Amazon has removed Download & Transfer option

[Quoth]

Wireless charging wastes power, is less convenient if you want to read while charging and still needs the PSU and cable to the dock or mat.

I think disabling USB data would be bad PR. They don't need to. The Scribe shows how a working USB can be useless, needing WiFi connections: Send PDF to amazon from PC/Tablet, get back KFX via WiFi, annotate, send to Amazon via Wifi, get email on PC. Scribe owners do this whereas the entire workflow on other devices can be via just two USB connections, with as much or more functionality.

MTP also gives tham more control than USB Mass storage.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by jhowell

They could easily block the copying of books from the device with just a firmware update. After all, the reason USB access exists is for copying things TO the device.

I used USB on my Kindles, before Kobo, to copy off annotations of ebooks created from Word or LO Writer via calibre. No WiFi needed. No download either.

Also one of the best reasons, still, to get an ereader is the PD texts from Gutenberg (since 1972!) which I had been using on Laptop from 2000, that's 12 years before I got an ereader, 5 before Sony and 7 before Kindle.

You'd easily find a few thousand out of over 80,000 available you'd like. Now other legitimate PD sites too. Thousands are better than cheap or KU limited titles.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

Well, if they price match maybe I give Kobo a trial. Do I even need a Kobo reader, or can I just download and remove DRM? We're considering ditching amazon for everything, given Bezos sucking up to Voldemort (you know who)

You don't need a Kobo reader. You can download directly from their website. That will get you an ePub (for non-DRM titles) or a .acsm file which you use Adobe Digital Editions or the DeACSM plugin to convert into an ePub.

I strongly recommend using the DeACSM extension - then it's just a question of dragging the .acsm file into calibre, DeACSM gets the DRMed ePub, and DeDRM then removes the DRM before the book gets added to your library. Absolutely seamless!

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by Graham44

Because it's probably only the start of totally locking you in, I bet Amazon won't stop at just this one change. Who knows they may even switch over to subscription only sometime in the future and you won't be able to own any Kindle books.

'You'll own nothing, and be happy!'

Or maybe I'm just paranoid

It took Amazon the better part of 20 years to shut down D&T. I'm not going got claim they won't do more, but they also aren't on some sudden wild campaign to cut off all means of accessing book files to be DeDRM'd. They've been doing the cat and mouse on the apps and devices themselves this whole time.

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by mod2n

In the next generations of devices, Amazon may just physically remove the USB-C slot and leave only wireless charging, under the pretext that wireless charging is much more convenient, and will use wi-fi for everything else.

This was claimed about Apple and the iPhone, too. Despite that Apple was one of the founding design companies and has been converting their products to USB-C since 2015. The iPhone just so happened to be the last major product line of theirs to be converted, and nearly everyone claims it was because "the EU forced them" even though the writing was on the wall for years anyway.

[jlinear]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I strongly recommend using the DeACSM extension - then it's just a question of dragging the .acsm file into calibre, DeACSM gets the DRMed ePub, and DeDRM then removes the DRM before the book gets added to your library. Absolutely seamless!

I just tried this. Very easy and works great.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I did buy Day of the Jackal (something I've wanted to read) for 1.99 this morning as an Amazon deal of the day. You can still import the KFX file from your kindle into calibre and de drm it. I just did it. I don't see the reasoning behind eliminating download and transfer if other methods still work.

I bought a few books that were having $1.99 deals yesterday, and squeaked them in under the cutoff. May as well take advantage while you can, especially if the same book is 5x the price elsewhere.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, it's about control, not piracy.
Logically they might make WiFi automatic, or only have iOS and Android apps. They want to outdo Apple in the walled garden thing.

