Amazon Kindle removes download feature of purchased books: Difference between revisions
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[[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">https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/1inr9uy/fyi_amazon_is_removing_download_transfer_option/</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>]] | ||
In February 2025, the Amazon website says that, starting February 26th, [[Amazon Kindle]] users can no longer 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 appears on the page for the download feature.<ref name="theverge">https://www.theverge.com/news/612898/amazon-removing-kindle-book-download-transfer-usb</ref> | In February 2025, the Amazon website says that, starting February 26th, [[Amazon Kindle]] users can no longer 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 appears on the page for the download feature.<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== | ||
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, Kindle 2, and Kindle DX. <ref name=":1">https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Amazon_Kindle_1 | 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, Kindle 2, and Kindle DX. <ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Amazon_Kindle_1|publisher=MobileRead Wiki|title=Amazon Kindle 1|language=en|format=wiki page|date=21 Nov 2011}} | ||
</ref><ref name=":2">https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Amazon_Kindle_2</ref><ref>https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_DX</ref> | </ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Amazon_Kindle_2|title=Amazon Kindle 2|publisher=MobileRead Wiki|language=en|format=wiki page|date=21 Nov 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_DX|date=15 Apr 2014|title=Kindle DX|format=wiki page|publisher=MobileRead Wiki|language=en}}</ref> | ||
===Reasons for feature:=== | ===Reasons for feature:=== | ||
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Customers will still be able to download e-books to their Kindles, but will 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 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. | ||
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>https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/amazon-is-not-to-be-trusted-anymore-with-their-kindle-e-reader</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> | ||
==Customer response== | ==Customer response== | ||
This change has caused significant backlash from customers.<ref name=":0" /><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMoCzeGnIss</ref> This is due to the following reasons: | This change has caused significant backlash from customers.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMoCzeGnIss|title=Amazon are changing the way you own your Kindle books - you have 10 days to react|date=16 Feb 2025|publisher=YouTube|author=CriminOlly|format=video|language=en}}</ref> This is due to the following reasons: | ||
*The change makes it much harder for customers to read e-books they have purchased on non-Kindle devices | *The change makes it much harder for customers to read e-books they have purchased on non-Kindle devices | ||
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<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. | <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> | “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> | 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=== | ===Roald Dahl book edits=== | ||
====Editing of content in customer's libraries==== | ====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">https://www.thetimes.com/article/roald-dahl-collection-books-changes-text-puffin-uk-2023-rm2622vl0</ref> | 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 | 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:''==== | ====''Changes to books in customer libraries:''==== | ||
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*Removing Miss Trunchbull's "great horsey face" description to just "face" | *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") | *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 | *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". | *Gender-neutral language – "Cloud-Men" in ''James and the Giant Peach'' were renamed "Cloud-People". | ||
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==USB Restrictions== | ==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>https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4352640</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>. | ||
MTP requires support on the operating system. Amazon had to provide macOS software to communicate with Kindles<ref>https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=364580</ref>, and even Windows users had some issues. This change made download and transfer more complex for newer devices. | MTP requires support on the operating system. Amazon had to provide macOS software to communicate with Kindles<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=364580|title=Amazon releases MTP USB File Manager for macOS|format=forum thread|publisher=MobileRead Forums|date=13 Nov 2024|language=en}}</ref>, and even Windows users had some issues. This change made download and transfer more complex for newer devices. | ||
This change means that all files transferred to the device will have to pass through a software filter running on the device before being accepted. Currently, this filtering is ineffective as demonstrated by WinterBreak which uses the exposed HTML cache. Future software revisions can and will add restrictions, especially to "improve security." | This change means that all files transferred to the device will have to pass through a software filter running on the device before being accepted. Currently, this filtering is ineffective as demonstrated by WinterBreak which uses the exposed HTML cache. Future software revisions can and will add restrictions, especially to "improve security." | ||
Amazon has been pushing for content to go through Send-To-Kindle<ref>https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle</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== | ==Issue Summary== | ||