Consumer Rights Wiki

Amazon Kindle removes download feature of purchased books: Difference between revisions

← Older edit
VisualWikitext
mNo edit summary
broke out the altering of purchased books stuff to its own page, and removed a random ai-y section
 
(4 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[File:Fyi-amazon-is-removing-download-transfer-option-on-feb-26th-v0-s7wd6fm1rqie1.webp|alt=Amazon notice about removing download capability|thumb|Amazon notice about removing download capability.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/1inr9uy/fyi_amazon_is_removing_download_transfer_option/|title=FYI Amazon is removing Download & Transfer option on Feb 26th|format=forum thread|publisher=Reddit|language=en|date=12 Feb 2025}}</ref>]]
[[File:Fyi-amazon-is-removing-download-transfer-option-on-feb-26th-v0-s7wd6fm1rqie1.webp|alt=Amazon notice about removing download capability|thumb|Amazon notice about removing download capability.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/1inr9uy/fyi_amazon_is_removing_download_transfer_option/|title=FYI Amazon is removing Download & Transfer option on Feb 26th|format=forum thread|publisher=Reddit|language=en|date=12 Feb 2025}}</ref>]]
On February 26th 2025, Amazon removed the "download and transfer via USB" feature from their website. This means [[Amazon Kindle]] users are no longer able to download their purchased e-books from Amazon's website to their computers using the "download and transfer via USB" feature. A message describing this change appeared on the page for the download feature a few weeks before the feature was removed.<ref name="theverge">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/news/612898/amazon-removing-kindle-book-download-transfer-usb|title=Amazon’s killing a feature that let you download and backup Kindle books|publisher=The Verge|date=14 Feb 2025|format=article|author=Andrew Liszewski|language=en}}</ref>
On February 26, 2025, [[Amazon]] removed the "download and transfer via USB" feature from their website. This means [[Amazon Kindle]] users are no longer able to download their purchased e-books from Amazon's website to their computers using the "download and transfer via USB" feature. A message describing this change appeared on the page for the download feature a few weeks before the feature was removed.<ref name="theverge">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/news/612898/amazon-removing-kindle-book-download-transfer-usb|title=Amazon’s killing a feature that let you download and backup Kindle books|publisher=The Verge|date=14 Feb 2025|format=article|author=Andrew Liszewski|language=en}}</ref>


==Background==
==Background==
Line 19: Line 19:
In February 2025, Amazon added a notice next to the download button whenever users accessed the "download and transfer via USB" feature. This notice said that the feature would be removed on February 26th. After that day, customers were no longer able to download their purchased e-books from the Amazon website.
In February 2025, Amazon added a notice next to the download button whenever users accessed the "download and transfer via USB" feature. This notice said that the feature would be removed on February 26th. After that day, customers were no longer able to download their purchased e-books from the Amazon website.


Customers are still be able to download e-books to their Kindles, but have to either use the Kindle store on the device or use the "Deliver or Remove from Device" option on the Amazon website.<ref name="theverge" /> Both of these options require the e-reader to have an internet connection.
Customers will still be able to download e-books to their Kindles, but will either have to use the Kindle store on the device or the "Deliver or Remove from Device" option on the Amazon website.<ref name="theverge" /> Both of these options require the e-reader to have an internet connection.


This isn't the first time Amazon has made changes affecting customers' access to their purchased e-books. For instance, Amazon previously removed books customers had purchased since the company that uploaded them didn't have the rights to the content.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/amazon-is-not-to-be-trusted-anymore-with-their-kindle-e-reader|title=Amazon is not to be trusted anymore with their Kindle e-reader|date=14 Feb 2025|publisher=Good e-Reader|format=article|language=en|author=Michael Kozlowski}}</ref>
This isn't the first time Amazon has made changes affecting customers' access to their purchased e-books. For instance, Amazon previously removed books customers had purchased since the company that uploaded them didn't have the rights to the content.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/amazon-is-not-to-be-trusted-anymore-with-their-kindle-e-reader|title=Amazon is not to be trusted anymore with their Kindle e-reader|date=14 Feb 2025|publisher=Good e-Reader|format=article|language=en|author=Michael Kozlowski}}</ref>
Line 35: Line 35:
Other users resorted to jailbreaking their devices to ensure continued access to previous features. This can be done using tools such as [https://kindlemodding.org/jailbreaking/WinterBreak/ WinterBreak], which allow users to run custom applications like  [https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki/Installation-on-Kindle-devices KOReader], a unified eBook reader that supports PDF, DjVu, EPUB, FB2, and many other formats—on Cervantes, Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook, and Android devices.
Other users resorted to jailbreaking their devices to ensure continued access to previous features. This can be done using tools such as [https://kindlemodding.org/jailbreaking/WinterBreak/ WinterBreak], which allow users to run custom applications like  [https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki/Installation-on-Kindle-devices KOReader], a unified eBook reader that supports PDF, DjVu, EPUB, FB2, and many other formats—on Cervantes, Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook, and Android devices.