Note:
Send to Kindle only takes non-Kindle documents.
Scribe needs multiple connections to Amazon and conversion of PDFs. That's not a technical need, but walled garden control. Other systems, some better, don't need a server/cloud conversion.
Publishers can request DRM free, but with Wispernet KFX that is gone. The DRM free titles should be still DRM free on K3 to PW1 (azw3). Some Cell/Mobile only Kindles still can get mobi, which can be DRM free, but only in small number of countries where the modem still has a compatible mast. Not sure why Amazon hasn't cancelled the SIM here. The DXG still working!

It kinda bugs me too that you can't even do free ebooks on Amazon anymore. All you can do is 99 cents as the lowest, and have limited free sales.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You don't need a Kobo reader. You can download directly from their website. That will get you an ePub (for non-DRM titles) or a .acsm file which you using Adobe Digital Editions or the DeACSM plugin to convert into an ePub.

I strongly recommend using the DeACSM extension - then it's just a question of dragging the .acsm file into calibre, DeACSM gets the DRMed ePub, and DeDRM then removes the DRM before the book gets added to your library. Absolutely seamless!

I am a fan of DeACSM. I've been using it for a while, and it just makes things so much easier.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

A thought occured to me. If I buy a kindle book from Amazon, but that book is also available from a library, it is unethical to liberate the library copy? Somehow, that doesn't feel right.

I agree that removing DRM from library books is not ethical but then I have ereaders that handle ePub so not the ethical dilemma for a Kindle owner who is only able to borrow ePub format ebooks outside the USA.

The only ebooks I've bought from Amazon in quite a while are ones that are Amazon exclusive. If Amazon and Kobo have the same book even if the Kobo price is higher, I'll buy from Kobo and get the difference in price plus 10% of the Amazon book price (one recent book was $23.99 at Kobo and $19.99 at Amazon CA. The refund ended being $6 ($4 from the price difference and $2 from 10% of the Amazon price) so I ended up paying $17.99. One item that some people seem to have an issue with is the the refund is done as store credit but then I'll spend that fairly shortly plus it can also pay for my Kobo Plus subscription.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

A thought occured to me. If I buy a kindle book from Amazon, but that book is also available from a library, it is unethical to liberate the library copy? Somehow, that doesn't feel right.

Legally, yes. Copyright protects each instance of a work individually. The fact that you purchased an original copy of a work does not entitle you to receive or distribute duplicates of that work from other sources.

[A Lurker]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

I don't get the minute-by-minute panic. It's going to happen so get your books immediately.

No one was panicking. People were just commenting that they were surprised they still had D&T after the supposed deadline.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by mod2n

In the next generations of devices, Amazon may just physically remove the USB-C slot and leave only wireless charging, under the pretext that wireless charging is much more convenient, and will use wi-fi for everything else.

You just want to watch my world burn.

[slaveofCHRIST]

i missed the deadline. i'm downcast, any work around it yet? i'm on kindle

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by slaveofCHRIST

i missed the deadline. i'm downcast, any work around it yet? i'm on kindle

Kindle for PC 2.40, deDRM 10.0.9 or alpha and the KFX Input plugin for calibre.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Kindle for PC 2.40, deDRM 10.0.9 or alpha and the KFX Input plugin for calibre.

Is there any action needed to stop K4PC updating, once installed? I'm currently running 1.33 so of coure all my recent Kindle purchases won't open and it is urgung me to update. I'm guess that a thorough unistall of 1.33 then a fresh install of 2.4 is needed, but is there an autoupdate to be wary of?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Is there any action needed to stop K4PC updating, once installed? I'm currently running 1.33 so of coure all my recent Kindle purchases won't open and it is urgung me to update. I'm guess that a thorough unistall of 1.33 then a fresh install of 2.4 is needed, but is there an autoupdate to be wary of?

A simple manual install of 2.4.0 over 1.33 should work. Make sure the updates file in the root of the Kindle install directory is there to block updates (I still get the temp_%1%2 file showing up regular as clockwork. I've attached a copy of the batch file to create the updates file.

BTW, was it your batch file that I modified for my setup to copy files downloaded by K4A under BlueStacks to a local directory for adding to calibre?