The end of Kindle book backup
Posted in daily
Tags :I discovered quite by chance that Amazon is killing the “Download & transfer via USB” feature for its Kindle books. After February 26th, 2025 you will only be able to download books from the Kindle store to your e-reader over Wi-Fi.
Why does this matter?
This pretty much signs the end of Kindle book backup. I regularly download and backup my purchases to Calibre. This enables me to convert them to different formats, such EPUB or CBZ/CBR for graphic novels. Since Amazon killed the Comixology app, I have been using Panels on my iPad to read my comics.
This feature allowed to download books in the AZW3 format, which allowed the DRM to be easily removed. You will still be able to plug your Kindle directly into your computer and copy your books over, but Amazon’s new KFX format is used by most modern Kindles, and cannot, to the best of my knowledge, be removed.
Downloading your Kindle books ensured you had an unmolested copy, even if Amazon or a publisher attempted to revoke or tamper with your books.
This feels like a very anti-consumer move, but then you’ve got to wonder what proportion of Kindle users still used this feature, and then, when has Amazon ever been pro-customer?
More screws tightened on more fronts.
Read more
- “Download & Transfer for Kindle eBooks Going Away on February 26” by Nathan on The eBook Reader;
- “Amazon’s killing a feature that let you download and backup Kindle books” by Andrew Liszewski on The Verge.