No more DRM-free downloads as Amazon's ComiXology app set to disappear inside Kindle

[Paperbackstash]

Worrying changes are afoot for e-comics vendor ComiXology as Amazon finally gets round to asserting copy control – meaning no more downloads of unprotected comics, even if you've paid for them.

It looks as if Amazon subsidiary Iconology Inc – which trades as ComiXology – is finally being subsumed, eight years after Bezos' behemoth bought the business.

Back in 2014, The Reg expressed concern that ComiXology's own dedicated comic-reading app might be replaced with the Kindle app, and that seems to be finally happening, at some as-yet unspecified time soon. Comixology's latest blog post says that changes are coming in "early 2022."

https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/...xology_kindle/

[Paperbackstash]

You can still download for now, and as the app disappears and the comics are part of the kindle library, you may be able to have download solutions later. Good to do backups just in case if you use this app or bought from it. I didn't use often, but I did like having the app option.

[rantanplan]

I've received an email from comiXology a few days ago (and so should you) detailing the changes. And while the website will absolutely be integrated into the amazon website during 2022, it also iterated the the user interface for the comiXology app (iOS and Android) will receive a much needed refresh and that the app will stay. The app will stay the default go-to app for reading comics. Amazon is well aware that their Kindle app can't compete with comiXology.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

I've received an email from comiXology a few days ago (and so should you) detailing the changes. And while the website will absolutely be integrated into the amazon website during 2022, it also iterated the the user interface for the comiXology app (iOS and Android) will receive a much needed refresh and that the app will stay. The app will stay the default go-to app for reading comics. Amazon is well aware that their Kindle app can't compete with comiXology.

Ah, so the article is not correct?

[rantanplan]

Either Amazon/comiXology is lying or the article is inaccurate.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

...while the website will absolutely be integrated into the amazon website during 2022, it also iterated the the user interface for the comiXology app (iOS and Android) will receive a much needed refresh and that the app will stay...

Personally I wish it were the other way around. I don't give a crap about the app. It's the website that matters. There are publishers that insist their comics be sold DRM-free: Image, Fantagraphics, Calibre, I forget who else.

Currently, when you buy from one of them, you can download the file as a .cbz or .pdf. Check here: Maggie the Mechanic. Below the description, there are three icons: 17+, HD and a Download icon. Tha third icon lets you know you can download a DRM-free copy if you purchase it.

You cannot do so on the app. If you look at the same book I mentioned, you will only see two of the three icons.

So unless that behavior is integrated into the app (which I doubt, based on Amazon's treatment of DRM-free ebook publishers like Tor and Baen), the ability to download will go away.

There's also a handy Chrome plug-in that lets you download and back-up files that you have purchased from less enlightened publishers. I'm assuming that will also go away with the ComiXology website.

As for downloading with Kindle for PC, yes, I do that already. But files downloaded using that method are a third or less the size of CBZs downloaded from ComiXology as the images are lower resolution.

This is not good news.

[tomsem]

At least last time I checked, my (few) Comixology purchases were not shown in my Amazon Content page, and could not be read with the Kindle app. To read with either app, I had to purchase from Amazon. I guess I’ll have to check this again.

The article does say DRM free titles can be downloaded from the Amazon Content page and ‘read locally’:

But all may not be lost. It's already possible to display your ComiXology titles in your Kindle library, and you can download ebooks from Amazon's media and devices page onto your computer so that you can read them on a big screen or using a screen reader – which is a life-saver for those with low vision.

We've checked with a few freebie titles, and it worked fine. Titles without DRM could be read locally. Ones with the copy protection couldn't, but you can at least grab them to back them up.

My biggest concern with the Comixology app going away is that the Kindle app does not replicate all of the ways content is arranged there. In particular, there are no filters corresponding to Smartlists for In Progress, Recently Downloaded, Recently Purchased, and you cannot sort by Date Added.

I see that read.amazon.com does have panel view, though it’s not animated like the app (and I think the Comixology web viewer, if it still exists).

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by tomsem

At least last time I checked, my (few) Comixology purchases were not shown in my Amazon Content page, and could not be read with the Kindle app. To read with either app, I had to purchase from Amazon. I guess I’ll have to check this again.

As of right now, purchases at ComiXology don't show up on Amazon. But if you purchase a comic at Amazon, it shows "Kindle and ComiXology." See here

The article does say DRM free titles can be downloaded from the Amazon Content page and ‘read locally’:

Time will tell. You can't download DRM-free books from Baen or Tor, even though they do add the 'at publisher's request...' verbiage.

And as mentioned, the comics I've downloaded using Kindle for PC are much smaller than downloads from ComiXology.

[jhowell]

Kindle comics can be downloaded from Amazon's web site if you own a Kindle e-reader or Fire tablet. They are delivered in Amazon's KF8 (azw3) format and only have DRM if the publisher requested it.

Comics downloaded that way have only low resolution images. Getting good quality images requires more effort. See the thread How to download full resolution images? and the AZW6 Image Merge calibre plugin for more details.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Kindle comics can be downloaded from Amazon's web site if you own a Kindle e-reader or Fire tablet. They are delivered in Amazon's KF8 (azw3) format and only have DRM if the publisher requested it.

Comics downloaded that way have only low resolution images. Getting good quality images requires more effort. See the thread How to download full resolution images? and the AZW6 Image Merge calibre plugin for more details.

Right now, this will only show comics bought via amazon, it will not show comics purchased via comiXology.


