Amazon discontinuing support for older Kindles in May

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Brianrh

Should my Kindle 7th gen still get updates after the deadline? It doesn't seem to be on the lists I've found online but when I go to the Update Your Kindle section on my Kindle , it is greyed out

Amazon used a diagnostic routine to push the DRM update outside of the standard firmware update routine. There are some reports that having a jailbroken device with OTA updates blocked still received the DRM update.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I don’t know about the first question but the second one is a no. All never kindles are MTP, a PC can’t even see what’s on the kindle, let alone download it.

The Kindle MTP connected devices do not block access to all the storage just some of the more interesting bits and pieces are blocked such as the cover image storage. You can still see downloaded books and copy them offline. One friend of mine is doing that in hopes that a newer DRM removal tool may allow them to be converted.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

As a rule, the DRM is removed when importing. If that fails, then converting will also fail. So it's no use storing KFX files with intact DRM in Calibre and hoping there will be a method to deDRM them in future. Even if there will be a new method, you'd need to import your books again.

There is a certain paranoia that Amazon may push an update that will update the DRM used by books already on the device. If you copy the books off the device, you might be able to copy them back to the device and then re-import them to remove the DRM at a later date.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

There is a certain paranoia that Amazon may push an update that will update the DRM used by books already on the device. If you copy the books off the device, you might be able to copy them back to the device and then re-import them to remove the DRM at a later date.

That seems very convoluted. If one can remove the DRM from the books already on the device, why not do so immediately? And if one cannot, why bother moving them off and on?

[frostymug]

Originally Posted by toady42

You may want to take a look at https://techy-notes.com/

Thank you for this. It is quite a bit more technical than I am used to. Running scripts, installing Python, etc. but such is the new landscape we have to deal with. Most regular Windows users probably aren't up to the challenge.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by frostymug

Thank you for this. It is quite a bit more technical than I am used to. Running scripts, installing Python, etc. but such is the new landscape we have to deal with. Most regular Windows users probably aren't up to the challenge.

It's actually easier then you think. Also, you don't need Python.

Read here and if you need to you can ask for help in that thread.

https://github.com/Satsuoni/DeDRM_tools/discussions/25

[julian67]

They finally got me. I'll never be able to read this £0.99 deal

I guess that was the last ebook I'll ever buy from Amazon. It's a shame. I've bought 389 titles from them but they don't want my custom in the future so there's not much I can do about that. Google Play Books & Kobo almost always have exactly the same books at an identical price. Price fixing I hear you say? An outrageous slur! But I'll miss the £0.99 deals.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by julian67

They finally got me. I'll never be able to read this £0.99 deal

I guess that was the last ebook I'll ever buy from Amazon. It's a shame. I've bought 389 titles from them but they don't want my custom in the future so there's not much I can do about that. Google Play Books & Kobo almost always have exactly the same books at an identical price. Price fixing I hear you say? An outrageous slur! But I'll miss the £0.99 deals.

It's available as Kobo UK for £0.99.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by julian67

They finally got me. I'll never be able to read this £0.99 deal

I guess that was the last ebook I'll ever buy from Amazon. It's a shame. I've bought 389 titles from them but they don't want my custom in the future so there's not much I can do about that. Google Play Books & Kobo almost always have exactly the same books at an identical price. Price fixing I hear you say? An outrageous slur! But I'll miss the £0.99 deals.

You could blow another 99p and get it at Kobo? For that matter, you could return the Kindle book, no questions asked.

Heh. While I can give Elizabeth and Marilyn a miss, I was intrigued by the title behind, The Writer and the Traitor, which sounds very much my thing and is also 99p right now at Kobo. Thanks!

[vermontcathy]

Hey, guess what? Send to Kindle still works on the cut-off kindles. You can email an ePub to the kindle's email address, or use https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle . And reading progress syncs between devices. You can't "push" the books ("documents") from the amazon website - you have to search for them on your kindle and pull them.

This confirms that the ONLY reason Amazon did this was to close the loophole of these devices making deDRM easier. If it was some security thing, or that they literally couldn't work with the Amazon servers anymore, then Send to Kindle and progress syncing wouldn't work.

[jhowell]

Another thing that still works on unsupported Kindles is syncing the last page read. I tested with a purchased book that was downloaded to my Kindle Touch prior to the cutoff and the reading position for that book still syncs with my newer Kindles through Amazon's servers.

It seems that the only change was to block downloading of Amazon supplied books and the only "security" involved is that of the long ago broken DRM on those devices.

[DiapDealer]

Might want to hold off on declaring fait accompli on the reasoning until we determine that these holdover services don't also get turned off shortly.

Plus, I don't think it was ever a question that these devices COULD continue to be supported moving forward (technologically speaking) if they'd wanted to. But that fact doesn't actually negate the claim that there could have been valid security concerns (not that I'm suggesting there weren't other factors involved as well).

If they keep these Send to Kindle deliveries running indefinitely to unsupported devices, does that not mean they have to keep their KF8/MOBI conversion pipelines up and running? Doesn't have any bearing on the DRM front, but it would kind of nix the notion that KF8/MOBI is dead if they do.

No. I see the lights on Send to Kindle and position syncing going out soon too.

[vermontcathy]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Might want to hold off on declaring fait accompli on the reasoning until we determine that these holdover services don't also get turned off shortly.

I never claimed it's "an accomplished fact", just that hey, it works right now. I never said it'll work forever. Obviously things can change - when dealing with Amazon, that's a given.

[julian67]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's available as Kobo UK for £0.99.

Originally Posted by issybird

You could blow another 99p and get it at Kobo? For that matter, you could return the Kindle book, no questions asked.

Thank you for pointing that out. I've now had the Kindle purchase refunded and am buying from Kobo.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by vermontcathy

I never claimed it's "an accomplished fact", just that hey, it works right now. I never said it'll work forever. Obviously things can change - when dealing with Amazon, that's a given.

You missed my point. I meant you might want to hold off claiming fait accompli on claiming proof their declared reasons for discontinuing support are BS. That Send to Kindle and positioning syncing still work have little bearing on whether or not there might have been valid security issues in play. Especially if those services get turned off soon, too.

Look, I get that DRM factors were huge, here. I just don't get the rush to claim this as "proof" that DRM was the ONLY reason. Businesses (and people) kill two or three things with one stone all the time. Why would it matter if there were multiple reasons in the long run, anyway?