Amazon’s killing a feature that let you download and backup Kindle books

Good news is that there are alternative ways to download these books from Amazon for backup purposes. It’s not as straightforward but it’s doable.

That said I will be refusing to buy from any storefront that doesn’t offer a way to download my books. Even adobe digital editions is a viable alternative.

https://github.com/Jedi425/BulkKindleUSBDownloader

Quick script to download all your Kindle ebooks.

If you know any other tools, please reply.

Reposting as a top level comment for visibility. Thanks gitamar.

I'm actually suprised Google never went and made an reader they already have the store and software. Kobo does the job for me anyway though.

Get an old Kindle. The new ones make it hard for you to connect to your computer. They require you to download a "convenient" piece of software meant to allow you to transfer files. But conveniently it also makes it so you can't transfer files easily without it.

Even just a couple of years back you could plug in your Kindle to your computer through a USB and just drag and drop files. It only reads the proprietary .mobi format but Calibre, an excellent piece of software, will automatically convert .epub files to .mobi for you and it has a great algorithm.

Then all you gotta do is look up whatever you want on libgen and for the price of one kindle you can have a virtually infinite library of books.

I've actually had my first generation Kindle for about ~14 years now and my newer one for about ~3 years. I won't ever buy a new one, but the ones from ~3 years ago are excellent pieces of hardware.

You just have to disconnect it from the internet and never turn on the wifi. If you do, Amazon will fuck with your settings and make your life difficult.

Basically, if you're on a budget a used Kindle from ~3 years ago is a great choice in my opinion. If you want something new, stay far away from Amazon.

I found this super helpful... https://github.com/WeLackDiscipline/BulkKindleUSBDownloader/blob/manual-login/end-all-guide.md

The optimist in me says they're doing this to avoid piracy.

The pessimist in me says they're doing this so they can purge books because of the Trump administration.

Either way, I can't say I'm a fan.

Reminder that piracy is a service issue.

Absurd. Glad I have a Kobo.

That's why I avoided Kindle and picked a Kobo. Sure you can remove DRMs from the books you've bought. But at some point they could block you from doing that. They can change anything at anytime and there's nothing you can do about it.

Ugh, thanks for the warning. Time for me to download and de-drm all my old kindle books and never again buy anymore.

This is why you never connect your kindle to the internet. Calibre forever

Do yourself a favour, switch to Kobo or a third party ereader... Especially if you're not in the US.

I sure am glad I got a Kobo for myself for Xmas and ripped all my books to it. Guess I'll be recycling my Kindle for good.

If only there were some way to get books to read in a format where a billionaire's trillion dollar company can't gatekeep them.

Some sort of physical product, perhaps one made out of trees?

Its possible to buy DRM free ebooks from itch.io and it is where I get everything that I can.

resist.

Stop buying whatever it is that Amazon/Meta/Google/Etc sell. They will not stand for you. They will not respect you.

At some points, it may seem like they changed and that they are now good. They are not. They will never be. Resist them.

That's why I don't download or purchase ebooks from Amazon, but only get them from places I can download a non-DRM'd copy. I'm not looking to break any laws, but if I pay for it, I want to be able to have it whenever I want even when the Internet is down. Recently a buddy gave me his old blu-ray juke box, and now I'm doing the same thing with my favorite movies as well. And building a home lab. It's finally time I decreased (not completely ended) my reliance on the cloud, given the shit show my nation collectively voted for.

You know I am starting to think going to the library is a better idea than buying their products. You can literally just walk in.

The only surprising thing about this is that the functionality existed in the first place.

Knew this would happen

I'm glad I started converting all my amazon books long ago. When I finally got a Kobo last month, there were no issues since the work was done.

The article literally says you will still be able to push books via Calibre etc, but won't be able to download books into Kindle from PC.

Example: If you don't have a WiFi at home, there is an option to connect Kindle via USB to your ethernet connected PC and download books from Amazon that way.

And this option is going away, as most people have WiFi.

Anywho, fuck Amazon (for other things, but not this one).

I rarely use my Paperwhite Signature since I like my Boox Nova 2 more. The Kindle is mostly just for the serial now to strip DRM via Calibre.

My wife recently joked that it’s my “Kindle Paperweight.” With this announcement it’s no longer a joke. I doubt I’ll buy anymore books from Amazon.

I read somwhere how to solve this

1 - factory reset

2 - deactivate wifi for life

3 - upload books with calibre

This will wipe out any content you have, as i understand

Definitely switch to alternatives from Amazon. They treat their authors abhorrently too. I've personally been super happy with libro.fm for Audiobooks (essentially Audible, but you can download the audiobooks DRM-free)

Makes it harder to pirate or share, so more profit with the benefit of censorship. They could make updates to material on the fly if they wanted. Assuming you need an Internet connection, no privacy and limits where you can read. It's hard because you can't avoid things like AWS but you can stop paying them directly. Sadly, even now, it's hard to convince people to give up on Amazon and similar corps.

I'm quite glad that I never bought fully into Kindle/Nook/Kobo and instead went with an eInk Android tablet.

Can I root my 10 year old Kindle Paperwhite?

I’m guessing audible will follow soon after.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm downloading all of mine and finally making a Calibre library.

I have no need for my Kindle services anymore. I bought books there for how easy it was to put on my electronic devices, and to easily make back up copies for later. If I can't downloaf and reformat the e-book to easily make a physical copy I don't want it.

I’m waiting for them to get rid of the send-to-kindle email thing to receive books from calibre. I’m surprised it has survived for this long. I’ve wanted to try out a kobo but can’t justify it cause my 10+ year old kindle still works perfectly fine for reading. But once they remove that feature or drop support for my device, it’s kobo time.

I noticed this feature wasn’t available for my Colorsoft and asked support about it. They assured me it would be added later. This is exactly what I expected to happen.

Well fuck... Guess i'll need too look at what is available for ebook downloads i my arr stack to get books for my kobo.

The kobo store is mostly useless, and there are limited options available for buying ebooks here, so amazon has been the best option for likely finding what i was looking for.

I get my books for my used Kindle off Libby because I have no expectation of ownership and I don't want to give Amazon the satisfaction of my money.

Totally did not see this coming. Like, fifteen years ago or whenever.

This won’t stop users from removing DRM. There will always be a way to own your e-books.

That's terrible...

Just fyi there is some good publishers like baen that still support and don't plan on removing ebook format downloads.

I literally just installed caliber recently. Are they following my every move or something? Trying desperately to prevent other "near techky" people from leaving the market place?

I’m sad that the Kindle Oasis doesn’t get a new model. Mine has served me well for the past few years, but it’s starting to show its age.

Iquit on Kindle a few years ago. The publicationsI read, like Asimov’s Sci Fi, no longer publish via Kindle. I use Book Funnel, Kobo, Pocket Book and store books on my desktop’s drive.

I told people years ago. You don't own those books.

I own my books.... They are made out of this thing called paper and line the wall of my office. All the volumes I value I have of copy of for myself and future generations of my family

did that a couple of days ago thankfully. goodbye amazon, you were never loved.

you will own nothing & like it

/s, maybe

I wonder how long before this US administration makes "copyright infringement" a felony...

🤔