Amazon Kindle removes download feature of purchased books

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.

Amazon notice about removing download capability

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.

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 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.

Removal of download and transfer via USB

In February 2025, Amazon added a notice next to the download button whenever you access the "download and transfer via USB" feature. This notice says that the feature will be removed on February 26th. This means that after that day, customers won't be able to download their purchased e-books from the Amazon website.

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. 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.

Customer response

This change has caused significant backlash from customers. 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
• Customers are now required to connect their Kindle e-readers to the internet if they want to download books purchased on Amazon
• The change makes it harder for customers to move away from Amazon to another e-book platform, since customers wouldn't be able to keep the e-books they purchased through Amazon

After the announcement, many consumers have downloaded their purchased e-books with the download and transfer feature while the feature is still available. Many people are also moving to other providers to buy e-books going forward.

Other users have resorted to jailbreaking their devices to ensure continued access to previous features. This can be done using tools such as WinterBreak, which allow users to run custom applications like 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)

The Amazon Kindle 1 (2007) and Kindle 2 (2009) relied on EVDO and 3G networks for wireless book downloads via Amazon’s Whispernet service. However, with the global shutdown of 3G networks by mobile carriers, these early Kindle models are no longer able to download books wirelessly in most regions.

If books cannot be purchased from the Kindle store and downloaded, there is no way to get them onto these devices.

• Users will no longer be able to download Kindle books to a computer for manual transfer to their device via USB.
• Books already downloaded before this date can still be transferred manually.
• Any new purchases will require a WiFi-enabled Kindle or access to Amazon’s Kindle apps to read.
• This effectively bricks older Kindles for the use case of reading newly purchased books.

Remaining Functionality

• The Kindle 1 and Kindle 2 still support USB file transfers for non-Amazon content, including:
  • DRM-free MOBI, PRC, and TXT files.
  • Converted EPUB files using tools like Calibre.
  • Public domain books from sites such as Project Gutenberg.
• Users who backed up their Kindle books before the February 26, 2025 cutoff can still manually transfer them via USB.

What this means for old Kindle users

With the loss of Whispernet access due to 3G shutdowns and the upcoming removal of USB transfers for Amazon-purchased books, the Kindle 1 and Kindle 2 will no longer be able to receive new Kindle Store purchases unless a workaround is found. Owners of these devices may need to rely on third-party eBook sources and manual file transfers to continue using them.

Censorship & Content Replacement

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,

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.”

Spelling out what Dahl said above: "I don't give a bugger"

Roald Dahl book edits

Editing of content in customer's libraries

In February 2023, Amazon and Puffin were caught automatically updating previously purchased Roald Dahl e-books 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.

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. 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)

• 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 softened 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."

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."

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.

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

• Digital Content Control
• Corporate Censorship
• Ownership of Digital Goods