SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion
Quick Reference & How-To's
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Amazon planning on removing the "Download & Transfer via USB" option
If I'm understanding your question correctly, you should be able to access all of your books (those purchased (incl. freebies) from Amazon and those you've purchased elsewhere and added to your kindle via the link: https://www.amazon.com/hz/mycd/digita... You can sort by:
Books - those from Amazon / free & purchased
Docs - those books purchased elsewhere and added to your kindle
To add books I purchased elsewhere to my kindle, I use this link: https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle. From there, you need to go to the previous link and chose the book to "deliver or remove from device". Of course, they say you can remove from your device, not your entire library by using that same option, but you can't 🙄 Everytime I've tried I get the "you're deleting this from your entire library" warning, so I don't do it. All my books are there, read and unread. I just manually remove them from my kindle, if I need to, but that's more of an OCD thing vs a need-the-space thing.
If you're trying to reaquire your book's file (.epub/.mobi), you should have it saved on your HD in your Calibre files.
Hope that helps.
Victoria wrote: "I just bought a book (The Traitor Queen, finally!), and as I always download my books to put them in my Calibre library, I saw this message: “Starting February 26, 2025, the “Do..."
Well I'm glad I've been slowly moving away from Kindle. I have a Boox to read my KU books, can also use my iPad mini though I don't like the Kindle apps very much. I download all my books and put them in to Calibre so I have my old library. They stopped the KU transfer by USB two years ago, that is when I went to my iPad Mini.
So I stopped updating my Kindle years ago. The only way to do this is to NOT connect to the wifi or data. I HATE the new OS. I bought my Kindle working with no home screen and then an update made me go to their "HOME" screen which I hate. So I could go into the setting and set MY HOME button to take me to my list. Well, that is when I stopped updating my Kindles which was way before they IMO screwed the OS. Kind of like they are slowly doing that to GR. Updates are annoying as I went to my Kindle to read and had to wait 5-10 minutes for it to do a forced update and then had an update I did not want or need. I saw the wind blowing and DO NOT CONNECT TO WIFI. For years now. My Oasis which is the Kindle I read the most on will get no new books as I will still not update to the no back button separate from the home button and search only my Kindle, not what you know is in the cloud because I'm no connected. I'm sorry, I've been irritated with Kindle for years and now I'm so glad I bought a Boox for Christmas.
On my Oasis, I don't have the new scrolling rather than page turns and only view 5 books per page in your list view (still 6 in the grid view). I have 8 listed books in my old list view. This is how I bought my Kindle and this is how I want it to work. By forcing an update if I connect to wifi, they are changing what I bought working one way and making it not the product I bought. This is forcing me to go elsewhere. You will own nothing and be happy, doesn't work for me. Who owns my Kindle? I bought a Boox Page. I can use apps and read books for anywhere rather than go through Amazon. I like how my Kobo and Kindle work but I've slowly learned the Boox and its settings and how to use it (much more complicated). I can used the Kobo app for my few Kobo books, Kindle app for KU, Libby and Hoopla for Library books, and any dmr free with the main reader which I think they call "Neo".
So it seems you have 10 days to download and transfer all your Kindle books before they will not be available by side loading. You will have to update to the IMO, crappy OS that I would never buy a new Kindle the way they work today.
Victoria wrote: "Does anyone have any idea how we’ll be able to get to our files?."For old files download them now 10 days.
For new files
Use a tablet or buy a Boox as it is the only reader I know that is Android so you can install app store apps. I think the Onyx Boox Page is the best one. The on board text to speech reader is better than Kindle ever had. Doesn't work with the apps though. :-(
Or you can read on the desktop Kindle4PC app.
If you have an older Kindle that is no longer supported, I think my Kindle Keyboard is like that, new files/books will no longer be supported, SOL. I think they have gone to a Kfx file rather than the mobi based azw3. I rarely turn the Kindle Keyboard on now as I just love my light, though the keys and page turn buttons, and text to speech are all great things we have lost. Upgrades are not always all upgrades. I would still buy the Keyboard with the old software if it had a light. One of the best Kindles ever. Voyage was great too but had battery issues.
