Amazon removed books from my Kindle

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by issybird

The books I bought were going to be there to download to a tied device when I got around to them.

That's exactly what I don't want to rely on. I might decide to get a device other than a Kobo or a Kindle someday (for example, as things currently stand, there is no eink Kindle I'd want to read on - I can't stand the symmetrical, buttonless design). Plus, I reread, and I certainly don't want to buy all my favorites again.

YMMV.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by issybird

But I want to differentiate between buying ahead and backing up, two very different things. I stopped backing up when I was still in full acquisition mode when I had a lightbulb moment. I realized that the volatile ebook market had settled into essentially two purveyors, Kobo and Kindle, and that neither was going anywhere. The books I bought were going to be there to download to a tied device when I got around to them. That was the end of backing up, for me.

For me, one of the main reasons for backing up is that I've edited 99% of the ebooks in my library. For most books, it takes less than 5 minutes to generate an edited copy that fits my preferences. Drop caps, extra space between paragraphs, chapter headers that take half a page for blank space, embedded body fonts, etc. go away. Yes, the result is, typographically speaking, very boring (just a few short steps above reading a text document) but I look for excitement in the content not in the font and layout.

I realize that what takes me 5 minutes with the experience from 15 years of using Sigil and my collection of saved searches could take others much longer. And I am very thankful to Strahinja Val Marković, John Schember, Kevin Hendricks and Doug Massay for their work on Sigil.

Even if Kobo or Amazon still have the books available, it would take me more hours than I care to think about to recreate my edited copies. This, for me, makes backups a necessity. And since the backups are driven by a batch file spawned by a task scheduler entry, I don't need to do much other than a random test restore.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I would argue that buying ahead allows me to take advantage of special offers and so save money.

I was going to say something to this effect. That buying ahead usually gives you access to more sales and discounts.

But then I thought, hmmm, I've bought quite a few books using sales and discounts. And many of them are still in my TBR pile. A sale book sitting in my TBR pile is technically a loss, and not a savings - until I actually read it.

I didn't think I'd be able to debate my way out of that hole I dug for myself, so I decided not to mention the benefit of sale prices when buying ahead. Too many excellent debaters on this forum that would have caught me on that one!

[TheSmitty]

I have always backed up my books. I have .LIT books (remember those?), that fortunately I had backed up and since converted to epub. A few of them are books that are out of print and no longer available in any ebook format.

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by TheSmitty

I have always backed up my books. I have .LIT books (remember those?), that fortunately I had backed up and since converted to epub. A few of them are books that are out of print and no longer available in any ebook format.

I never had any books in that format but I do remember them!

[cellaris]

Of course, everyone sees things from a different point of view. I do not perform a specific act that can properly be called a backup. I have my books stored in different places by the very inertia of my reading process. My books bought from Google, Kobo, Amazon or my favourite Spanish bookshop are still there. Fortunately they have never disappeared. That's the place to find them if I want to reread them, something I only do occasionally. If they disappeared it wouldn't be a big problem either, really.

I don't remove the DRM to secure their possession as a buyer (feeling that I own something that I have paid for) or to edit them, but to read them with the reading programs I usually use (KOReader and AlReaderX), which don't support DRM. And I use these reading programs precisely so that I don't have to edit them. They usually go through some cloud storage beforehand where I can also locate them if I need them in the future. I also rarely delete them from my multiple e-readers, where I can also find them stored there. That's why I don't know if this can properly be called a backup.

The only exception are the few books bought on Amazon. Here I don't even bother to remove the DRM. I read them directly and exclusively on my Kindle devices.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by cellaris

That's why I don't know if this can properly be called a backup.

I would say no. A backup is something you do with the specific purpose of, well, backing up - by creating your own copy and storing it somewhere you can always access it. The purpose is to always have that access. You don't seem to have such a purpose.

If they disappeared it wouldn't be a big problem either, really.

Going by this, you're in the category "don't care enough to bother", like several other members here. You don't intentionally back up your books - all your copies are just by-products of some other activity, not specifically created to back up your stuff.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by cellaris

I also rarely delete them from my multiple e-readers, where I can also find them stored there.

...

The only exception are the few books bought on Amazon. Here I don't even bother to remove the DRM. I read them directly and exclusively on my Kindle devices.

You don't delete the books from your Amazon account or your Kindle, but Amazon might. Did you read this post earlier in the thread?

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=858

We know that Amazon has the ability, and uses it, to delete books from people's Kindles and even to delete their Amazon account entirely. Your books are gone in that case (unless you have backed them up and removed DRM and permanently put your Kindle into Airplane Mode). People will say that Amazon doesn't close accounts unless you do something awful. It appears that buying a lot of dog food to donate is awful enough to trigger account deletion, if you believe the post quoted above.

I'm not saying that you should backup your books. I'm just pointing out that there are some scenarios where you might wish that you had. If you're OK with that small risk, no problem. Just be aware that it exists.

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by haertig

We know that Amazon has the ability, and uses it, to delete books from people's Kindles and even to delete their Amazon account entirely. Your books are gone in that case (unless you have backed them up and removed DRM and permanently put your Kindle into Airplane Mode). People will say that Amazon doesn't close accounts unless you do something awful. It appears that buying a lot of dog food to donate is awful enough to trigger account deletion, if you believe the post quoted above.

I had my Amazon account locked because I tried to buy a KU gift subscription a few years ago. When that happens they sign you out of everything. My ebooks were fine because I had a backup, but the only Audible books I had access to were the ones I had already downloaded in the app. People do not realize how easy it is to get your account locked. There’s now a good solution for audiobooks so I now have them all backed up too.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JBaby

I had my Amazon account locked because I tried to buy a KU gift subscription a few years ago. When that happens they sign you out of everything.

Why? Isn't it allowed to buy a KU gift subscription?

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Why? Isn't it allowed to buy a KU gift subscription?

That’s a really good question that I never got the answer to. Buying a KU gift sub is allowed. They even tell you on the page when you’re buying it that you can send it to yourself. They said fraud alerts got triggered, but I frequently make purchases that amount to the price of a 2yr KU sub or more on a regular basis. Fraud alerts have never been triggered for those other transactions. I had to fax them all the documentation they asked for and I had to wait for them to unlock my account. They had to approve it on their end before I could try to buy it again. I had to wait 24hrs before trying again.