Amazon Kindle

Amazon Kindle is a product line of e-readers made by Amazon.

Controversies

While EPUB has been the widely adopted format for digital books^[1], the Kindle e-readers do not support this format natively. That means that it is not possible to load these files directly to the e-reader (which is called sideloading), but have to be converted first to one of the proprietary formats the Kindle uses. Books directly purchased through Amazon come with DRM restrictions.

Around 2022 it was announced that there would be an option to read these files^[2], which was not through native support but via their e-mail service or dedicated app for the Kindle. Both send the file to the Kindle Cloud Library, and process the file on Amazon servers to the proprietary format.

As for the sideloading itself, newer firmware versions of Kindle e-readers only work with MTP^[3], which led to controversy among power users as it disrupted existing workflow, which is to be expected. Book management software like Calibre^[4] address this issue, and can do the conversion of file formats locally. The recent firmware updates have caused other issues, like faster battery drain than before and a slower user experience.^[5]

References

[1] ttps://www.w3.org/TR/epub-33/

[2] ttps://mashable.com/article/amazon-kindle-epub

[3] ttps://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2024/10/20/amazon-removed-download-and-transfer-option-for-new-kindles/

[4] ttps://calibre-ebook.com/

[5] ttps://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/the-amazon-kindle-is-in-a-state-of-decline

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