Amazon is poised to remove a feature that allowed purchasers of Kindle titles to download their books to their PCs. Most Kindle users download their books directly to their devices via wifi. A lesser-known option is "Download & Transfer via USB," which dates back to the old days of the internet before ubiquitous wifi. However, if you select that option now, you will be greeted with the following warning:
This is yet another reminder that you don't own your Kindle books. Amazon can take them away or alter them without your consent. Downloading books was the only defense against this, and Amazon is taking it away, most likely because downloaded books can have the DRM removed.
Backing up each title one by one can be tedious, especially for users with large libraries. Hackaday links to a Github repository called Amazon Kindle Bulk Downloader, which will automate the process. The account must have a Kindle registered, which cannot be any of the newest 2024 Kindle models. Users have until February 25th to download their previous purchases.
Previously: New Kindle jailbreak opens all models
