Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Abe
The best I can do is download AZW or MOBI files with these 2 readers. At some point in the future, Amazon may force all versions of Kindle for PC to adopt the unfriendly KFX version. I doubt that they will orphan any functioning readers, so the ability to download files that can be transferred into the old readers using USB will remain. Anyway, there are issues with converting AZW files on some books with over 500 pages. They read fine on my K2 and DX, but Calibre gets hung converting them to epub. Thus, I'm thinking about purchasing a used 3rd or 4th generation Fire, which will hopefully allow me to download a KF8 (aka AZW3) file. Has Amazon forced all 4th gen Fires to upgrade to Fire OS 5? For those who still own 3rd gen Fires, can you check which Fire OS is present on your reader?
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It really doesn't matter if the device supports KFX. You do need at least one Kindle registered that supports KF8, however. Any 3rd generation or later Kindle will do. Don't bother getting an old Fire. And newer Fires won't get you anywhere.
Once it is registered, you can go to Content & Devices web page and download AZW3, which is KF8 format. Some books will download as AZW, TPZ, or AZW4, but never KFX.
KFX is just the term used to denote 'the set of files that download directly to the device from Amazon', which can represent any of the formats that device supports. And I don't think too many people pull those off the device and try to decrypt them, it's not that convenient, I don't know if it even works consistently.
It's also possible to use an older version of Kindle app instead, either one that does not support KFX, or one which has been hacked to prevent KFX download (most current one cannot be hacked AFAIK). But you have to worry a bit about automatic updates. And personally I like having the current app around.
So I'd just download from Content & Devices page.
You can generate KFX files from whatever source you have (ePub, mobi, etc.) if you want to side load those to Kindle or Kindle app, and they'll look and feel just like the KFX bundle you'd download directly (enhanced typography etc at least for reflow able content). Send To Kindle won't accept these however.