Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th

Well, it kinda is. If you can no longer download the books you paid for, you can't upload them over USB. That's what that feature on their website was meant for, in fact.

Of course you can still upload non-Amazon content yes. Which is probably what I'll end up doing. I won't buy books on Amazon anymore if I can't remove the DRM.

If they aren't interfering with (2) Amazon can do what it wants.

``` Exception: Can't get the csrf token, please refresh the page at https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/mycd/myx#/home/content/booksAll and retry ```

Can someone give explicit instructions about the content of the cookie.txt?

The README instructions are unclear.

I won't pretend to know if there are enough people like us to impact Amazon's calculus, but I hope there are.

For me, the Kobo lacks something like the Send to Kindle feature.

I can send books I've obtained from outside the Kindle Store (DRM free sellers, Humble Bundle, public domain etc.) and then store them in my Kindle library.

These are then synchronised across all of my Kindle devices and apps - completely for free

Kobo does have integration with cloud storage, but it's not the same feature.

Plus it has the Kindle Store, which has the biggest selection of books for sale.

Without data I believe that more than 99% of ereader users have no idea what a MOBI or ePub file is and have never attempted to manually move a file onto their device. Instead, they go to a digital book store, click "buy", and content appears on their device.

Amazon does that as well as (better than?) any competitor, and crucially their store has the books people want.

I don't want a subscription store filled exclusively with LLM-generated trash. I don't really want to have to find which of a thousand websites will sell a DRM-free copy of something so I can buy it, download it, transcode it in Calibre into a format my device reads, and transfer it to my device. I'd much rather pay a few dollars, click a button that sends some money to the author and sends a book to my device.

This whole comments section reeks of "I don't understand why anyone uses Windows when Linux is so easy to get to", managing to simultaneously assume every user has a degree in computer science and overlooking all the rough edges.

If that's no longer possible then there's no point in using Amazon for this, yes.

First, Kindle Oasis has a great form factor. I want a reader that is shaped conveniently to hold with one hand and flip pages without having to lift my thumb. Oasis does exactly that.

Second, I find that Amazon is the most likely to have books that I care about. Other catalogs aren't as extensive, and depending on your preferences, this can get really noticeable.

Lastly, I already have a very large Kindle library from way back, and switching to a different incompatible device means abandoning all of that.

I have an 2016 basic kindle that I use often, it is sideloaded with KOreader (official software didn't support epubs when I bought it) and I mainly use it for non-amazon books through Calibre or cable transfer.

Access to my purchased books from either device anywhere, and flawless progress syncing.

I don’t take my kindle everywhere, sometimes I just have my phone but still want to read.

I don’t believe this is as easy with Kobo as with Kindle (or even possible). If it is I’ll switch.

I actually picked up a refurb unit to have as a spare since Amazon discontinued it.

I would love a modern USB-C or wireless charging version of it. Roughly same size and form factor, physical buttons, backlit, and completely waterproof.

That said since they discontinued that model line I would have no real reason to stick with kindle when my two on-on hand finally kick the bucket aside from convenience.

The Kobo Libre Colour seems to be the current closest option, so we shall see how it stands the test of time for when I finally leave my last Oasis on a plane or whatnot.

I stopped reading ebooks and actually moved to physical books, but from what I remember pirated books were super convenient. I had this giant library of tons and tons of scifi/fantasy books I once randomly copied from someone and it didn't even take that much storage space. It lasted me my childhood and I've only managed to read a small fraction of it.

I have purchased eBooks that were just bad OCRs, some publishers just don't care.

Kobo will also price match with Amazon, you get credit back and an extra 10% too.

I mean, I can buy a book on a Kobo and read it legally in just as few taps, and I can also borrow a book on Kobo and read it legally.

Also, Kobo plays more nicely with Calibre, including a much nicer DRM-stripping management plugin, which seems relevant to the overall topic of this thread -- all the Kindle DRM removal plugin how-tos out there stopped working reliably for me years ago.

