Amazon has removed Download & Transfer option

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

I just don't get it. I do have some favorite authors. Some of my favorite authors have gone Amazon exclusive. I just stopped reading them. There are just too many books out there to choose from for me to be willing to submit to Amazon's restrictions.

The last book I bought from Amazon (before I realized the DRM change), I was able to download from my Oasis but the cover was not is color. So I downloaded the KFX-ZIP from my Colorsoft and Calibre was able to copy the color cover to the liberated file. I haven't bought a book from Amazon since.

It's easy enough to download a color cover from the internet and replace the black and white one. No color ereader needed.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I've started to think that Amazon is trying to stop their exclusives from ending up on pirate sites. As Amazon exclusives aren't legally available anywhere else, those who want to buy/borrow them must willy-nilly give their money to Amazon.

Those are probably leaked before they have been even uploaded to the amazon server.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Those are probably leaked before they have been even uploaded to the amazon server.

Leaked by whom?

Edit: I downloaded a few files to see what usually gets uploaded there (I already had a purchased copy of those books). As far as I was able to gather, they were originally KFX files converted to EPUB via the KFX Input plugin. Which means they were books originally obtained from Amazon (bought or borrowed via Kindle Unlimited). Authors and publishers upload EPUB files to Amazon servers, not KFX.

[Sats]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Leaked by whom?

At least some from Netgalley or Patreon, AFAIK.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Sats

At least some from Netgalley or Patreon, AFAIK.

Some, maybe, but I think most are borrowed via KU and deDRMed. See the edit of my previous post.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Those are probably leaked before they have been even uploaded to the amazon server.

Sometimes. Also movies & TV shows from studios before they are in the Cinema, but that easy now with a 4K TV, dark room and cheap HD camera or mid range 4K camera.

DRM is about controlling consumers, not stopping piracy.

KU is probably a major source.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

DRM is about controlling consumers, not stopping piracy.

It used to be. And still is with most publishers. But it seems that Amazon is taking active steps to protect the revenue from their exclusive content. Why else go to such extremes and dedicate so much resources to fighting DRM removal, which, I suspect, only a small part of their customers engage in? It would be worth neither the time nor the effort, unless a lot of money was involved.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

I just don't get it. I do have some favorite authors. Some of my favorite authors have gone Amazon exclusive. I just stopped reading them. There are just too many books out there to choose from for me to be willing to submit to Amazon's restrictions.

The last book I bought from Amazon (before I realized the DRM change), I was able to download from my Oasis but the cover was not is color. So I downloaded the KFX-ZIP from my Colorsoft and Calibre was able to copy the color cover to the liberated file. I haven't bought a book from Amazon since.

What I do if the cover is not what I want, I use calibre to try to find a hi-res cover to download. I look on Google, Apple, Kobo, B&N, & sometimes Amazon.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Sometimes. Also movies & TV shows from studios before they are in the Cinema, but that easy now with a 4K TV, dark room and cheap HD camera or mid range 4K camera.

DRM is about controlling consumers, not stopping piracy.

KU is probably a major source.

Camera shot pirated movies are not as big a thing as they once were. Movies come out in Digital not long after they leave the cinema and then disc after that. It's rather easy to rip the digital version or the disc version.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Camera shot pirated movies are not as big a thing as they once were. Movies come out in Digital not long after they leave the cinema and then disc after that. It's rather easy to rip the digital version or the disc version.

Yeah, and the same applies to books. No one bothers with scans and OCR anymore, it's much faster and simpler to just remove the DRM.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Camera shot pirated movies are not as big a thing as they once were. Movies come out in Digital not long after they leave the cinema and then disc after that. It's rather easy to rip the digital version or the disc version.

It's now only content not on DVD/BD. We are all paying royalty on HDCP (DRM) on HDMI screens and it's pointless.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah, and the same applies to books. No one bothers with scans and OCR anymore, it's much faster and simpler to just remove the DRM.

Well, the LLM vendors and Internet Archive and Google (allegedly for seach) scan books & OCR when they can't get the content on a pirate site. OpenAI has lost a case. Google won their scanning case, but should have lost.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's now only content not on DVD/BD. We are all paying royalty on HDCP (DRM) on HDMI screens and it's pointless.

The only thing I would have to do is buy a Blu-Ray drive that can flash the appropriate (patched) firmware and I'd be able to rip 4K discs no problem.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's now only content not on DVD/BD. We are all paying royalty on HDCP (DRM) on HDMI screens and it's pointless.

If it's on a streaming service, then it's even easier. There are programs for recording and saving it.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Well, the LLM vendors and Internet Archive and Google (allegedly for seach) scan books & OCR when they can't get the content on a pirate site. OpenAI has lost a case. Google won their scanning case, but should have lost.

They have the resources for doing that. Run-of-the-mill pirates these days just get their books from a library or KU and remove the DRM.