Thanks for your input, Steph and Amyiw! 🙏I'm currently just downloading the books I bought on Amazon, but not downloaded as epubs for my backup on my computer yet. Just so I have a copy when Amazon takes back their licenses.
I don't know how I'll be getting the epub files from any new books starting next month. Downloading to the Kindle (or any Kindle app) goes smoothly as ever (and will continue to do so), but I want the actual files for backup 😅
And lol Steph, I totally understand your OCD! I used to have everything nice and sorted, but it was too much at a certain point, so I removed everything and now I only have a few collections left. All other books are somewhere in the cloud (or in my Calibre 😁)
Victoria wrote: "And lol Steph, I totally understand your OCD! I used to have everything nice and sorted, but it was too much at a certain point, so I removed everything and now I only have a few collections left...."
I remember the first time that I lost all MY sorted "collections" and just lost them all. Never created a collection with Amazon again. How hard would it be to have a saved xls of all their subscribers collections to restore them if something went wrong. They don't give a crap about the customers. They add one feature and take away 2. And usually it is a favorite feature that leaves and now there is pretty much nothing I need in a new eReader that they could "add" only old features that they could add back.
So I use my eReader (Kindles, Kobos, Nooks, Boox, etc...) to read. I carry one in my purse pretty much always. I don't want the distraction of anything but my books as I use it to read. I used to use TTS (text to speech) for when I was reading and had to go somewhere, short distance, and didn't want to put down the book. I would start the text to speech and listen until at... doctor's office, post office, etc..., I would always read while waiting in line, still do sometimes but I've really gone audio book at about 90%. So for those books that don't have audio, I would prop the Kindle up and start the TTS with the volume down to nothing, and read while washing dishes. I used it as a timed page turn. That is one function that Kindle got rid of but you can have on any open document with many eReader apps and Boox "Neo" reader. I cannot take the virtual voice for long but they have become better.
So I think Amazon did this so that they could release "audio books" that are pretty much TTS but with the improved versions, which they call "virtual voice narration". With some of the TTS app version, these "audio books" are no better than these apps are. They improved the very poor TTS that they had and now charge for "audiobooks" that are "virtual voice narrations". I accidentally took one of these out recently in my Audible Plus included and ended up going to the print version after a while. They are much much better than before and what is on my Kindle 3 (keyboard). But they still mispronounce some words, have no inflection or accents or change or voice for characters, and sometimes don't pause correctly. It is good for a drive but not for a whole books as it ruins the characterization. It is a benefit for those that must use it (for whatever reason) driving to a conference and need the book read before you get there, example. But it is essentially TTS just improved from the 15 years back, it is very listenable but not good for fiction IMO. Charging money for one of these like it is a regularly narrated audiobook is **shakes head** wrong.
So I've slowly been moving away from using my Kindles (I love my Oasis). I have been using the Kobo (It worked with my library, only one, but no longer will sign in through Overdrive, probably because Overdrive is no longer supported but Libby is. I don't sign in with my Kobo as I'm affraid they will auto update to some OS like Amazon. For 2 years, I've been reading on my Forma, Kobo. Now I am using my new eReader, the Onyx Boox Page. It took forever to figure out how to get the settings right and reading on the apps is not as smooth as their on board Neo reader but I love that I can put any app that I can put on my phone. There is a powering down issue that makes it take about 1 minute to power up but I set that to inactive for 24 hours so it pretty much pops up like any eReader when I open the magnetic case now. That was annoying when everytime I put it down a couple of hours, I would have to reboot. Having it not shut down for a day doesn't seem to really affect the battery much either so, so far I'm really happy with it (after tweaks).
I don't think I'll ever buy another Kindle. It was that update in ?2021, where they took away the back button and forced everyone to go to "their" sales screen when using the arrow or coming to the end of a book, when all I want to do is go to my list. I was so glad I kept a few of the Kindles in my family account away from the update. And Amazon was sneaky, they downloaded it several months ahead of a timed release so those that avoided updates in the past would have to have not connected to wifi for months (I think it was Feb download and May release?) It was during Covid and their were a lot of unhappy people.
Victoria wrote: "Thanks for your input, Steph and Amyiw! 🙏I'm currently just downloading the books I bought on Amazon, but not downloaded as epubs for my backup on my computer yet. Just so I have a copy when Amaz..."
