Amazon and DRM changes

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It's also possible that Amazon will disable any old pre-PW1 Kindles entirely in the future. So that there will be no way to deDRM at all, unless the KFX encryption will be successfully cracked.

I doubt it. They've kept those seriously obsolete Kindles (pre-KF8) going for a very long time. If Amazon was to disable them, it would cause a major ruckus (IMHO). If they did that, they would force everyone to have to have a KFX compatible Kindle.

In these economic troubles, not everyone with an old Kindle can afford to buy a new Kindle. So it would be in Amazon's best interest not to disable those Kindles.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I doubt it. They've kept those seriously obsolete Kindles (pre-KF8) going for a very long time. If Amazon was to disable them, it would cause a major ruckus (IMHO). If they did that, they would force everyone to have to have a KFX compatible Kindle.

In these economic troubles, not everyone with an old Kindle can afford to buy a new Kindle. So it would be in Amazon's best interest not to disable those Kindles.

Not now, but in a few years, who knows. At this point I wouldn't put anything past them.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Not now, but in a few years, who knows. At this point I wouldn't put anything past them.

Well, once they do that, they will lose customers.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Well, once they do that, they will lose customers.

I doubt they'll care. People who can't afford a new Kindle (even the basic model) probably can't afford to buy that many books either. Chances are they use KU, a public library, Project Gutenberg or wait for sales instead of buying books for a full retail price.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I doubt they'll care. People who can't afford a new Kindle probably can't afford to buy that many books either. Chances are they use KU, a public library, Project Gutenberg or wait for sales instead of buying books for a full retail price.

And they won't be able to use KU or the library or buy eBooks from Amazon as they won't have a device that handles KFX. And if they don't know about removing DRM and/or converting, they will be cut off (mostly).

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And they won't be able to use KU or the library or buy eBooks from Amazon as they won't have a device that handles KFX.

Yeah, but as I said, I doubt Amazon would care. Someone mentioned that visionaries seem to be gone from their management and they've been replaced by hard-boiled money types. I tend to agree with this assessment.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah, but as I said, I doubt Amazon would care. Someone mentioned that visionaries seem to be gone from their management and they've been replaced by hard-boiled money types. I tend to agree with this assessment.

Or everyone that cared about the customers have been terminated.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I doubt it. They've kept those seriously obsolete Kindles (pre-KF8) going for a very long time. If Amazon was to disable them, it would cause a major ruckus (IMHO). If they did that, they would force everyone to have to have a KFX compatible Kindle.

In these economic troubles, not everyone with an old Kindle can afford to buy a new Kindle. So it would be in Amazon's best interest not to disable those Kindles.

All indications are that Amazon wants Kindle books to be read using Kindle apps and devices. As long as their telemetry tells them that those devices are still mainly being used for reading then Amazon has incentive to keep supporting them. If instead a significant use appears to be for downloading without reading, implying book extraction by the customer, then Amazon will be less inclined to keep them going.

[Quoth]

Most people seem content to use direct WiFi/Mobile depending on model. But certain places don't allow WiFi or don't have it.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It's also possible that Amazon will disable any old pre-PW1 Kindles entirely in the future.

Why would they disable anything? Couldn't they just start selling only KFX books? Your old Kindle would still work just fine - only you couldn't find any new MOBI books to install on it.

The powers that be have done similar things with other products. When is the last time you say leaded gasoline for sale? What about freon refills for old air conditioners that use only that refrigerant? Can you still buy apps for your ancient Palm Pilot device? Have you found any new album releases for that nifty Kraco 8-track deck in your car? How about a LaserDisc or a VHS tape? A new carousel for your slide projector?

The uproar for Amazon supplying only KFX ebooks would be minimal. Old KF8-only Kindles still in use notwithstanding. You would see a small group of people, MobileRead members mostly, who would roar loudly. But the general population? Not so much. Understand, I certainly don't want Amazon to do this. But the customer backlash probably would not be anywhere near what we would hope. That's the reason why I'm not going to waste my money trying to buy a used ancient Kindle. Because they probably won't be good for anything at all for very much longer.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by haertig

Why would they disable anything? Couldn't they just start selling only KFX books?

Yes, that's what I meant. Disable in the sense of being unable to buy any more Kindle books for them. Ofc you could still read any old mobis, Amazon can't disable that. But for our purposes here those old Kindles would be basically useless.

[issybird]

Amazon’s already offered significant sweeteners to trade up to a newer device to owners of the oldest devices. At this point, it must be a very small percentage of Kindle owners of old devices who never traded up and who still use their device (as far as Amazon knows, i.e., because it phones home occasionally). I’m no Amazon apologist and I’m finding the squeezing the nickels these days to be annoying just like everyone else, but I don’t think Amazon “owes” the ancient device owners more than it’s already done for them.

And as far as cracking down on KU goes, that’s something Amazon’s doing to keep the authors happy; Amazon gets its money no matter how it’s allocated.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It's also possible that Amazon will disable any old pre-PW1 Kindles entirely in the future. So that there will be no way to deDRM at all, unless the KFX encryption will be successfully cracked.

Doing so could also set a precedent for other companies (ereaders or not) to do the same or similar. No, I'm not a conspiracy theorist; I just have no trust in companies or corporations and with everything being digital they have/will have more control over the consumer and the products we use. If I can think of dirty pool now, they already have. They're just waiting for a legal-ish way to implement.

[djrx]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah, but as I said, I doubt Amazon would care. Someone mentioned that visionaries seem to be gone from their management and they've been replaced by hard-boiled money types. I tend to agree with this assessment.

Amazon will definitely care if their KU subscribers drop. Amazon would rather have people subscribe to KU rather than single one time purchases. Amazon would happily trade and have their single book purchases decline as long as their KU subscribers increase.

KU subscribers are the perfect customer, someone who reads a handful of books but pays a monthly fee over a customer who only buys a handful of books a year. It's guaranteed profit over a customer who may or may not purchase anything.

[hleo12]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

Doing so could also set a precedent for other companies (ereaders or not) to do the same or similar. No, I'm not a conspiracy theorist; I just have no trust in companies or corporations and with everything being digital they have/will have more control over the consumer and the products we use. If I can think of dirty pool now, they already have. They're just waiting for a legal-ish way to implement.

Mobile phone/tablet manufacturers have been doing this for years.

We have an old iPad here that is basically useless because it won't install any apps anymore. The OS is too old to support any of the updated apps. Same goes with Android devices. Most apps won't support Android 7 and below.

Apple has been proven to throttle down older phone's CPUs and batteries to force the consumers to upgrade.

Amazon is not doing anything new. They've actually been very good at still supporting decade old products.

Although it wouldn't surprise me if they become more aggressive with phasing out older devices.