https://github.com/Jedi425/BulkKindleUSBDownloader
Quick script to download all your Kindle ebooks.
If you know any other tools, please reply.
Reposting as a top level comment for visibility. Thanks gitamar.
The optimist in me says they’re doing this to avoid piracy.
The pessimist in me says they’re doing this so they can purge books because of the Trump administration.
Either way, I can’t say I’m a fan.
Por que no Los dos?
You will own nothing and like it!
Iquit on Kindle a few years ago. The publicationsI read, like Asimov’s Sci Fi, no longer publish via Kindle. I use Book Funnel, Kobo, Pocket Book and store books on my desktop’s drive.
Reminder that piracy is a service issue.
100%. I have always pirated, but the amount of things I pirated went way, way down when Netflix had a decent library of things to watch and was affordably priced.
I stopped pirating altogether thanks to Spotify, Netflix and Steam.
But now I’ve cancelled Netflix and I have a 24 TB NAS filled with movies
Good news is that there are alternative ways to download these books from Amazon for backup purposes. It’s not as straightforward but it’s doable.
That said I will be refusing to buy from any storefront that doesn’t offer a way to download my books. Even adobe digital editions is a viable alternative.
Get an old Kindle. The new ones make it hard for you to connect to your computer. They require you to download a “convenient” piece of software meant to allow you to transfer files. But conveniently it also makes it so you can’t transfer files easily without it.
Even just a couple of years back you could plug in your Kindle to your computer through a USB and just drag and drop files. It only reads the proprietary .mobi format but Calibre, an excellent piece of software, will automatically convert .epub files to .mobi for you and it has a great algorithm.
Then all you gotta do is look up whatever you want on libgen and for the price of one kindle you can have a virtually infinite library of books.
I’ve actually had my first generation Kindle for about ~14 years now and my newer one for about ~3 years. I won’t ever buy a new one, but the ones from ~3 years ago are excellent pieces of hardware.
You just have to disconnect it from the internet and never turn on the wifi. If you do, Amazon will fuck with your settings and make your life difficult.
Basically, if you’re on a budget a used Kindle from ~3 years ago is a great choice in my opinion. If you want something new, stay far away from Amazon.
Do yourself a favour, switch to Kobo or a third party ereader… Especially if you’re not in the US.
Yup, I’ve had my Kobo for quite a while now and I still love it. The push buttons are great, as pointed out by another poster, but also… I’ve just never had any issues with it. None whatsoever. I’m hoping this one will just never brick.
About a month after I got mine, I bought the exact same one for my husband and he says his is still working like a charm as well! Now to be fair, I had never owned any other e-readers so I can’t really compare it to anything, but quality-wise I’d say they’re really good.
A whole new generation of the Kobo readers just came out too!
I’ve got one of the previous Gen and I was so happy to find they have models with the clicky buttons to turn the page.
Yeah I got the libra colour and it’s really great for the buttons. Didn’t really care about the colour part but the regular one was out of stock when I got it so I just went with it and I’m finding I enjoy it a lot. Especially when I read picture books for mt kid’s bedtime
Why “especially if you’re not i the US”?
I’m not in the US, and switched to kobo a couple of years ago, but i’ve had to keep buying books from amazon, sine the kobo store is just realy bad (missing a lot of books, even popular once), and there are few others who offer ebooks here.
The quality of the devices seem not the greatest either.
Bought a kobo libra first and it lasted just long enough for the warranty to expire before it just fully died. Replaced it with a kobo libra colour, and had to replace it three times before I got one that didn’t have pin holes on the screen where light shone through.
Meanwhile my 9 year old kindle oasis works just fine, it has just gotten slow and the battery is worse, which is why I replaced it with kobo.
Because supporting the US economy from outside of it right now is ludicrous and Amazon is a union busting mega corporation that destroy local economies…
Now, I’m not a Kobo corporate shill, I don’t care which device you get, I did say there are other ereaders you can get, pick whatever you want. You don’t care about thr trade wars, you can get a Nook or Remarkable. You care but don’t like Kobo? You can buy an Onyx or another Chinese brand. You can use your phone, an old tablet whatever you want.
Personally, I’ve never not found a book on kobo but if it happened and it wasn’t at my library, I’d find alternative to buying on amazon, I’d get it physical or find other ways to get it.
You want to continue using amazon products and contribute to the success of Bezos and his billionaire friends, that’s your prerogative but a lot of us are not ready to do that for the sole sake of minor convenience.
I’m actually suprised Google never went and made an reader they already have the store and software. Kobo does the job for me anyway though.
The article literally says you will still be able to push books via Calibre etc, but won’t be able to download books into Kindle from PC.
Example: If you don’t have a WiFi at home, there is an option to connect Kindle via USB to your ethernet connected PC and download books from Amazon that way.
And this option is going away, as most people have WiFi.
Anywho, fuck Amazon (for other things, but not this one).
Yeah it seems more like they decided that maintaining that specific feature isn’t worth it because not enough users are using it. It sucks, but that’s just how it goes with closed hardware and software ecosystems.
I rarely use my Paperwhite Signature since I like my Boox Nova 2 more. The Kindle is mostly just for the serial now to strip DRM via Calibre.
My wife recently joked that it’s my “Kindle Paperweight.” With this announcement it’s no longer a joke. I doubt I’ll buy anymore books from Amazon.
I’m sad that the Kindle Oasis doesn’t get a new model. Mine has served me well for the past few years, but it’s starting to show its age.
I felt the same about my Voyage, but I’ve resolved to move to kobo once it bites the dust.
I jumped from the Voyage to the Paperwhite when they switched to USB-C and added a warmth slider for the screen. It’s really nice, especially with an origami case (even if that case isn’t as nice as the origami case for the Voyage).
A physical (or physical-ish) button is pretty much my main driver. I also like the little bit more freedom I’d have with a kobo.
Yeah, I do wish they hadn’t killed the pressure button. But I tend to swipe anyway.
Thanks for the heads-up. I’m downloading all of mine and finally making a Calibre library.
I sure am glad I got a Kobo for myself for Xmas and ripped all my books to it. Guess I’ll be recycling my Kindle for good.
If your model accepts a custom OS, some of them make decent e-ink displays for weather, family photos, etc. Things look good in the black and white ones especially.
Yeah I’ve actually thought about doing that and making it an office desk calendar or something. Thanks for reminding me!
I just got a Kobo color (don’t recommend the color feature; no book is ever going to use it except the red-letter Bible and House of Leaves) and gifted the old Kindle to a friend. I e-reader is an awesome gift actually because for a lot of people it’s something they would never evenly in years take a chance on, but that they would love it if they tried.
Interesting that you don’t recommend Kobo Color. I was thinking of gifting my mother a kobo but I might just go for a BW version.
To be quite honest I never allowed my Kindle or my Kobo to go online and the experience is not that different. The build quality on the Kindle is a bit better superior and I might well go back. Calibre is the real hero of the story IMO.
Look to whom you are giving the money. That is a very important part of the whole story.
I’m quite glad that I never bought fully into Kindle/Nook/Kobo and instead went with an eInk Android tablet.
im glad i didnt even try eink, i just went to best buy tried the cheapest tablets and the s9 fe works perfectly for me, wanted to like the p12 lenovo but the brightness was terrible on it, couldn’t see shit. I think id be dissapointed in my reading experience if eink is so much nicer, i like having options to watch media and do other stuff
I used to have a normal tablet before buying my e-reader and can say with certainty it is night and day difference. So much more comfortable to read on e-ink. Even comics are usually good in black-and-white.
This is why you never connect your kindle to the internet. Calibre forever