Do you have a WiFi connected Kindle currently? Not a Kindle Tablet as that really isn't a Kindle as it is not a eReader, so a eReader. I suspect they have changed the file format that gets downloaded to the Kindle to that fdx? file type but if not and they send the azw3 files, you could upload from your Kindle to your computer. I haven't looked into it.
I think I now understand what you were saying with this announcement. I haven’t had the "Download & transfer via USB” option for … I can’t remember the last time I saw it as an option. Even now, when we should have a week remaining to use it, it’s not an option for me. You should be able to see the transfer option under ‘more actions’, right? Here are mine: https://imgur.com/0mr6izL Is the transfer by USB option only available when your kindle is connected as an external drive? Since I’m reading on a kindle I’ll be fine (if/until I change readers) b/c ‘Send to Kindle’ will continue to work for any books I borrow or purchase elsewhere. Guess, like you said, we only bought the “reader’s license,” so we don’t own the books. I’m fine with that, as long as I have access to those books at any time, I guess. My issue will be (if, hopefully never) they decide to limit or completely remove that access. Now that is something I don’t think they’d be able to do since it’s been purchased. But, what do I know.
The Boox devices look cool, Amyiw. Thx for sharing. Looks like a good alternative to the kindle, if needed. Kinda looks like the ReMarkable tablet.
Victoria wrote: "And lol Steph, I totally understand your OCD! I used to have everything nice and sorted, but it was too much at a certain point, so I removed everything and now I only have a few collections left...."
Too much, for sure. I even stopped using the collection folders b/c I’d fill them so full I’d get overwhelmed by too many options + too many “collections” 😆
I use collections ~ my fav authors, about 20 or so, or authors with lots of books. Works for me, as I re-read lots.
If you are using Calibre - it can convert kindle formats to epub (or vice versa). I send every book I purchase through Amazon to my Kindle for PC. Once downloaded to the Kindle Content on your computer, you can copy the kindle file (whatever format it comes as: KFX currently, rarely mobi, sometimes still KF8) to a different folder - you will have to rename the file when you copy and paste it because the file name is the ASIN. Once you have the saved file elsewhere on your computer, you can import into Calibre. It will convert to other formats if you want or keep as-is. I read everything on a different app than Kindle on my phone - so if your reading app only supports epub, this is a great option.If you don't know Calibre or who Alf is, then PM me.
I hate my kindle. It’s so slow and clunky compared to the app on my phone or iPad. Just navigating around to find the book I want is frustrating and makes me want to throw the thing. (Oasis)
Sandra wrote: "I use collections ~ my fav authors, about 20 or so, or authors with lots of books. Works for me, as I re-read lots."That’s a good way to sort, esp with your love of rereading 😊
LaurLa wrote: "If you are using Calibre - it can convert kindle formats to epub (or vice versa). I send every book I purchase through Amazon to my Kindle for PC. Once downloaded to the Kindle Content on your comp..."True. Thanks, LaurLa, good info.
Zoi wrote: "I hate my kindle. It’s so slow and clunky compared to the app on my phone or iPad. Just navigating around to find the book I want is frustrating and makes me want to throw the thing. (Oasis)"😆 I’ve had similar moments.
Steph wrote: "I think I now understand what you were saying with this announcement. I haven’t had the "Download & transfer via USB” option for … I can’t remember the last time I saw it as an option. Even now, wh..."That doesn't look like my Amazon "Content and Devices" book page. Do you live in the US or outside. Maybe they already disabled it for some countries? They disabled it for KU books a couple years back.
Zoi wrote: "I hate my kindle. It’s so slow and clunky compared to the app on my phone or iPad. Just navigating around to find the book I want is frustrating and makes me want to throw the thing. (Oasis)"
The update made it more clunky and hard to use. To search, to navigate is just painful. Search and navigation clunky, highlighting and note without the back button, for research notes, not useable anymore. There are so many complaints about that feature that "... only works if you are reading fiction" Personally I think it just isn't as good as the back button is now underneath on a pull up menu and only works for one back push and then "Sales Page" HOME.
