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Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

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Re: Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

#11

Post by neilv »

For people already locked into Kindle, I don't know what to tell you. (Unless you DRM-crack, and get into the gray areas of the piracy culture that's creating much of the DRM problems.)

But it would be healthy for everyone if people supported a DRM-free and non-surveillance ebook ecosystem.

One solution I found is to buy ebooks as DRM-free EPUBs and PDFs, and read them in open source desktop tools and on my relatively decent PocketBook InkPad Lite.

Some details at: https://www.neilvandyke.org/ebooks/

Re: Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

#12

Post by spookybones »

42772827 wrote: post #6

There have been several threads about this on HN over the past few days and months. Just to avoid the confusion that seems to follow these, a few notes: (1) This is the "Download and Transfer" option where Amazon allowed users to select books they had purchased a license to and download them from the Amazon website. (2) The ability to transfer books from your computer to your Kindle using a USB cable is not affected.…

I was reading a Reddit thread on this, and not a single person there understood this. It isn’t good news, but it’s being severely misinterpreted.

Re: Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

#13

Post by wkat4242 »

42772827 wrote: post #6

There have been several threads about this on HN over the past few days and months. Just to avoid the confusion that seems to follow these, a few notes: (1) This is the "Download and Transfer" option where Amazon allowed users to select books they had purchased a license to and download them from the Amazon website. (2) The ability to transfer books from your computer to your Kindle using a USB cable is not affected.…

> (2) The ability to transfer books from your computer to your Kindle using a USB cable is not affected.

Well, it kinda is. If you can no longer download the books you paid for, you can't upload them over USB. That's what that feature on their website was meant for, in fact.

Of course you can still upload non-Amazon content yes. Which is probably what I'll end up doing. I won't buy books on Amazon anymore if I can't remove the DRM.

Re: Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

#14

Post by cyberpunk »

locusofself wrote: post #9
poisonborz wrote: post #3

Bad, but anyone sideloading would skip Kindles anyway for a long time now for much better products.

Also, what better products are there? Kobo? I have a kindle oasis and it's a great device. Not that I love giving money to Amazon, I avoid that when I can with library or at least heavily discounted/public domain or side-loaded books whenever possible.

I kept my oasis chugging for as long as I could stand it but there was no replacement with physical buttons, so I switched to a kobo colour. It's pretty great, if you install koreader on it you can even get to an on-screen linux shell, if you just have to bang out some awk on the bus.. :}

Re: Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

#15

Post by wkat4242 »

neilv wrote: post #11

For people already locked into Kindle, I don't know what to tell you. (Unless you DRM-crack, and get into the gray areas of the piracy culture that's creating much of the DRM problems.) But it would be healthy for everyone if people supported a DRM-free and non-surveillance ebook ecosystem. One solution I found is to buy ebooks as DRM-free EPUBs and PDFs, and read them in open source desktop tools and on my relativel…

> (Unless you DRM-crack, and get into the gray areas of the piracy culture that's creating much of the DRM problems.)

Meh. Even if there was no piracy there'd be DRM. It's not only used to limit privacy but also how you can legitimately use stuff you bought. Like how many devices you can access it on. Or how many times you can view video content.

In fact I think the presence of piracy helps keep prices low. I'm sure Netflix would raise prices even more if they weren't losing customers to piracy every time they raise prices or add crap like ads.. And really, DRM does absolutely nothing to prevent this. It's not as if the latest shows aren't on the pirate bay hours after they appear on Netflix.

> But it would be healthy for everyone if people supported a DRM-free and non-surveillance ebook ecosystem.

That would be very nice yes, if there were one. I don't think there's anything like GOG for books. But yes I do always buy my games on GOG if they are available there.

Re: Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

#16

Post by wkat4242 »

locusofself wrote: post #9
poisonborz wrote: post #3

Bad, but anyone sideloading would skip Kindles anyway for a long time now for much better products.

Also, what better products are there? Kobo? I have a kindle oasis and it's a great device. Not that I love giving money to Amazon, I avoid that when I can with library or at least heavily discounted/public domain or side-loaded books whenever possible.

At least kobo still has physical buttons on most of their devices. The oasis has them yes but it hasn't been updated in many years. It lacks mod cons like light temperature and white on black mode.

The one thing that really bothers me about Kobo is that they no longer have a b/w reader in the Libra format. The Kobo colour has so much worse contrast. That degradation is not worth the slight benefit of mediocre colours for me. It really means always needing the blacklight.

Re: Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

#18

Post by wkat4242 »

locusofself wrote: post #7
poisonborz wrote: post #3

Bad, but anyone sideloading would skip Kindles anyway for a long time now for much better products.

I think you can still sideload? Seems like this applies more to getting stuff off of the kindle to the P.C.

No the books are downloaded from the Amazon site. This is what is being removed.

They are for the specific purpose of officially supported sideloading so that is also being removed. Sideloading books from other sources is still ok.

Re: Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

#19

Post by buu709 »

wkat4242 wrote: post #15
neilv wrote: post #11

For people already locked into Kindle, I don't know what to tell you. (Unless you DRM-crack, and get into the gray areas of the piracy culture that's creating much of the DRM problems.) But it would be healthy for everyone if people supported a DRM-free and non-surveillance ebook ecosystem. One solution I found is to buy ebooks as DRM-free EPUBs and PDFs, and read them in open source desktop tools and on my relativel…

> (Unless you DRM-crack, and get into the gray areas of the piracy culture that's creating much of the DRM problems.) Meh. Even if there was no piracy there'd be DRM. It's not only used to limit privacy but also how you can legitimately use stuff you bought. Like how many devices you can access it on. Or how many times you can view video content. In fact I think the presence of piracy helps keep prices low. I'm sure…

ebooks.com does tell you if a title has DRM or not, which seems to be the best option currently. Outside of that I haven't found much.

Re: Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

#20

Post by neilv »

wkat4242 wrote: post #15
neilv wrote: post #11

For people already locked into Kindle, I don't know what to tell you. (Unless you DRM-crack, and get into the gray areas of the piracy culture that's creating much of the DRM problems.) But it would be healthy for everyone if people supported a DRM-free and non-surveillance ebook ecosystem. One solution I found is to buy ebooks as DRM-free EPUBs and PDFs, and read them in open source desktop tools and on my relativel…

> (Unless you DRM-crack, and get into the gray areas of the piracy culture that's creating much of the DRM problems.) Meh. Even if there was no piracy there'd be DRM. It's not only used to limit privacy but also how you can legitimately use stuff you bought. Like how many devices you can access it on. Or how many times you can view video content. In fact I think the presence of piracy helps keep prices low. I'm sure…

The link lists a few places that have DRM-free ebooks, and some examples of good technical books I've bought that way.
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