I got my Kindle around that time, even though I had actively looked for alternatives. Nothing seemed to compare then.

But I'm ready to believe that now in 2025, Kobo caught up? I read many comments here praising Kobo.

Kindle store has those too.

The biggest issue is the web browser doesn't have pagination, ie a next page button. *It only supports smooth scrolling using the touch screen*. Which on an e-ink display is a completely awful, insanely frustrating experience that I can't believe they ship it (and the Scribe is an 11th generation product).

Using a web browser to read pure text is a blurred mess that's takes several painful seconds to slowly scroll to the next page.

Since I bought the Kindle Scribe (big mistake due to the above issue), I've wanted to jailbreak it to install a non-terrible Wikipedia browser.

Eg the one available in the KOReader project -- the open-source alternative eink-optimized ebook app that is widely-supported across the eink ecosystem (including older Kindles).

Thanks for heads up that a jailbreak is finally available!

also, in california with AB2426, I wonder if this would qualify as a purchase not a license.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...

Meh. Even if there was no piracy there'd be DRM. It's not only used to limit privacy but also how you can legitimately use stuff you bought. Like how many devices you can access it on. Or how many times you can view video content.

In fact I think the presence of piracy helps keep prices low. I'm sure Netflix would raise prices even more if they weren't losing customers to piracy every time they raise prices or add crap like ads.. And really, DRM does absolutely nothing to prevent this. It's not as if the latest shows aren't on the pirate bay hours after they appear on Netflix.

> But it would be healthy for everyone if people supported a DRM-free and non-surveillance ebook ecosystem.

That would be very nice yes, if there were one. I don't think there's anything like GOG for books. But yes I do always buy my games on GOG if they are available there.

I dream of a day when that's possible, but all of the massive publishers with over 80% of book marketshare insist on DRM.

This is an interesting framing, mainly because it can be flipped 180 degrees around. "Shinier and more impregnable DRM just creates problems that lock you into certain devices and usage patterns, which simply create much of the gray area of piracy culture"

I mean, you're literally starting out by not trusting the person who fucking purchased your product and then furthermore also artificially limiting them in how they can use that content and on what devices!

Imagine if every marriage began with an un-shut-offable location tracker in your wedding band. You'd be complaining about the "cheating culture that has contributed to the need to install uncircumventable perma-trackers on the newly-married... and also, everyone who tries to disable them OBVIOUSLY just wants to cheat" /eye-roll

Unfortunately, for many, many books, this isn't possible, at least legally.

I try nearly every time. The book I want (usually sci-fi recommended to me by friends) is never available from any DRM free shop I can find.

I end up buying from Amazon because their DRM is the most convenient to remive. And I go to the effort to remove it because I want to keep the content I buy, not have it disappear when the DRM key holder decides to take it away from me.

People use Kindles because they’re the easiest to find, most well known, integrated with one of the most popular online shps on the planet that also encourages easy publishing, were one of the first, used to “just work”, don’t need to be changed, already have their books on there, and so on.

What are these figures you are mentioning?

If a Kobo means a monthly fee, I swear I’ll never even consider getting one.

Agree everything else is better though, and Amazon's equivalent subscription library could be just as bad for all I know.

What I do is purchase the ebook and remove the DRM, so I can read it on whatever device I want. It may be illegal but would you really consider that piracy?

Now I suppose it will just be Anna and me doing the sideload.

(I am currently attempting to follow a recipe off the internet that begins with "install an old version of the PC Kindle app, disconnect from the internet before running it so you can tell it not to auto-update itself, ...". Perhaps that will work.)

[EDITED to add:] Yup, looks like that has worked, though most of the titles and authors will need to be entered manually.

And it's only available in the US.

It's a shame they haven't tried to pressure the publishers into dropping DRM for books.

The DRM used by Apple's bookstore is entirely limited to Apple's own apps on its own devices. You can't even read the books in a web browser.

If the files are .azw3 then it's the same