So it is very hard for me NOT to go off on a tangent and rant as I loved my Voyage. The battery died. I bought a Oasis. It is great but only because I have never updated. I will no longer be able to add books from Amazon that I don't already have downloaded. I did replace the battery on the Voyage finally and it works today. My son has it. So light, so small (yet 6" screen) and buttons on both sides of the screen.
Rant Rant Rant...
I have 3,705 books in my Amazon account. I've only transferred maybe 1/3 of those. I didn't realize until this "announcement". At least they announced it as they have disabled Lending without even noting anywhere.
I have a serious number of free books (thanks mostly to your sales thread here at SOS) that there is no way I can bring down. No time. So I will just lump it. They were free, after all.
Amyiw wrote: "That doesn't look like my Amazon "Content and Devices" book page. Do you live in the US or outside. Maybe they already disabled it for some countries? They disabled it for KU books a couple years back."Yeah, that's from my "content & devices" page. I am in the US. I read they disabled the USB feature on v12 Kindles, but I think I still have a v11. Haven't double checked that though. I looked through my C&D list, at a lot of different purchased books as well as $0 purchases, and I have no "transfer via USB" option. So, I don't guess I'll be able to save any to my ExHD.
Like Kateblue, I'm resigning myself to it - they all reside permanently @ Amz. I'll just fret about it, I'm sure, if I ever switch to a different reader and wanna re-read something I've bought but can't get to any longer. I'll have to hope my library stocks it, if that happens.
Just tell Amazon you are downloading to an old, old Kindle and it will download the azw3 or mobi to your desktop. I use a 10 years or more "e-ink" Kindle (actually, I have 4 after one failed 10 years ago and two disappeared at work(!!)) and the azw3 format is the automatic download format for them. Amazon's site downloads the old format automatically. And I wonder if those Kindles will even work after Feb 26. Waiting to see. what I found most helpful was that some of my earliest Kindle book purchases were nowhere to be found on any kindle or on my computer, so sort your list of books for oldest to newest and start at the rear. That's where I found many full price favorite books that I am so glad I figured out to download before the download feature went away.
Most of the azw, azw3, azw4 are married to the Kindle you are using and the serial number has to match. I tried putting a azw3 meant for one of the Paperwhites on my account, on to my Oasis and it did not work. I've given up on what I have already downloaded as it was taking way too much time. I'm just downloading it all again and it is taking forever because it is one book at a time.
So I didn't update a bunch of these PNR/UF compilations that have multiple books. The updates frequently delete book(s) from the omni. So if anyone else is downloading, don't update, or if you do, download twice.
it is the same as mobi. It is the first Amazon type of download and was pretty open sourced as mobi. Amazon has been changing constantly ever since, first to azw3 and then to others. Fire Kindles are a different suffix and whatever newer Kindles are--I know of at least two other types. I never heard of azw4!
Kateblue wrote: "Just tell Amazon you are downloading to an old, old Kindle and it will download the azw3 or mobi to your desktop. I use a 10 years or more "e-ink" Kindle (actually, I have 4 after one failed 10 yea..."Sorry, but what do you mean by “tell Amazon”?
I mean make an old Kindle your primary one in the devices area. I haven't done this in years, so I am not remembering right now very well, but go to your devices and pick your oldest kindle as the default.
LaurLa wrote: "If you are using Calibre - it can convert kindle formats to epub (or vice versa). I send every book I purchase through Amazon to my Kindle for PC. Once downloaded to the Kindle Content on your comp..."I've checked this, but the files can't be changed (Calibre doesn't recognize the format). So, I will check if I can connect my Kindle to the computer and then see what files are on there.
Fun times 😁😁
Amyiw wrote: "They disabled it for KU books a couple years back...."Yeah, I can imagine it being disabled for the KU books, as you're only loaning them. But the books you actually bought... you should always be able to download those imo (not only directly to your Kindle).
This change is getting a lot of negative feedback, so who knows... they might not go through with it (yeah, I know... wishful thinking lol)
Kateblue wrote: "I mean make an old Kindle your primary one in the devices area. I haven't done this in years, so I am not remembering right now very well, but go to your devices and pick your oldest kindle as the ..."Oh, okay, gotcha. Thanks 😊
I'm surprised they ever allowed you to download KU books outside of your Kindle (or other device). I view those similarly to library loaners, but I gotta pay for them -- like a rental, I guess. 😝
I could see my book files when I connected my kindle to my laptop. They're .kfx files. I think I read Calibre has a plugin, if you're looking to do anything with them.
