Amazon dropping support for more Kindles

[maddz]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

AFAIK, it is possible for Apple, or was, but it requires a very old activated install of iTunes or a Mac with a bunch of security features disabled.

I have an old iMac on El Capitan which I keep running for vinyl rips (must get on with that project) because of the line in port.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

The issue, I think, with Amazon, is that they seem to be heading to a completely sealed ecosystem, where you can't even access a file that represents your book, DRMed or not. They've removed Download & Transfer, they're changing the way the PC app works, they've changed the way kindles connect to a PC.

Black Library have just done this - going from a DRM-free store for EPUB and MOBI to a closed app ecosystem, and I won't be buying any more books direct from them as a result.

Apple have always been like this. Despite their claims to be using industry-standard EPUBs, I don't think it's actually possible to get at the EPUB files. (Maybe with a jailbroken device?) And that's why I have never bought anything from them.

It would be bad if Amazon did the same.

They would be following in Barnes & Noble's footsteps. They removed the ability to download from the website. They got rid of their desktop programs. They put their books on their ereaders in a user-inaccessible partition and cut off their older devices from downloading. Finally they removed their Windows store app. Books were in a hidden folder, but you could still get to them and their DRM was easy to remove. Now it's more trouble than it's worth to get ahold of the files. It's probably been almost a decade since I bought anything from them.

[ZodWallop]

I asked this in a side discussion on the deals page, but maybe it's more appropriate here:

What ever happened to being able to download DRM-free ePubs from Amazon? When all the new rules take effect, shouldn't that be a loophole for non-Kindle owners to be able to buy Amazon exclusives, so long as those Kindle exclusive authors mark their books as DRM-free? Nobody seems to mention it in any of these discussions. Is nobody doing it? And wouldn't it be better to pester those indie authors than complain about Amazon?

Can you be Amazon exclusive and mark your books as DRM-free?

Legitimate questions, I'm not sure myself.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I asked this in a side discussion on the deals page, but maybe it's more appropriate here:

What ever happened to being able to download DRM-free ePubs from Amazon? When all the new rules take effect, shouldn't that be a loophole for non-Kindle owners to be able to buy Amazon exclusives, so long as those Kindle exclusive authors mark their books as DRM-free? Nobody seems to mention it in any of these discussions. Is nobody doing it? And wouldn't it be better to pester those indie authors than complain about Amazon?

Can you be Amazon exclusive and mark your books as DRM-free?

Legitimate questions, I'm not sure myself.

You can be Amazon exclusive and mark books as DRM-free, and then copies can be downloaded.

But NOT if your book is in KU.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You can be Amazon exclusive and mark books as DRM-free, and then copies can be downloaded.

But NOT if your book is in KU.

Not exactly true. If you purchase a KU book and the author marks it as DRM-free, you can download it.

(I don't do KU. If there's a KU book I want to read, I buy it, and I can download it if the author has marked it as DRM-free.)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You can be Amazon exclusive and mark books as DRM-free, and then copies can be downloaded.

But NOT if your book is in KU.

I thought you could mark your book as available to be downloaded if someone was to pay for it even if it is part of KU.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I thought you could mark your book as available to be downloaded if someone was to pay [f]or it even if it is part of KU.

You can. I have purchased KU books, and if the author marks it DRM-free, I can download it.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I asked this in a side discussion on the deals page, but maybe it's more appropriate here:

What ever happened to being able to download DRM-free ePubs from Amazon? When all the new rules take effect, shouldn't that be a loophole for non-Kindle owners to be able to buy Amazon exclusives, so long as those Kindle exclusive authors mark their books as DRM-free? Nobody seems to mention it in any of these discussions. Is nobody doing it? And wouldn't it be better to pester those indie authors than complain about Amazon?

Can you be Amazon exclusive and mark your books as DRM-free?

Legitimate questions, I'm not sure myself.

The problem is there's no way to tell before buying whether an Amazon exclusive even has DRM or not. If it's an author you've read before, you'll probably know, but not if it's a new author for you.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Not exactly true. If you purchase a KU book and the author marks it as DRM-free, you can download it.

(I don't do KU. If there's a KU book I want to read, I buy it, and I can download it if the author has marked it as DRM-free.)

You're right. You can't download if you access it as part of your KU subscription.

[lkmiller]

Someone said that Amazon-exclusive authors may be reluctant to go DRM-free because if their book is made available on a pirate site, Amazon considers it breaking the exclusivity clause.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Someone said that Amazon-exclusive authors may be reluctant to go DRM-free because if their book is made available on a pirate site, Amazon considers it breaking the exclusivity clause.

I don't know about that. When I checked various shadow libraries for Amazon exclusives a while back (I wanted to know whether they end up there, because one of the reasons for Amazon's efforts to stop DRM removal might be the fact that people pirate their exclusives) they were full of them, and most of those authors were still in KU, their books hadn't been removed from there. So I don't think Amazon does that anymore.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The problem is there's no way to tell before buying whether an Amazon exclusive even has DRM or not. If it's an author you've read before, you'll probably know, but not if it's a new author for you.

There are actually 3 problems, IMO. In addition to not being able to tell before buying, you also don't know if you'll be getting an EPUB or PDF, and if it's an epub, the coding is horrendous.

I purchased a Tor book recently and the DRM-free download was PDF.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by odamizu

There are actually 3 problems, IMO. In addition to not being able to tell before buying, you also don't know if you'll be getting an EPUB or PDF, and if it's an epub, the coding is horrendous.

I purchased a Tor book recently and the DRM-free download was PDF.

Which Tor book?

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Google, Apple--all of them. They all want to protect their walled garden.

You can buy a book from Kobo, download the ACSM file, and read it with any Adobe-DRM compliant reader. That's a pretty low "wall" compared to Amazon.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The problem is there's no way to tell before buying whether an Amazon exclusive even has DRM or not.

Originally Posted by odamizu

There are actually 3 problems, IMO. In addition to not being able to tell before buying, you also don't know if you'll be getting an EPUB or PDF, and if it's an epub, the coding is horrendous.

I purchased a Tor book recently and the DRM-free download was PDF.

That's too bad. If the downloadable books were clearly marked and it was always ePub (for works of fiction, at least) I would throw all the complaining about Amazon's exclusivity and restrictions aside.

I like how Kobo tells you whether a book is DRM-free or not. You have to scroll to the bottom, but at least it is there.