News Amazon’s killing a feature that let you download and backup Kindle books

[AgentPete]

The Verge has the story:

Starting on February 26th, 2025, Amazon is removing a feature from its website allowing you to download purchased books to a computer and then copy them manually to a Kindle over USB.

There are a few reasons why some Kindle users might miss this feature. It’s useful if you don’t have access to a Wi-Fi network, and although it’s a tedious process since purchased books can only be downloaded one at a time, there’s some peace of mind in knowing you have offline copies of all your books.

The feature is also the easiest way to convert books purchased from Amazon to other formats like EPUB that can be used on alternative devices such as a Kobo. Books downloaded through Amazon’s website are delivered in the older AZW3 format which allows DRM to be easily removed using various software tools.

Personally, it doesn’t really impact me since I’ve fallen out of love with my Kindle. I find reading on it is a soulless experience. But for others, this may be important.

 

[E G Logan]

My Kindle (Series 3, with keyboard) is about to turn itself off for ever. It's still teetering on the edge, thinking about it.
BUT this has made me really conscious of the things about it I really like, most of which came with it from the beginning and were not of my making.
Like the way the 'pages' are laid out and the crazy 'percentage read' number at bottom left. I find that one makes me smile when I see the predictable 'cliffhanger' or 'big swerve' in a psychological thriller has indeed come right on 50%.
I HATE the way it offers to tell me how many readers have underlined a passage that seems to me either bog-standard ordinary or even utterly fatuous. Why should I care? I suspect this is an irritation that will carry forward to my newer generation Kindle, still in its box since the last time Series 3 declared itself unwell.
During what may be this last indisposition, I have in desperation turned to reading my latest Kindle purchases on my laptop, using the upgraded, updated Kindle for Mac. (At 65% on a psych-thrill, are you going to stop reading? Thought not.)
I hate the way it lays out pages in two columns, the typefaces it offers and then doesn't seem to implement... I don't have my 'percentage read' any more, but I do still have the loathsome underlining offer... I hate it.

When I finally do have to transfer over my books to my new Kindle, I may be back here begging for assistance...

 

[Rich.]

but I do still have the loathsome underlining offer... I hate it.

Me too. Go into the settings and turn it off. I don't have my Kindke with me right now, so I can't tell you exactly where to look but suffice to say, you can turn this feature off, along with pretty much everything else that may annoy you.

As for Amazon turning off the website download feature, there are, and have long been, ways (far more effective ways) to make copies of the books you've bought and store them as you see fit.

Almost every book I read is read on a Kindle, so I very much have a love-hate relationship with Amazon.

 

[E G Logan]

Go into the settings and turn it off.

I've tried. I even held on, held on and eventually contacted someone at Kindle (Indian sub-continent somewhere)– and my Series 3 is too old. At least the instructions she sent me (for a Paperwhite, the oldest she could see) bore no resemblance to any of its functions.
If/when I have to move to the new one, I will do that, first-off.

Have you seen the newest version of Kindle for Mac? It's taking a lot of flak.

 

[AgentPete]

I HATE the way it offers to tell me how many readers have underlined a passage that seems to me either bog-standard ordinary or even utterly fatuous. Why should I care?

No-one cares It’s typical of a feature that’s designed by programmers. It’s a feature that non-readers think readers will like.

When I finally do have to transfer over my books to my new Kindle, I may be back here begging for assistance...

May be harder to do than we think.

The essence of the above story, not well expressed, is that since you do not own your Kindle purchases, Amazon can – and will – do whatever they like to them. Which includes, on occasion, summarily wiping them from your Kindle without a by-your-leave.

Allowing users direct access to copy and move the Kindle file itself opens up the possibility of converting the file to a different format and using it on non-Amazon devices. You are in effect being locked out of the thing that you thought you’ve just purchased.

What folk don’t always appreciate is that you license your Kindle purchases, you don’t own them in the same way as you own a paperback.

Almost every book I read is read on a Kindle, so I very much have a love-hate relationship with Amazon.

I’ve been a lone voice for a long time now urging publishers to aggressively campaign to open up the Kindle ecosystem to third parties. Which would have a truly revolutionary effect. But publishers are, rightly, very frightened of Amazon.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Where's the pirate engineer who can find a way to use these no longer supported machines to publish underground outside of Amazon. I think this might affect the ability to put your own books onto Kindle to read? Music so needs an international underground pirate station for new songs. I am sick of listening to canned radio.

 

[Rich.]

I've tried. I even held on, held on and eventually contacted someone at Kindle (Indian sub-continent somewhere)– and my Series 3 is too old

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that! I didn't think, but I guess reader highlights weren't a thing when the 3rd gens were released.

Have you seen the newest version of Kindle for Mac? It's taking a lot of flak.

I haven't. I'll take a look.

The essence of the above story, not well expressed, is that since you do not own your Kindle purchases, Amazon can – and will – do whatever they like to them.

Indeed, but as I alluded to above, there are fairly straightforward ways to make device-neutral backups of your Kindle purchases. This is of course a far from optimal way of doing things, I'd be the first to admit.

I'm probably also guilty of laziness when it comes to exploring different options for purchasing ebooks. I was bought a Kindle years ago to make it easier to buy English-language books here in Spain, and I've been tied in to the Amazon ecosystem ever since (and I've come to prefer reading digitally). Any and all suggestions for doing things differently would be gratefully received.

But publishers are, rightly, very frightened of Amazon.

Yes, I'm sure, publishers of every kind. Thanks for that voice of yours, Pete. I hope you won't always be campaigning alone.

 

[E G Logan]

o make it easier to buy English-language books here

Absolutely. Me, too. My local bookshop, only one in town, stocks Jeffery Archer! The owner means well, but...