I've just got too many books @ Amazon to spend the rest of the week trying to free my purchases from them. I'd never rescue them all. Nah, I'll just go about as usual and find a way to deal with any issues I have if/when I ever leave Kindle/Amz readers.
Please bear with me as I share. I'm not religious, but I have always had an irrationally guilty conscience.Amz's Kindle Store terms of use page (https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...) was last updated 31 Dec 2024, so who knows what it said prior to that date. I didn't read it, but now that I have it says:
"Use of Kindle Content. Kindle Content is licensed, not sold, to you by the Content Provider."
and
"In addition, you may not attempt to bypass, modify, defeat, or otherwise circumvent any digital rights management system or other content protection or features used as part of the Service."
Although, "In the US, it's generally illegal to remove DRM from ebooks, though there are some exceptions. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management.
When it's legal
- Removing DRM for accessibility reasons
- Removing DRM for research
- Removing DRM for maintenance, repair, or security testing
- Removing DRM for personal use, as long as you don't distribute the material
I'm feeling icky over this issue, TBH y'all. I'm feeling kinda naive for not reading all of it sooner. And, I'm feeling like, if I were to download books I paid for, I'm stealing. That's making me mad at Amazon and myself for not looking into it further.
When I paid, either a fully discounted $0 or full price, for an ebook at Amazon, I thought I owned the book, not just the license to read it on their device(s). I fully understood the rules and regulations surrounding KU b/c I read them. I knew it'd be a loaner program I had to pay for annually; books would come and go, as I chose.
This isn't that, but it certainly feels like it to a much larger extent b/c I have spent much more money over the last (almost) 20 years on ebooks than I have over the last handful of years paying for KU. And yet, Amazon owns all of those books - loaners and purchases. WTF?! 😤
I bought the book. If I download it, then remove the DRM, I should be within my legal right to do so, yes? Then, why does the idea of it all make me sick to my stomach? Guilty conscience flare up just talking about it when I haven't even done it.
Ugh 😕
I don't begrudge anyone wanting to do what should be completely legal. But, please excuse me from further discussion b/c, at least at this moment, I'm feeling the need to step away from it.
Steph wrote: "Please bear with me as I share. I'm not religious, but I have always had an irrationally guilty conscience.Amz's Kindle Store terms of use page ..."
That is an updated service agree that Amazon is trying to get around the legalities of "fair use" by saying you paid for it but your don't own it. Yea, it does feel icky. As long as it is for "personal use" it should be legal but this is changing because they not only control the publishing, publisher's and authors but your use of the material (and the Kindles you own, really they own as they can delete everything on them).
They are making it impossible to read on any device (or app) that is not theirs. Their "apps" are no where near as useful as reading on a Kindle, but a cluncky version of what is on a Kindle. Fair Use should mean that they make it possible, even with DRM, to read on other eReaders. They could develop a similar Adobe digital editions (which is another control to eBook on the epub end and Adobe which is another company that has done some shade subscription stuff with there suites lately I refuse to subscribe to any software subscriptions ). So they could make them available to other eReaders. But then they would lose market share. I will be "buying" books and borrowing through my Kindle from now on as I don't find this acceptable. Used book stores and libraries were my go to for all my reading before 2015-16 when I converted to digital and audio. I'll just go back as I'm spending about the same.
Victoria wrote: "LaurLa wrote: "If you are using Calibre - it can convert kindle formats to epub (or vice versa). I send every book I purchase through Amazon to my Kindle for PC. Once downloaded to the Kindle Conte..."
Yea, the convert through Kindle 4PC stopped working a few years back when they started sending some mbp (or fbx?) file rather than the azw files of old. I wish I had used that to save the files as I realize now that I cannot sort what I already have and don't so have been spending hours backing up one at a time. I'm ~1/2 through and think I've inflamed my carpal tunnel. I'm trying really hard to hold my mouse in different directions. I've been buying Kindle books from before I had a Kindle 2009 and 2010. I read them on no name eReaders, then I bought a Kindle 2, then a Nook, then Kindle 3, then I bought my first backlit screen which was a Nook Glowlight. So I've been reading on other eReaders forever and would like to continue to do so.
