It’s never been easier to make your own ereader with parts from AliExpress.
Not buying another Kindle
221–230 of 288 posts
Re: Not buying another Kindle
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can send books to your kindle over USB, and I do that all the time for larger books that are above the size limit on the email system. The big problem is that Amazon no longer allows you to download books from their site to your desktop, so you have no way to actually get a purchased book and send it to the kindle even over USB. However, if you buy non-DRM books from other book sellers you won't have this problem…
> The big problem is that Amazon no longer allows you to download books from their site to your desktop I've bought a number of books on Kindle that were explicitly marked as being sold without DRM. Does this mean I've lost access to any DRM-free downloads that I haven't already backed up?
If you bought them from Amazon, you won't be able to get them after the cutoff date directly to that Kindle via WiFi. You may not be able to get them in a format that old Kindles can read at all.
Download and back them up now. Or just pirate them if you need them later.
The entire Kindle store system will cease working on older Kindles after the cutoff. Still works as a reader, but expect to lose things like location sync across devices.
I don't buy from Amazon, I don't turn on WiFi on my Kindle because it eats battery life, I always travel with a laptop, and I only use it to read outdoors. So I really don't care. It's my beach book. At home, I'd rather read on my iPad.
Oh, and FWIW, you can install Tailscale to a jailbroken Kindle and Taildrop files to it over WiFi, if it can read the format (for the old ones being discussed, that's mobi or azw3).
Re: Not buying another Kindle
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
No Kindle Unlimited, though, and library apps will probably drop support for the older stuff in time. Jailbreak on very old Kindles is reasonably straightforward and the fact that Amazon hasn't even put out point releases to stop it (as the do with newer models) is a strong hint that they've just given up on maintaining them. I still have a K3 (Kindle Keyboard) that not only is jailbroken: it runs Tailscale. Unprotec…
As much as I am a fan of annas-archive, Zlibrary Koreader Plugin[1] makes a bargain I can't refuse. [1] https://github.com/ZlibraryKO/zlibrary.koplugin
Cool. Both my K3 and PW4 are jailbroken and have KOReader...
Re: Not buying another Kindle
#224I have old Kindles that Amazon disabled from downloading new books. They are trying to force me to buy new Kindles, but I just use the Kindle reader app for my PC. Anyone can recommend an alternative to Kindle. Please let me know.
Just read this thread. Or sideload via USB.
It's not that large of an impediment if you're modestly technically savvy.
Re: Not buying another Kindle
#225Besides portability, what other benefits are there to using e-books? I vastly prefer having a physical copy of a book, mainly because I’d rather not look at a screen while reading (unless necessary.) Plus, I love lending out books to friends, and I feel like it’s a much bigger pain to do so virtually (unless they’re tech savvy!)
If you use something like an iPad, you can also do all your reading on one device - substack, blogs, books, newsletters, audiobooks etc. You can also just continue reading on your phone at any time if you end up in line, in transit etc. which helps me read more.
Re: Not buying another Kindle
#226Do NOT buy a Kobo device for Libby integration. It is a LIE . I found out the hard way. Kobo only integrates with OverDrive, the predecessor to Libby. You can only use one library card at a time with OverDrive, and don't have access to the audioboks or periodicals on Libby. Meanwhile Kobo will aggressively push you to sign up for their monthly subscription to get access to that kind of content. If you want Libby on e…
Kobo works with Libby if you use Adobe Digital Editions as an intermediary. From the Libby web page, you have an option to download the ASCM. Load that onto ADE, and you have the book. Then plug in your Kobo and transfer the book. It even respects the loan duration! This isn't perfect, but it works, so I can't agree that Libby and Kobo are absolutely incompatible.
I tried that, and it was incredibly frustrating to have to run back to the PC every time, not to mention vacations and things like that. At that point you don't even need Libby since you can do the same with digital editions off your library's website.
Re: Not buying another Kindle
#227Amazing that it's 2026 and people who write articles on tech-focused sites are still surprised that they never actually owned the books on their Kindle. Do they also think they own their steam games, or Gmail address?
I'm a fan of the Roku e-readers. Affordable, hackable, and you can add your own books just by plugging it into your computer.
Re: Not buying another Kindle
#228Oh no! I love my ancient Kindle, and I still use it. This will destroy so many memories that it carried.
Re: Not buying another Kindle
#229I went through this migration last year. A few things that helped: Calibre is the escape hatch. Converts everything to EPUB. Even if you don't use it day-to-day, it's the best tool for getting your library out of Amazon's format. Public domain catalogs are huge now. Standard Ebooks, Internet Archive, Gutenberg - tens of thousands of well-formatted free EPUBs. Most people don't realize how much is out there. For actua…
If you're even the slightest bit tech savvy you can find a DRM stripping utility for Calibre. Apprentice Alf is long retired, but a fork of that DeDRM still is maintained
I just tried this _today_ and its not easy, you need DeDRM and at least one or two other utilities. I have yet to convert a single book.
Re: Not buying another Kindle
#230Amazing that it's 2026 and people who write articles on tech-focused sites are still surprised that they never actually owned the books on their Kindle. Do they also think they own their steam games, or Gmail address? I'm a fan of the Roku e-readers. Affordable, hackable, and you can add your own books just by plugging it into your computer.
I assume you mean Kobo, not Roku?