Will K2PC 1.19 and KFX alter your ebook purchasing habits?

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Will this affect your ebook buying habits? Do you expect to go to vendors other than Amazon to get your books, and if so, what vendors will you use?

Somewhat. I doubt it will make me cease being an Amazon customer but it has made me take ADE more seriously.

[darryl]

Right now, the practical situation has not changed. What is going to happen soon is that those without a Kindle device at all will lose access to all Amazon formats but kfx. They will then be unable to "disinfect" their books. The rest is sheer speculation at this stage.

A PW2 or newer registered on your account will still let you download kf8/mobi for transfer via usb at this stage, and this is not affected by the change to K4PC. Download for transfer via usb does not support kfx at the moment, as pdurrant was kind enough to point out above.

Having an older Kindle registered on your account may be of benefit if this changes, as such devices will then still need kf8/mobi, which Amazon will very likely continue to provide both by download for transfer via USB and/or direct delivery. Only if it is prepared to abandon these older devices can it go exclusively kfx.

[spindlegirl]

I am relieved that I have now actually read enough to realize this issue doesn't apply to my Kindle. Being able to have freedom with my book purchases is high priority and I felt a bookpocalypse coming on 😑

Sent from my Lenovo YT3-X50F using Tapatalk

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by darryl

Only if it is prepared to abandon these older devices can it go exclusively kfx.

Or issue a software update for those older devices. Wonder if there's anything hardware wise that would prevent them from adding KFX (& AZW3 for that matter) support to K1's, K2's, etc.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Or issue a software update for those older devices. Wonder if there's anything hardware wise that would prevent them from adding KFX (& AZW3 for that matter) support to K1's, K2's, etc.

You are of course quite correct.

I am assuming for the moment that there is good reason why kfx has not been rolled out to devices prior to the PW2, and that Amazon has no plans to do so. I suspect the older hardware causes difficulties, and of course the older the hardware the more difficulties.

My assumption could of course be wrong. I would certainly welcome comments from those with better knowledge of kfx and the older hardware. I would be surprised if kfx support was added to the PW1 and astonished if it could be satisfactorily added even to the Keyboard, let alone the even older models.

[AnemicOak]

I'd be surprised if they did it too, was just wildly speculating that they could if they wanted to do away with earlier formats entirely. I'm sure if nothing else it would be a support nightmare.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I'd be surprised if they did it too, was just wildly speculating that they could if they wanted to do away with earlier formats entirely. I'm sure if nothing else it would be a support nightmare.

You quite correctly picked me up on this. I was aware of it but had dismissed it as extremely unlikely and not worth discussing. However, whilst I still think it unlikely, I do think it is worth an informed discussion, the problem being I am not sufficiently informed. I have posted on the kfx thread asking if jhowell or others with a good knowledge of kfx and the hardware care to comment.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by darryl

I am assuming for the moment that there is good reason why kfx has not been rolled out to devices prior to the PW2, and that Amazon has no plans to do so. I suspect the older hardware causes difficulties, and of course the older the hardware the more difficulties.

I can think of a couple of reasons but the main one is system RAM. Raster books need a lot of RAM and the older models don't have that RAM.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

* To those leaving Amazon over this, think of all the "Google translated" "word proofed" books you will miss out on.
Oh wait that might be like missing a sore toe.

Seriously, on shopping and in most of life, always do what you think is best for you.
Just don't get cranky when 90% of the people do something different.

That's funny. Cranky comes out when those who think they're in the 90% find out they aren't.

I'll just keep reading as I am now. I do enjoy reading and I went with Amazon because of the availability and price on books I enjoy reading.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I know I can buy a lot of books with social DRM (all epubs I bought these last years were social DRM).

Social DRM? I've only heard that term applied to the older credit card based B&N DRM. They switched to anti-social DRM two years ago. Even though that was figured out, it has become increasingly dicey to get your hands on the actual file for disinfection.

I suppose water marking might be called social DRM.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Does Barnes and Noble remain strippable via Nook Study?

NookStudy isn't required anymore. Nook for PC is the better option for actually downloading books. I think I recall hearing that neither Nook for Mac or Nookstudy for Mac works anymore.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Also, I have options to download to PC for my Fire HDX 8.9 and Fire 7 as well as my old eInk Kindles.

However, you won't be able to DeDRM the books downloaded for the Fires.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by darryl

I have posted on the kfx thread asking if jhowell or others with a good knowledge of kfx and the hardware care to comment.

I don't know enough about the details of the K1, K2 and DX hardware to be sure, but I suspect that since they were never updated to support KF8 that updating them to support KFX wouldn't be feasible.

I think it might be technically feasible to add support for newer devices, such as the K3, K4 and PW1. However as a software developer I believe that KFX won't be added to these older devices for economic reasons.

The cost updating, testing, and supporting new firmware on hardware that hasn't been sold for years wouldn't be worthwhile for Amazon. There are other factors blocking the total elimination of KF8 so updating those devices wouldn't give them any savings to balance that added cost.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

However, you won't be able to DeDRM the books downloaded for the Fires.

Good to know. I've never explored it since I find K4PC is my best workflow (for now). I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up with a way to generate a PID for a Fire if the other methods for de-DRM weren't already out there and easier, but maybe it's not technically possible?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

NookStudy isn't required anymore. Nook for PC is the better option for actually downloading books. I think I recall hearing that neither Nook for Mac or Nookstudy for Mac works anymore.

Good to know. I haven't purchased from B&N in years and don't really plan to unless Amazon's worst case scenario comes to pass. But it's nice to have a (shaky) back-up plan anyway.