I'll still use my old Kindles or the app on my Boox for KU but since they no longer have the yearly KU subscription, I've been thinking of quitting KU for several months. I bought 3 year for ~$7/mo, which even if I read 1 book was good. Now it is $12/mo which ...? Probably is still worth it as they have a lot of books now.
I totally understand not having the USB transfer for loaned and borrowed books but for the ones you bought...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGJDi...Here is a script (installation method pretty easy) that can download all your books in a bulk download so you don't get carpal tunnel. It is only a 25 books at a time as it only can do the "Amazon book list" of 25 books. So you have 1000 books it is 40 pages rather than 1000 books. It is the best you can get.
Does it in the background but the download drop down pops up every few seconds so you really cannot get much done. It take 3 minutes per page about but you can get it to go faster like he said, only I wanted to make sure it got the downloads as they sometime take a few second to start and so left the time. I have multiple Kindle and want the last one in my 10 list so had to change line 78 (view spoiler)
explanation how to.
Amyiw wrote: "That is an updated service agree that Amazon is trying to get around the legalities of "fair use" by saying you paid for it but your don't own it. Yea, it does feel icky."😕
I'm sorry Steph, it was never my intention for this post to make people feel this way 🥺I actually didn't know that Calibre could remove DRM, nor is that something I wish to do tbh. I just want a backup for when they (accidentally) remove something from my account so that I can add it again via the Send to Kindle option.
Ah well, this seems to be the future of all digital goods, even games on Steam for example...
I'm happy that I got KU to work, and I'm totally on board with those regulations, so I will just stick to that.
No, please don’t feel bad. It’s not you or anything anyone has said here about it. Honest. I’m glad you shared for everyone to have time to do something (or nothing) while there was time left to do so. What’s making me sick is that I’m realizing/learning that (for however long) Amazon has been “selling” me books that I (now, at least) don’t own (WTH, seriously?!) and “taking them” (in the only ways that we’ve learned) feels wrong b/c they’ve made it like we’d be stealing. Stealing what we bought? 😵💫
They’d be better off being up front (🤣) and just having all books KU or some such, in a way preferably that’d be good for authors, as well, instead of making it seem like a transaction: our money for a book, which would usually mean it’s yours to do with what you will - on their reader or where-the-fuck-ever. ‘Scuse my French, y’all, but damn. What a mess.
Hope all my rambles make sense, y’all. Much of it is just stream of consciousness frustrations. 💕
Steph wrote: "...They’d be better off being up front (🤣) and just having all books KU or some such, in a way preferably that’d be good for authors, as well, instead of making it seem like a transaction: our money for a book, which would usually mean it’s yours to do with what you will - on their reader or where-the-fuck-ever. ‘Scuse my French, y’all, but damn. What a mess..."
Yes, KU is much more fair in that it is a subscription service for a library that you can have 20 books out at a time. You know that is what you are getting for your subscription. You can use them return them and then get something else. Thing is they will probably go to tiers there at some point, or add in ads, or limit how many you can have per month. TBH, I am amazed that they went from limiting it to 10 books out at a time to 20 books.
There are certain book compilations that I have "bought" that had a certain number of books in the compilation and now have 2 or 3 fewer. They updated the compilation and some of the books are just gone. Even if you only bought access to the books, you don't have full access anymore.
Steph wrote: "Valerie shared a YouTube video speaking on this here: https://youtu.be/v8JN0V9lO8Y?si=wlelD..."
I liked the video and seems like there are a lot of other videos too, which this one pointed to.
Steph wrote: "Hope all my rambles make sense, y’all. Much of it is just stream of consciousness frustrations. 💕"Yep! I feel exactly the same!
Edit: Seems just deleting and restarting helped.have a problem and I know I'm the only one to blame for this.
I opened an amazon.com account a long time ago to get kindle books. By the time I realized I should have bought kindle books from my canadian account (amazon.ca), I had too many books and they are not transferable to the canadian site. I asked custmer servicea few years ago and was informed it could not be done.
