Amazon will remove the option to download/transfer Kindle e-books via USB by February 2025

So Kobo and Calibre FTW.
- Maaaan, I wish ereader open source software was better. This is one of the areas where I feel the gulf between corporate garbage and free alternatives most. It's just a hassle to manage, feature-poor, has terrible UI or all of the above.
  
  My favorite Calibre thing was when the creator was interviewed and asked about the common complaint that Calibre is ugly and he was basically like “actually it’s not.”
  
  https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill is a thing, although you have to get the exact model in order to make it work.
  I really wanted https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book to be a thing, but its very hard to get the parts and assemble (in my opinion).
  https://gitlab.com/guyjeangilles/piereader looks promising.
  Honestly, the biggest hurtle does NOT appear to be the hardware, its getting the ebook in an open format. If Amazon removes the ability to download the files, then it really doesn't matter what you run, you cant read your book.
  Theres other publishers that give you all the file types like: https://www.baen.com/. I recommend finding and supporting those.
  
  I agree on the outdated UI, but at least it gives you a ton of options that official apps would never allow you, or babysit you too much to offer.
  I've literally used Calibre 2-3 times, and while the UI seemed daunting at first, it was logical and did did its job quite fast when figured out. And I usually don't need to use it afterwards for another long period.
  
  No kidding. Really tried using it for a month. But it was just terrible interfacing with it.
- Damn, that color one looks very nice!
  
  The color ones have lower resolution screens and less contrast+brightness than black and white. If you read comics it’s a big step up, but if you read mostly black and white text, it’s a downgrade.
- i went this exact route a few months ago--along with anna's archive, best investment ever

Wait, you guys were buying books from Amazon?
- Yeah, some of us made that miskate years ago. I can transfer mp3 just fine, why can't I transfer a book file too? Lots of people entire book libraries are being held hostage by Amazon.
  DRM ripping was a pain, I used some sketch program that had only worked with a specific old version of Kindle for PC to turn all my books into ebubs.
  I love my kindle, but not buying books from Amazon anymore and next ereader won't be kindle.
  Fun unrelated fact, kindle unlimited books could also be downloaded for USB transfer.
  
  Yeah it is strange. I have bought mp3s on Amazon and downloaded the DRM free mp3 to listen to on my preferred player of choice. But, why is the stance on books different?
- Freereadfeed.com
  Then use the library for the rest of the series if needed. :-).

Put it on airplane mode the day I bought it. Calibre is godsent

Kindle jailbreak ftw
- A friend of mine was curious about this Kindle jailbreak of which you speak. Could you elaborate on how the jailbreak works for a Kindle?
  
  Tell your friend to search for winterbreak
  
  You should definitely not try to find info on how to take your Kindle on a WinterBreak ;)
  
  https://kindlemodding.org/jailbreaking/getting-started.html

Good luck doing that to my 2012 5th gen Kindle that's been off the update schedule for an eternity.
- The title is misleading, they’re removing the ability to download and transfer from the Amazon side
  
  So i won't be able to download my ebooks from amazon.com to my PC, right?

The discontinuation does not eliminate the ability to drag and drop files onto a Kindle; it simply removes a method that facilitated piracy by transferring older retail book formats via USB.
Err, what? So it's only going to block certain file types?
- They're removing the ability to download ebooks from Amazon. You are still able to add books via USB to your device.
  The piracy is because you could download your Amazon ebook, strip the DRM and transform it to a more generic format, and distribute it. Unfortunately this now means you'll be unable to make copies of your books for "backup in case Amazon decides to remove access" purposes.
  
  The only effect this will have on me is that I'm going to stop buying books from Amazon.
  
  Well, feeling glad I already strip the DRM for my backups last month. Not buying anymore from em at all.

Oh, good. I was thinking about buying one but I guess I won't anymore.
- For me a big hesitation for getting an e-reader was not feeling like I owned my own media. I love books and felt like this was a very of it ain't broke, don't fix it problem. After getting one as a gift, I'm a huge fan, I read more than ever and really prefer the e-reader format now. Unfortunately I think society at large is so used to not owning things anymore that there probably won't be too many people turned off by this. Glad to hear it matters to you - would encourage you to give a different brand / platform a try.

I got a second hand 2011 model for free. I leave it in airplane mode and copy the books over via USB after converting them with calibre. I would not buy an amazon e-reader in the future. Simply because they are a shitty company.

Some hypothetical advice needed…
I bought books through Amazon and used the Kindle app on my phone and Mac. Is there still a method to get these books into an alternative like Calibre or am I screwed if I’ve updated the Kindle app on my Mac?
I want to delete my Amazon account, but I’d love to keep the books I “bought” and “own”.
- https://www.cloudwards.net/remove-drm-from-kindle-books/
  This currently works, but I don't know if it will continue working forever - probably not too much longer after this announcement.
  The "old Kindle PC app" might keep working in the future, but my guess is that it's going to be done soon as well.
  edit: One thing I ran into was after installing the kindle app and turning off the auto-update, it still updates. So keep the installer handy and just reinstall it as needed.
  
  Nothing is certain, but it looks like you will still be able to download books into local memory so you can read them. As long as the apps still work that way, it will be possible to access the book files.
  You do need a tool that can remove the DRM from the books files the Kindle uses. DeDRM used to do this nicely, but it has not been updated to handle the most recent version of Kindle DRM. It will not works on any books published since early 2024.
  There are commercial options that can remove even the latest DRM from Kindle books. I use Epubor Ultimate. It was the first to handle the most recent Kindle DRM, but I'm sure there are others by now.