And as long as my Series 3 is still tottering on, I shall wrestle with it, rather than starting afresh with the newer one I was given.
I admit I find the idea of trying to transfer my books (500+) daunting. I wouldn't want to keep all of them, frankly, but it'd still be a fair few.
I have a friend here who has two Kindles, K1 and K2, having started completely from scratch with the second one...

 

[HankM]

It seems everyone is missing the point. An author uploaded an ePub to Amazon. He SELLS it for let's say 10 Euros or Dollars or whatever. I don't have a Kindle. I don't want a Kindle and I'll NEVER own a Kindle.

I download the ePub to my laptop or desktop and read it on my computer. It's MINE I bought and paid for it. This is no longer true so I will never buy another ePub from Amazon.

This will affect you as an author because all the people I know are like me. I bought and paid for it and it's MY property, not Amazon's, who can decide that a non-binary object identifying as a refrigerator in the USA can find a sentence that OFFENDS it and complains so Amazon withdraws the book.

So now the book I was halfway through reading is GONE. No, thank you very much.

As of the 26th, I promise I will NEVER upload an ePub (Kindle) to Amazon again and I will never download one either. I don't CARE how good your book is. I will never PAY for something I don't own!

I'm going to complain and boycott Amazon books. In fact, I think I'll boycott Amazon altogether.

I would seriously suggest EVERYone does the same

 

[izi 出久]

It’s typical of a feature that’s designed by programmers.

I spilled some coffee laughing about this.

 

[AgentPete]

I spilled some coffee laughing about this.

Sorry, no offence meant
But I can just hear the conversations… “Hey, we could code a progress bar!” or, “Wow, lets show ‘em what other readers are underlining!” So many features, so much bloat

 

[izi 出久]

Sorry, no offence meant
But I can just hear the conversations… “Hey, we could code a progress bar!” or, “Wow, lets show ‘em what other readers are underlining!” So many features, so much bloat

It’s true

 

[RK Wallis]

I will never PAY for something I don't own!

Totally agree!

 

[Pamela Jo]

I've just been going thru this with audio books. I download them to my computer and then wanted to load them onto a stick to play in a tablet. One of those things that is always supposed to be theoretically possible, but turn out to be true only if yu buy the most expensive newest incarnation. I just bought a somewhat vintage fire tablet that may work, but my audible books are where I take this stand. I was promised I own them forever. This is just more of the "I owe my soul to the company store" future. Amazon has always had it's sights on being that company store. `One wonders what kind of Mars colony they plan on building for themselves, these tech bros for whom spaceships have replaced yachts. The only solution to so many egos I can see would be Medieval city states-each with it's own pope.

 

[AgentPete]

One wonders what kind of Mars colony they plan on building for themselves

I think that’s reserved for Felon Musk, no?
But the prospect of a couple of sub-trillionaires duking it out in space sure is good box office...

 

[Pamela Jo]

I think that’s reserved for Felon Musk, no?
But the prospect of a couple of sub-trillionaires duking it out in space sure is good box office...

Bezos is competing with his own spaceship so yeah. And then there's the Chinese billionaire tyrant. I guess it depends if you can afford the popcorn the spectacle deserves or you've just starved to death. Aain I see at the botom of this that there is no price out to the resources used. They are spending our oxygen, our water, our fossil fuel resources and not paying a penny for it.

 

[Rich.]

My local bookshop, only one in town, stocks Jeffery Archer! The owner means well, but...

I know what you mean. The tiny English section in my local library has some Archer, a couple of Lee Childs, a Stephen King... and a few books I donated. And the only English titles in the local bookshop are for kids.

And as long as my Series 3 is still tottering on, I shall wrestle with it, rather than starting afresh with the newer one I was given.

I don't blame you. I now have a Paperwhite (11th generation and also a gift) and it was fairly tedious to re-download my Amazon books. More generally, I use  Calibre ebook management software and a few plugins to organize my digital library. It's worth looking into if you haven't already.

 

[Pamela Jo]

How to backup library (converting AAX to MP3)

I want to backup all my books but when I download a book from audible it’s AAX format that only audible can read. All I found are some fishy...

www.redditmedia.com

 

[Pamela Jo]

I know what you mean. The tiny English section in my local library has some Archer, a couple of Lee Childs, a Stephen King... and a few books I donated. And the only English titles in the local bookshop are for kids.


I don't blame you. I now have a Paperwhite (11th generation and also a gift) and it was fairly tedious to re-download my Amazon books. More generally, I use  Calibre ebook management software and a few plugins to organize my digital library. It's worth looking into if you haven't already.

Try the local goodwill. It may be hard to find, but there will be one.

 

[Pamela Jo]

How to backup library (converting AAX to MP3)

I want to backup all my books but when I download a book from audible it’s AAX format that only audible can read. All I found are some fishy...

www.redditmedia.com

PIRATE! Release Libation 11.1 · rmcrackan/Libation God I love pirates. This guy is probably chubby with bad knees, but pirates are still sexy.

 

[Rich.]

Try the local goodwill. It may be hard to find, but there will be one.

Indeed. Goodwill is pretty easy to come by in Spain, and I've been here eighteen years, so I'm very much part of the community where I live. There's a vibrant culture of swapping and passing things on. But English is still a minority language here, the tourism industry notwithstanding (most of which, as far as foreign tourism goes, is not where I live).

 

[izi 出久]

I think that’s reserved for Felon Musk, no?
But the prospect of a couple of sub-trillionaires duking it out in space sure is good box office...

Why all the Musk hate??? His DOGE saved taxpayers $8 BILLION!!!! Er, what’s that? Oh, make that $8 million. What’s a few zeroes. Hmm? $80,000? Well…. That’s more something than nothing so….. oh never mind.