Amazon and DRM changes

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I do have a thought here: Kindles and Kindle app maybe be used to collect information for advertising. This can't be done if:

a) the book is taken out of the ecosystem entirely;
b) the Kindle is permanently offline.

Yeah, that sounds like the BS many companies try to force on us these days. It may well be the real reason.

So we might expect that Download & Transfer will go away for all books eventually.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

I'm going to be realistic here, nobody will care about it if they can use Kobo etc instead and brake their DRM schemes for piracy.

Kobo CA has a KU-type borrowing plan. I'm pretty sure I know some folks who've taken advantage.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

To play Devil's Advocate for a moment: KU was a major - possibly even majority - contributor to drm-free distribution of ebooks. They were bound to find the USB loophole and do something about it sometime. I'm just surprised it took them this long.

It can still be done by pulling the files directly off older Kindles. So, will they disable KU altogether for those models?

[ownedbycats]

Has anybody yet tested whether KU borrows are still available on older versions K4PC?

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

Kobo CA has a KU-type borrowing plan. I'm pretty sure I know some folks who've taken advantage.

Kobo Plus, 9.99 a month (or 12.99 if you want both text and audiobooks).

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

These Amazon only books. Are they mainly selfpublisehd ones, or are there also major publishers that sell only on Amazon?

I want to say they are exclusively self published. The big publishers aren't interested in giving Amazon more power.

If they are mainly selfpublished, then I shed almost no tears over them - too few good quality ones, imho.

I used to feel that way in the paper book days. But there are some very good self published books.

Also, Amazon's own imprints have brought some midlist books from major publishers back into print. I've really enjoyed some of those, especially the Long Beach Homicide series.

The Amazon exclusive stuff isn't junk.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It can still be done by pulling the files directly off older Kindles. So, will they disable KU altogether for those models?

Dunno, but yesterday I tried to import from my PW2 into (an admittedly old version) of Calibre. No joy. I have to say I've never tried to do that before, though.
Stats: book published 2017, borrowed Jan 9.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

Dunno, but yesterday I tried to import from my PW2 into (an admittedly old version) of Calibre. No joy. I have to say I've never tried to do that before, though.
Stats: book published 2017, borrowed Jan 9.

Go to Preferences > Plugins > Search 'DeDRM' > Customize Plugin and check the settings for eInk Kindle eBooks. (Go ask on NoDRM's github if you need more help — I'm probably stretching it already.) Easy step to miss.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It can still be done by pulling the files directly off older Kindles. So, will they disable KU altogether for those models?

I doubt it. There are still a lot of those devices in use. Amazon can’t just take KU away from them without causing a major customer backlash. And in that case at least the book has made it onto a Kindle reading device so has a better chance of actually being read there compared with a download from the web.

On the other hand I expect that eventually Amazon will pull the plug on older Kindles by making all books published after some point KFX-only. I think we are probably still years away from that.

[langshipley]

I've been downloading my KU borrows from my computer using their "Download and Transfer feature via USB" for as long as I've had KU. I read on my iPad using the Kindle app, but I also like to download a copy as well. As of this morning, when I checked and went to download a book I borrowed a couple of days ago, all my KU books now have this notice on them. Purchased books are still okay. I "download" to my Kindle K3. I've had that forever and keep it on my account for downloads. Not sure if there's any way around being able to download KU books anymore. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to know.

Also, at this point, I am still able to download my purchased books (AZW or AZW3 format) and they are saving and converting (EPUB2) properly in Calibre without any issue.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I doubt it. There are still a lot of those devices in use. Amazon can’t just take KU away from them without causing a major customer backlash. And in that case at least the book has made it onto a Kindle reading device so has a better chance of actually being read there compared with a download from the web.

There are some Kindles that have not wifi, just the now-discontinued 3G. Can they still download transfer, or are they cut off from KU?

EDIT: Was DNSB's friend using a 3G Kindle?

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Go to Preferences > Plugins > Search 'DeDRM' > Customize Plugin and check the settings for eInk Kindle eBooks. (Go ask on NoDRM's github if you need more help — I'm probably stretching it already.) Easy step to miss.

Not sure what I was supposed to find. However, I read the first post in the KFX input thread and followed the instructions as best I could along with restarting in debug mode. Still failed. Will post questions to that thread. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...76&postcount=1

[langshipley]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

Kobo CA has a KU-type borrowing plan. I'm pretty sure I know some folks who've taken advantage.

Kobo has Kobo Plus which I think is $9.99 for ebooks and $12.99 for ebooks and audiobooks a month. I still find Kindle Unlimited cheaper because you often have deals. I don't think I've ever paid full price for KU on the subscription. The most I've paid is about $6 a month and sometimes it's been less. Plus with KU, you get audiobooks included in the subscription if the ebook has audio in it included. You don't have to pay extra for the audio option.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

There are some Kindles that have not wifi, just the now-discontinued 3G. Can they still download transfer, or are they cut off from KU?

Cut off from KU, I assume. The whole point of this change seems to be to force people using KU to move off of devices like that.

[langshipley]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Cut off from KU, I assume. The whole point of this change seems to be to force people using KU to move off of devices like that.

I expect Amazon are also trying to move away from paying for 3G services and charges on those devices. With wifi, the onus of access to the internet to download stuff is on the user, not Amazon.