==Effect on Original Kindle Devices (Kindle 1, Kindle 2, & Kindle DX)==
==Effect on original Kindle devices (Kindle 1, Kindle 2, & Kindle DX)==
The Amazon Kindle 1 (2007), Kindle 2 (2009), and Kindle DX (2009) relied on EVDO and 3G networks for wireless book downloads via Amazon’s Whispernet service.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> However, with the global shutdown of these older networks by mobile carriers, these early Kindle models are no longer able to download purchased Kindle books wirelessly in most regions.
The Amazon Kindle 1 (2007), Kindle 2 (2009), and Kindle DX (2009) relied on EVDO and 3G networks for wireless book downloads via Amazon’s Whispernet service.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> However, with the global shutdown of these older networks by mobile carriers, these early Kindle models are no longer able to download purchased Kindle books wirelessly in most regions.


Line 45: Line 45:
*This effectively bricks older Kindles for the use case of reading newly purchased Kindle books
*This effectively bricks older Kindles for the use case of reading newly purchased Kindle books


====Remaining Functionality====
====Remaining functionality====


*The Kindle 1, Kindle 2, and Kindle DX still support USB file transfers for non-Amazon content, including:
*The Kindle 1, Kindle 2, and Kindle DX still support USB file transfers for non-Amazon content, including:
Line 53: Line 53:
*Users who backed up their Kindle books before the February 26, 2025 cutoff can still manually transfer them via USB.
*Users who backed up their Kindle books before the February 26, 2025 cutoff can still manually transfer them via USB.


==Censorship & Content Replacement==
== Technical USB restrictions==
 
Censorship of literature now involves the '''alteration of existing works''' to make them amenable to political correctness. One recent example is the '''editing of Roald Dahl's books''' to remove language deemed offensive or outdated, that did not align with the original author's intentions. As stated by Matthew Dennison, a biographer of the late author,
 
<blockquote>When it came to children’s books, Dennison says Dahl didn’t care what adults thought as long as his target readers were happy. “‘I don’t give a b----r what grown-ups think,’ was a characteristic statement,” Dennison says. “And I’m almost certain that he would have recognised that alterations to his novels prompted by the political climate were driven by adults rather than children, and this always inspired derision, if not contempt, in Dahl.
“He never, for example, had any truck with librarians who criticised his books as too frightening, lacking moral role models, negative in their portrayal of women, etc,” he continues. “Dahl wrote stories intended to kindle in children a lifelong love of reading and to remind them of the childhood wonderlands of magic and enchantment, aims in which he succeeded triumphantly. Adult anxieties about political niceties didn’t register in this outlook. This said, although Dahl could be unabashed in offending adults, he took pains never to alienate or make unhappy his child readers.” <ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/17/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-offensive-matilda-witches-twits/|publisher=The Telegraph|title=Roald Dahl rewritten|date=24 Feb 2023|format=article|author1=Ed Cumming|author2=Abigail Buchanan|author3=Genevieve Holl-Allen|language=en}}</ref></blockquote>
 
Spelling out what Dahl said above: "I don't give a bugger"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/footlights/docs/depaul_-_the_witches|title=The Witches|publisher=The Theatre School at DePaul University (2011)|author=Roald Dahl|date=1983}}</ref>
 
===Roald Dahl book edits===
 
====Editing of content in customer's libraries====
In February 2023, Puffin were caught automatically updating Roald Dahl e-books previously purchased on Amazon with new "sanitized" versions that contained hundreds of changes to the original text. Users who had purchased the e-books before the changes were implemented found their copies automatically replaced with the edited versions, without being given a choice or notification beyond the updates themselves.<ref name="times1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/roald-dahl-collection-books-changes-text-puffin-uk-2023-rm2622vl0|title=Roald Dahl ebooks ‘force censored versions on readers’ despite backlash|author1=Ben Ellery|author2=James Beal|date=25 February 2023|format=article|publisher=Times Media}}</ref>
 
In 2023, The Telegraph reported that '''hundreds of changes''' were made to Roald Dahl’s classic children's books, including ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'', ''Matilda'', and ''The Witches''.<ref name=":3" /> These edits were performed by the publisher Puffin in collaboration with a group called '''Inclusive Minds''', with the stated goal of ensuring the books ''"can continue to be enjoyed by all today."''
 