I don't own a kindle so I read on my phone through the app. I have the app for PC since 2016 but when I try to sync it to the library.....it does not want to connect and tries to redirect me always to the canadian site. Now even the books I had loaded in the pc app are gone. The library is empty.
I'm not tech savvy enough to get around this problem and the help section on the amazon website does not cover this particular issue.
The app on my phone is working fine so there is that.
I know it does not amount to much but one of my pet peeves is when they change the covers of books. I'm guilty of judging a book by it's cover and totally unashamed.What I don't like is changing a cover like The Eye of the World and turn it into an add for their show. Great that they are making an adaptation for it but please leave my book cover alone.
I looked at my “Manage your content” page. I know I collected freebies for a while because of the freebie thread in this group, since 2012, ….it’s not pretty. I need an intervention. Pretty sure I never read 95% of the 25 items by 400 pages in there.
Valerie ~ Val Hall ~ wrote: "I know it does not amount to much but one of my pet peeves is when they change the covers of books. I'm guilty of judging a book by it's cover and totally unashamed.What I don't like is changing ..."
I hate the changing book covers too but sometimes they loose the rights to the art work when the transfer to the author goes back. They there is their promoting the movies, got to do that. /s
This is the change that really got me
Looks like a YA romance. Definitely not.
Victoria wrote: "Steph wrote: "Hope all my rambles make sense, y’all. Much of it is just stream of consciousness frustrations. 💕"Yep! I feel exactly the same!"
Thx ☺️
Valerie ~ Val Hall ~ wrote: "I looked at my “Manage your content” page. I know I collected freebies for a while because of the freebie thread in this group, since 2012, ….it’s not pretty. I need an intervention. Pretty sure I ..."
I'm right there with you!
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Ilona Andrews' newsletter had this to say on the topic (https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/kindle...
Kindle USB------------------
Let me say upfront, before there is a panic: this will not affect most people, because most of us do not bother with it. If you are wondering if this will affect you, then you probably haven’t used this feature before.
Most people either read their Amazon books on Kindle or on Kindle app. I use the Kindle app primarily, because I tend to read on my iPad or search the books for work on my computer. My books sit in my cloud library until I’m ready to download them to my device.
Some people back up their books to a USB device, meaning they download those files to a storage drive or a USB stick. A loose equivalent would be buying a movie on Amazon and burning it onto a DVD to keep.
Amazon is doing away with that ability. It goes away on February 25th.
Let me reiterate: most of the users will not be affected. You can still email the book files to your kindle, you can still download the books to your kindle, and they will still be available in app. If you haven’t downloaded books to store them somewhere else before, you will not notice.
Why is Amazon doing this?
Although we buy books on Amazon, our actual ownership is more similar to renting. We buy access to that book for as long as Amazon has it available. Amazon wants to make sure you continue to give it your money. If you delete your Amazon account, all of your books will disappear with it.
We have seen this model before with Audible, which is now owned by Amazon. When you buy audiobooks on Audible, you accumulate credits and if you cancel your account, you lose access to all of your purchases and credits. It’s an effective way to keep consumers tied to you. (Please see correction on this in the comments. Apparently, deleting the Audible account doesn’t prevent access.)
It does afford some flexibility. Amazon periodically pushes updates to these books. We have updated our books before because of typos or some inadvertently poor word choice or something the readers pointed out. If a publisher pulls out and takes their titles with them, Amazon wants to be able to disappear them from your library so not to be in breach of contract, etc. But mostly it’s about money and keeping you locked into the Amazon ecosystem.
Downloading these books to a storage device safeguards against that. If this is a concern, you have until February 25th to download your titles.
How?
Here is a video explaining how to do it. We have no idea if the software he recommends for bulk downloads is good, so we do not endorse it. Please do your research: Amazon’s New Kindle Rule (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hleOa...).
Thank you to Jennifer Thomas from the Facebook Fan Group for bringing it to our attention.
Please do not email to Mod R asking her how to download your books to the storage device. The gentleman explains it in the video. We love you, but we cannot serve as Amazon tech support. We are not qualified.
"Although we buy books on Amazon, our actual ownership is more similar to renting. We buy access to that book for as long as Amazon has it available. Amazon wants to make sure you continue to give it your money. If you delete your Amazon account, all of your books will disappear with it."
