Amazon dropping support for more Kindles

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Meh. I don't really care and am not going to go through my many thousands of books to look for updates. Especially as there are heaps of freebies among my early Amazon purchases that I'll probably never read. Most updates are pretty insignificant anyway and not worth the bother.

This will be my last time going through my eBooks for updates. So I don't mind doing it one last time.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This will be my last time going through my eBooks for updates. So I don't mind doing it one last time.

Have fun storming the castle!

I did mine in fall 2024 when I saw the newest Kindles couldn't do Download and Transfer via USB. I figured the handwriting was clear on the wall for the eventual fate of D&T, and I was somewhat afraid the feature might just quietly "go away" without any kind of prior announcement.

I went through my entire Kindle library (around 800 books), deleted LOTS of freebies that I'd gotten way back when in the whole WOW! FREE BOOKS new e-reader owner frenzy of 2010/2011, because I knew I'd never read them. Reduced my library to around 500 books by that move!

While I was at it, I picked up any updates to previously backed up purchases EXCEPT for my Ian Fleming / James Bond books, because I didn't want any publisher modernization/political correction nonsense getting pushed to those!

Afterward, I looked through my husband's library (we have Amazon Household), and grabbed a few of his books while the getting was good. Mostly, his tastes are not mine, but he had a few I wanted for a possible future re-read, like The Mouse That Roared boxed set.

[DrNefario]

If I transfer books from my kindle keyboard and do not strip the DRM for whatever reason (I'm kind of lazy) will those books still work for me on that same kindle keyboard if I transfer them back after support ends? I guess they should?

Would they also work on my newer kindle on the same account? Less of an issue, because I can still download them on that, but if that also gets obsoleted in a few years.

I guess it's conceivable that support for the older formats will be removed in a firmware update?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Would they also work on my newer kindle on the same account?

Only if they're DRM-free. If they have DRM, that will be keyed to your Keyboard and so the books won't work on another Kindle.

[Yapyap]

I seem to recall that back when Amazon still had the “download and transfer” feature, I specifically had to choose which of the Kindle devices registered to my account I intended to transfer the files to.

So I’ve always assumed the protection applied to the files by Amazon during transfer (regardless of the method of transferring the files from Amazon to the device) is very much device-specific, not interchangeable between the various devices registered to the same account - as Sirtel says.

[DrNefario]

Interesting, thanks. I guess it could just be to make sure they sent the right format for the device? But then I suppose I can try it if I can resurrect my kindle kb and don't just let the time dribble away until it's too late.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

I seem to recall that back when Amazon still had the “download and transfer” feature, I specifically had to choose which of the Kindle devices registered to my account I intended to transfer the files to.

Correct. And interestingly, because I only had a Kindle 4th Gen as my physical device, it never let me D&T my graphic novels, because it detected that my kindle "would not support" those files. So each device definitely had a unique encryption key, probably derived in some part from the device's serial number.

[frostymug]

Even if every Amazon book you have is from the same Amazon account but you have multiple Kindle devices, the DRM is specific to the device. Each device has its own decryption key and so you cannot read a kindle file from one of your Kindles on a different Kindle. This is why it is so important to me to strip DRM from every book I buy and then save that file. It will work on any device then.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by frostymug

This is why it is so important to me to strip DRM from every book I buy and then save that file. It will work on any device then.

Precisely! It was just this reason that I stopped buying DRMed ebooks back in 2007/8, and only started again when MobiDeDRM appeared.

Relying on re-downloading books from an online store for new devices is just too awkward an unreliable, and long-term unworkable.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Relying on re-downloading books from an online store for new devices is just too awkward an unreliable, and long-term unworkable.

It's more like a lease than a real purchase.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's more like a lease than a real purchase.

Or as Amazon now tells us, "you're purchasing a content license", not the actual book. At least that is what the US site says beneath the Buy Now button these days.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Or as Amazon now tells us, "you're purchasing a content license", not the actual book. At least that is what the US site says beneath the Buy Now button these days.

UK:


Only if you follow the small print link do you eventually find out that

"Kindle Content is licensed, not sold, to you by Amazon."

Old publishing contracts used to have different terms for sales and licensing. I wonder if anyone's ever sued over this? (i.e. that an author isn't getting there correct share of ebook licensing fees.)

[Karellen]

Australia:

[John F]

In the U.S.

[John F]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

UK:
Attachment 222827

...

Interesting that in the U.K. you can use a basket/cart.