Amazon Kindle removes download feature of purchased books: Difference between revisions
m added WinterBreak and KOReader as part of Consumer response |
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==Background== | ==Background== | ||
Amazon allows purchasing e-books on their platform. These e-books are designed to be used with Amazon Kindle devices and the Kindle app. The "download and transfer via USB" feature allows users to download purchased e-books on your computer. The intended use for this is to allow people to transfer e-books from their computer to their Kindle, without requiring the Kindle to have an internet connection. | Amazon allows purchasing e-books on their platform. These e-books are designed to be used with Amazon Kindle devices and the Kindle app. The "download and transfer via USB" feature allows users to download purchased e-books on your computer. The intended use for this is to allow people to transfer e-books from their computer to their Kindle, without requiring the Kindle to have an internet connection. The "download and transfer via USB" feature has been available since the early days of Kindle, when many devices didn't have Wi-Fi capabilities, such as the kindle 1 <ref>https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Amazon_Kindle_1 | ||
</ref> , kindle 2 <ref>https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Amazon_Kindle_2</ref> , and kindle DX <ref>https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_DX</ref> | |||
=== Reasons for feature: === | |||
* Allows users to transfer books to Kindles without an internet connection. Older devices may no longer be able to connect | |||
* Lets users create backup copies of their purchased e-book library | |||
* Provides a way to access books in the older AZW3 format, which is more amenable to format conversion than newer formats due to less restrictive DRM | |||
* Gives users more control over their purchased content | |||
=== DRM implications === | |||
As well as the intended usage, customers use this feature to create backups of their Kindle libraries and to convert the e-books to other formats to use with non-Kindle devices. Amazon Kindle e-readers use a proprietary format to store e-books, and a lot of the e-books contain [[Digital rights management|DRM]], which needs to be removed to use the e-books with non-Kindle devices. Newer Kindle devices use the KFX format, which makes it almost impossible to remove DRM. Since the download and transfer feature uses the older AZW3 format, people with newer Kindles can use this feature to download their e-books in a format where the DRM can be removed.<ref name="theverge" /> | As well as the intended usage, customers use this feature to create backups of their Kindle libraries and to convert the e-books to other formats to use with non-Kindle devices. Amazon Kindle e-readers use a proprietary format to store e-books, and a lot of the e-books contain [[Digital rights management|DRM]], which needs to be removed to use the e-books with non-Kindle devices. Newer Kindle devices use the KFX format, which makes it almost impossible to remove DRM. Since the download and transfer feature uses the older AZW3 format, people with newer Kindles can use this feature to download their e-books in a format where the DRM can be removed.<ref name="theverge" /> | ||