.
The Netflix Android app has been enshitified.
Kindle Reader "Forgets" Gutenberg Books (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, you say that, but...
My sweetie has a Kindle Fire. On several occasions, I've downloaded a Kindle-format file from Project Gutenberg and started reading it. But when I come back to the tablet the next day, it says, "I have no idea what you're talking about," and pretends it never saw the file -- not on the "bookshelf," not in the recent history. Only when I navigate back to the download folder and select the file does the reader app deign to open it, but then soon "forgets" about it again. Damned annoying.
kobo - calbre ok (Score:2)
Old news (Score:3)
I'm struggling to even bother with slashdot these days - first time I've checked the home page in about a month.
The first story I notice is almost a week old, this one.
I guess the fact that the UI and UX is still stuck 20 years in the past says it all.
The glory days of slashdot are LONG behind it.
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You must be new here.
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>"I guess the fact that the UI and UX is still stuck 20 years in the past says it all."
Yep, it says that most here don't want to be forced to find hidden buttons, forced to deal with hidden scrollbars or forced "smooth scrolling" when it is specifically turned off in the browser and desktop, huge 24 point fonts, half the page being whitespace, endless scrolling, popups/unders/overs, low contrast grey on slightly darker grey text, useless progress tickers, hugely annoying animated controls and transitions
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It's not old news if you haven't heard it before.
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>"Expect more of similar moves. [... blah blah blah]"
Don't you people ever get tired of wasting your time, continuously posting off-topic to try and make everything somehow tied to "evil orange man"? It really is annoying.
Real books for the win (Score:2)
As always, if you buy real books (not from Amazon) you never have to worry about someone taking away your right to read what you bought. You can read it wherever you want without having to sign in to anything, never have to worry someone will change the words, no worrying about a proprietary format, and, with few exceptions, don't have to worry about the book becoming corrupted.
The book is yours forever.
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The downside to real books is size and weight. All is fine until you or your job decides you need to be somewhere that is not your current city. I and a friend sawed the bindings off our "real" books, sent them thru an Epson FF-680W scanner, and OCR'd them to about 450 PDF's. The thumb drive and backup hard drives that contain them all now did not require another moving pod and so saved us a real pile of $$$. Also, reading them on a 35" gaming monitor is a lot easier for my 77 years old eyes than th
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Yeah, but I've been warned that I've got incipient macular degeneration, and there's no treatment. So I need to prepare for the requirement of larger fonts. I'd been counting on ebooks, but it looks like Amazon is not a reliable source. (OTOH, the recommendation of ebooks.com looks like a good one. They seem to have a decent selection.)
Annoying (Score:2)
This is the saddest excuse for coverage, Slashdot (Score:5, Informative)
Good lord. This conversation has been happening all over the fediverse for more than a week with far better information than this weak tea.
Who the hell cares what PCMag or Tom's thinks. The answer is plain -- download your epubs locally and stop using Kindles.
The Slashdot of decades past would have pointed out that this "you only got a lease" nonsense is a CHOICE:
1. Some publishers sell their books without DRM -- Baen, Tor and MacMillan all do and you can buy from them direct. Kobo is also an option that still allows downloads.
2. Some ebook readers exist that will read anything. You don't need a Kindle -- why buy into that walled garden at all? Try an Onyx or perhaps a Kobo.
Yes, yes. You can use project gutenberg and the public library (where you still just get temporary access) but here -- have 19 more sources for books you can download: .org .com .net .com .com .net .com .com .com .com .com .org .org .org .com .com .com
Open Library
Google Books
ManyBooks
PDF Drive
Bookboon
Free-Ebooks
Smashwords
DigiLibraries
GetFreeEbooks
Obooko
Baen Free Library
Internet Archive
HathiTrust
Standard Ebooks
ReadPrint
Bookrix
Librophile
Online Books Page.edu
You can manage your LOCAL, backed up library of books with Calibre (which is free) and if you need to read DRM-locked books on your laptop once you've downloaded them, you can use Adobe Digital Editions -- which you can use without breaking the DRM. I won't explain how to strip the DRM, but that is also certainly an option as long as it's for private use.
This site used to be worth something. I'm deeply disappointed in you all.
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Thanks extremely much for that list of sources.
Gettring rid of my Kindle (Score:2)
Enshittification continues (Score:1)
Remember Prime used to be always 1 day shipping?
Remember Prime Video used to have no tiers?
Now this.
I'm not surprised every 15 years or so a "disruptor" appears. In a sense they don't really disrupt. They're just bringing things back from pre-enshittification, a long-forgotten era.