====''Changes to books in customer libraries:''====
The changes included numerous alterations to the original text, such as:
*Replacing "fat" with "enormous" in describing Augustus Gloop
*Removing Miss Trunchbull's "great horsey face" description to just "face"
*Modifying character occupations (e.g., changing a woman "working as a cashier" to "working as a top scientist")
*Removing references to certain authors (e.g., replacing Joseph Conrad with Jane Austen in Matilda)<ref name=":3" />
 
*Gender-neutral language – "Cloud-Men" in ''James and the Giant Peach'' were renamed "Cloud-People".
*Removal of references to physical appearance – The "fat little brown mouse" in ''The Witches'' became simply "little brown mouse".
*Sanitization of language – ''The Witches'' originally stated: "You must be mad, woman!" This was rephrashed to "You must be out of your mind!"
 
Clarissa Aykroyd, a children's publishing professional, described the automatic updates as feeling "Orwellian," saying she assumed users would be given the option on whether to download the original version or the newly sanitized versions given how significant the changes were. The forced updates led her to become "weary of ebooks."<ref name="times1" />
 
After lots of backlash, Puffin announced it would publish the classic collection of 17 Dahl texts alongside the edited versions. Puffin acknowledged "very real questions around how stories can be kept relevant for new generations" while giving readers "the choice to decide how they experience Roald Dahl's magical, marvelous stories."<ref name="times1" />
===Debate Over Modern Censorship===
These edits sparked debate over whether these changes were necessary updates or excessive censorship. Critics argue that altering the original language distorts an author's intent and removes historical context.
 
This example of '''posthumous editing of literature''' demonstrates a broader trend of '''corporate-controlled content revision''' where publishers, rather than readers, decide what is deemed acceptable, and people who buy ebooks exercise no real ownership over what they bought and paid for.
 
==USB Restrictions==
In 2023, Amazon changed how their Kindle devices interact with computers from a raw view of a file system using UMS ([[wikipedia:USB_mass_storage_device_class|USB Mass Storage]]) to a filtered view using the MTP ([[wikipedia:Media_Transfer_Protocol|Media Transfer Protocol]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4352640|publisher=MobileRead Forums|format=forum thread|date=31 Aug 2023|language=en|title=Kindle Scribe no longer connects as USB drive}}</ref>
In 2023, Amazon changed how their Kindle devices interact with computers from a raw view of a file system using UMS ([[wikipedia:USB_mass_storage_device_class|USB Mass Storage]]) to a filtered view using the MTP ([[wikipedia:Media_Transfer_Protocol|Media Transfer Protocol]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4352640|publisher=MobileRead Forums|format=forum thread|date=31 Aug 2023|language=en|title=Kindle Scribe no longer connects as USB drive}}</ref>


Line 96: Line 61:


Amazon has been pushing for content to go through Send-To-Kindle<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle|publisher=Amazon|title=Send to Kindle page}}</ref> instead of USB. This allows Amazon to restrict the usage of Kindle devices to display illicit content.  
Amazon has been pushing for content to go through Send-To-Kindle<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle|publisher=Amazon|title=Send to Kindle page}}</ref> instead of USB. This allows Amazon to restrict the usage of Kindle devices to display illicit content.  
==Issue Summary==
This incident highlights the larger issue of content ownership and censorship:
*Ability of publishers to modify purchased content without user consent.
*Ability of publishers to remove purchased content without user consent
*E-book platforms can be used to retroactively alter literary works, erasing historical context and the artist's original intent.
*Ability of content providers to disable perfectly functioning devices from being usable post-sale.


==See Also==
==See Also==
Line 111: Line 68:
==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
 
[[Category:Amazon Kindle]]
[[Category:Content modification]]
[[Category:Digital rights management]]
[[Category:Digital rights management]]
[[Category:E-books]]
[[Category:Content modification]]
[[Category:Amazon]]
[[Category:Retroactively amended purchase]]
[[Category:Retroactively amended purchase]]
[[Category:Articles based on videos]]
[[Category:Articles based on videos]]
Retrieved from "https://consumerrights.wiki/Amazon_Kindle_removes_download_feature_of_purchased_books"