However, you can view comiXology purchased books on your kindle:
comiXology purchases can be enabled on amazon, but you may have to enable it via the US page (as I german, I couldn't activate it via amazon.de). It will then be enabled on all amazon domains. Here's how to do that:
Go to your amazon.com account settings and scroll down to here:


And then enable them here:


Alternatively, this direct link might also work: https://www.amazon.com/-/de/comixolo...geType=content

Now sync your kindle app. It will take some time but they'll show up.

[jhowell]

Interesting. According to that Comixology content won’t be made available on Kindles. That eliminates the method I proposed above for gaining access to downloaded comics.

[Quoth]

Total failure to protect consumers and evidence of how US government is in the pockets of big USA Corporations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego...d_acquisitions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...d_acquisitions (Formerly Google). They should not have been permitted to buy in Android or Motorola. Shouldn't have been allowed exclusivity on PlayStore payments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...n#Acquisitions Notable things Amazon shouldn't have been allowed to buy:
Mobipocket, which was later used as basis of SW on Linux for 1st Kindle.
IMDB
Goodreads
The two companies merged to make Amazon Createspace, now debranded and internal to Amazon KDP.
Abe books
Book Depository


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...e#Acquisitions Should never have been allowed exclusivity on deals with record companies, spliting LPS/Albums and special deals for iPhone with Mobile operators, buying in FingerWorks for iOS GUI. Buying in an ARM SoC design house. Exclusive for payments in App store & locking iOS to App store.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...sitions_by_IBM (Formerly Tabulating Co, then Hollerith)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ions_by_Oracle (Worst was being allowed to take Sun & control Solaris, Java, Open Office & other SW).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...t#Acquisitions (Initial success founded on porting Dartmouth Basic (no payment) and buying in DOS by taking over a company that stole CP/M & CP/M-86.) Shouldn't have been allowed to buy Sybase (rebranded MS-SQL) or Skype.

Windows, Gem, Lisa/Mac GUI, Amiga, Atari, RiscOS desktops all based on Xerox Star GUI which predated IBM PC and Apple computers after the Apple II.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...itions_by_eBay Certainly shouldn't have been allowed to buy Skype or PayPal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...Meta_Platforms (formerly Facebook)


Amazon already ignores publisher requests to have no DRM when you ket KFX.

[jhowell]

I was curious to follow up on this statement that appears in the comiXology setting page on amazon.com, specifically the part about excluding Kindle e-Reader devices:

Book visibility

You can choose to view and read your comiXology books on your Kindle app (excluding Kindle e-Reader devices). Enabling “Show” will make your comiXology books visible in your Kindle library.

Your comiXology books will always be visible in the Kindle Cloud Reader.

To test this I turned on the setting to show comiXology content and then purchased a free comic from comiXology (FCBD 2016: Love & Rockets Sampler).

The comic appeared in the Content & Devices page on Amazon and in my Kindle apps, but it did not show in the ALL library on my actual Kindle device. Even searching on my Kindle does not show the comic.

So it does actually work as they have described it. I just don't understand why they would want it to work that way.

I found that I was able to work around this temporarily by using the Deliver or Remove from Device option for that comic on the Amazon Content & Devices page. That caused it to download to the Kindle and appear in the Kindle's library, but once I removed it from the Kindle it once again was no longer visible in the ALL library.

Another thing I noticed is that this comic allows DRM-free downloads for archival from comiXology, but is delivered in DRM-protected azw3 format when downloaded using the Amazon Content & Devices page. (As expected the Amazon download is also much smaller: 37MB comiXology vs. 9MB Amazon.)

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Another thing I noticed is that this comic allows DRM-free downloads for archival from comiXology, but is delivered in DRM-protected azw3 format when downloaded using the Amazon Content & Devices page. (As expected the Amazon download is also much smaller: 37MB comiXology vs. 9MB Amazon.)

I believe the comiXology download is in PDF format, whereas it’s in a Kindle format in your Amazon library. This would explain the size difference.

I didn’t know you could get comiXology purchases to show up in Amazon Library, I’ll have to try that, thanks! (I guess this is going to happen automatically at some point).

It’s weird that it doesn’t show up on Kindle ALL view. Maybe it needs more time to sync? Another way to download should be to find it in Kindle Store on the Kindle, and that listing should have button to Read Now and download it.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I believe the comiXology download is in PDF format, whereas it’s in a Kindle format in your Amazon library. This would explain the size difference.

That book is available in either CBZ or PDF format from comiXology. I chose CBZ so that I could see the individual page image files.

I did some further research on this. For comparison I chose the largest file in the downloaded comiXology CBZ, which is "037.jpg". I then found the corresponding image file inside the downloaded AZW3 from Amazon. I also checked the higher resolution AZW6 and KFX formats. Here are the results:

comiXology CBZ - 1490 KB (1988 x 3056 pixels)
Amazon AZW3    -  231 KB ( 983 x 1511 pixels)
Amazon AZW6    -  874 KB (1249 x 1920 pixels)
Amazon KFX     -  435 KB (1988 x 3056 pixels)

The CBZ download from comiXology is clearly better than any format available from Amazon for that book.

Originally Posted by tomsem

It’s weird that it doesn’t show up on Kindle ALL view. Maybe it needs more time to sync?

I have tried syncing and waiting. It does not show up.

Originally Posted by tomsem

Another way to download should be to find it in Kindle Store on the Kindle, and that listing should have button to Read Now and download it.

That doesn't work either. When I find the entry for the book in the store and press the "Read Now" button it pops up a box with the message "Error Something went wrong."

Perhaps it is a work in progress.