Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovejedd
I'm actually quite concerned that we are already in that transition period.
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This could quite easily be the case. Amazon's current actions are quite consistent with this, though not conclusive. The last device that Amazon released which has not been updated to use kfx is the Paperwhite 1. As I understand it anything older than the Kindle Keyboard supports only azw (mobi) and not azw3. The next step if Amazon is going down this path is for it to remove the option to download azw (mobi) and azw3 files to your computer for transfer via usb. Even if Amazon does this if you own a device older than the Paperwhite 2 you will still be able to obtain the older formats by downloading them to the device and transferring them via usb to your computer for import into calibre.
To close this loophole is problematic. It is possible that Amazon could update the firmware in older devices to support kfx and new drm, though some of the earlier devices particularly may not have the necessary hardware capabilities. I suspect if they were going to do this they would already have done so. Otherwise Amazon would have to not only end support for these devices but actually exclude them from purchasing ebooks from the Amazon store, or perhaps substantially limit available titles. This is not consistent with Amazon's policy so far. Amazon may choose to wait a long time for the numbers of these older devices in use to decline to insignificant levels.