{"id":913,"date":"2025-02-18T01:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T01:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/?p=913"},"modified":"2025-02-18T01:00:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T01:00:51","slug":"amazon-just-killed-a-useful-kindle-usb-feature-leaving-me-stuck-with-less-flexibility-for-ebook-downloads-and-backups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/2025\/02\/18\/amazon-just-killed-a-useful-kindle-usb-feature-leaving-me-stuck-with-less-flexibility-for-ebook-downloads-and-backups\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon just killed a useful Kindle USB feature \u2013 leaving me stuck with less flexibility for ebook downloads and backups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Download &amp; Transfer via USB is going away<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/6NJuUdHfnP5MLikGcmLgK-1200-80.jpg\" alt=\"A person holding the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) with the Home screen displayed\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest Amazon Kindle Paperwhite<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Amazon is removing the Download &amp; Transfer via USB option on Kindles<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The feature hadn&#8217;t appeared on the latest models<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It&#8217;s likely that the move is to combat ebook piracy<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve owned and loved some of thebest Kindlesin the series sinceAmazonfirst introduced the ereader, but using these devices can feel somewhat restrictive \u2013 especially now Amazon is killing off a useful USB file transfer feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As reported byThe Verge, the Download &amp; Transfer via USB option is going away on February 26. That means you&#8217;ll no longer be able to download ebooks purchased from Amazon, and then move them to yourKindleover a wired USB connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The feature isn&#8217;t actually available on the latest generation of Kindles, pushed out last year, but all other models are going to be affected. Amazon doesn&#8217;t give a reason for the move, but it&#8217;s almost certainly to crack down on ebook piracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using fairly simple tools available online, users could download purchased ebooks from Amazon, crack the DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection on them, and send them to other devices or distribute them widely on the web. That will no longer be possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&gt;&gt;&gt;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/detail-Amazon+Kindle-1747078-26S1028\">26S1028 Battery for Amazon Kindle HD Fire<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"less-flexibility-3\">Less flexibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/8ce7a9f6413e4c6b4b8630b199147c98-970-80.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>An ebook on the Kindle Oasis<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As is often the case, efforts to battle digital pirates means rule-abiding users lose out. This means ebooks can no longer be saved on computers as backups, or moved over without a Wi-Fi connection, which gave Kindle owners some extra flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s worth bearing in mind that Amazon does occasionally remove ebooks from its catalog, or replace them with modified versions. Now more than ever, users are going to be at the whims of what Amazon decides to make available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will still be able to move ebooks over via Wi-Fi of course, as well as transfer files to your Kindle via USB and software such as Calibre. It&#8217;s specifically the ability to download purchases from the Amazon website to a computer that&#8217;s disappearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&gt;&gt;&gt;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/detail-Amazon+Kindle-1746124-ST32\">ST32 Battery for Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 5<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This also gets closer to fully killing off the older AZW3 format for Amazon ebooks: it&#8217;s been replaced by the newer KFX format, which is much harder to crack in terms of its DRM, and which is now used in most situations (except downloads to a computer).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Download &amp; Transfer via USB is going away The latest Amazon Kindle Paperwhite I&#8217;ve owned and loved some of thebest Kindlesin the series sinceAmazonfirst introduced the ereader, but using these devices can feel somewhat restrictive \u2013 especially now Amazon is killing off a useful USB file transfer feature. As reported byThe Verge, the Download &amp; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/2025\/02\/18\/amazon-just-killed-a-useful-kindle-usb-feature-leaving-me-stuck-with-less-flexibility-for-ebook-downloads-and-backups\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Amazon just killed a useful Kindle USB feature \u2013 leaving me stuck with less flexibility for ebook downloads and backups<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amazon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":914,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions\/914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}