This ⇧ is what raises my blood pressure. I bought it, so I should own it, right? Nope. It's a loaner, essentially, and they can disappear it anytime they like, including if you leave their business. 😕
Only one day. I've downloaded all with the first script though I had to write it slightly different as I have it set to my 10th Kindle. I just deleted all my KU books that would foul up the script. Even with the sped up mode, it takes 2 minutes a page (25books) so takes 1:20 minutes for 1000 books, minimum.@Val - I feel for you but it is one more way that they control you. My sister-in-law lives in Italy and reads in Italy so I wanted to buy Italian books that are available in Italy but not in the US, but she doesn't have Amazon. So they made it impossible to order those books. Why? Because they are cheaper there? Not really, but definitely more available. There are some that we can get here. It is a moot point now as she replaced her Kindle with a Kobo, so won't be able to read any new Kindle books on the Kobo.
So before ebooks, I would go to book sales, used book stores, and libraries to get the majority of my books. I've been a member of Amazon since ? their records only go back to 2000 with me but I ordered 1 book that year, 9 books in 2001, 3 in 2002 & 2003, so on. I bought quite a bit from Borders and Barnes & Noble. I miss my Borders so much, and in Florida I went to Books-A-Million. Still even going to those, I only bought specific books, something I was anticipating, or impulse buys. I bought so many of those, still do at Barnes & Noble, like the crocheting Halloween & Christmas plushies. The majority of reading books came from 2nd hand or library. They still do come from the library, even more so as it is easy to access the books as I don't have to travel there. I still go all the time but not as much as before. It was weekly, now it is maybe 2 or 3 months though we have been better looking up events recently. It has been 3 weeks since I was in a library. I just put on hold a CD unabridged audio so I'll go in again next week. I'm thinking of joining with one of their in person book clubs. I think my point is they are trying to limit access, like many have with libraries in the past. Books only survive so many rereads and resells, this is not true of digital copies, but since they are so much easier to "buy" or "borrow" at the library, I think a lot more get purchased. The statistic show that physical copies of book sold has gone up, not down in the last few years. Over all they have stayed stead with a dip in the begin of the 10s.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/4...
I'm not sure why they decided to limit the use of ebooks but I am almost all audio now and can always buy a physical copy for those that I want to keep for sit down times. I have a beautiful set of the Imp series by Debra Dunbar that she put out as a Kick Starter. It is a reread series for me so it is on my shelf in Hard Back. I Kinda think all authors should be able to do that for their books but they frequently don't own the rights to their books and cannot do that. I do worry about losing access to my Audible books. And again, I really would like to have just one audio app but that is just not how it is. My headset/phone gets all mixed up and sometimes (its almost always Audible) starts the wrong audio app back up. Drives me nuts.
So not sure where I was heading with this. I think that books and ebook are not the same thing for certain and there has to be some middle ground for use and re-use that would be comparable which right now is only in the library market. What we have, I don't think is working well for the creators or the consumers but works for Amazon.
Amyiw wrote: "What we have, I don't think is working well for the creators or the consumers but works for Amazon.I absolutely agree.
Congrats on getting you Amazon tasks done before the deadline!
Yep, agreed.I've decided to just leave it all as is. Might regret that at some point, but I just don't have the time or brainpower to do anything with it now.
I have a bunch of Audible books also but have no idea how to save anything there. I think I have 400 books that I bought someway or another. (Not plus, escape, or romance free kind of) I never even considered that I would be losing access if say, Amazon arbitrarily decides to delete the account as they have for others. It is a bit overwhelming as I am a big rereader/listener. I have pretty much all the badges that you possibly could get, except ‘social butterfly’ as I don’t have my account associated with any social anything and the listened to one book on Alexa was my son, not me as I don’t own Alexa in my house. suspect my app has it though.
We have bought a lot of audios from them, too. I hadn’t considered losing them. Kinda sucks now that I am 😝 hopefully it won’t happen to any of us.
We can hope and realize that it is happening so we can speak up but that is about all there is.
I wonder if it would be worth saving all your receipts/emails, that in case they did remove stuff from your library, you have proof of purchase (in case that actually helps)
SOS: Serious Overload of Series
Books mentioned in this topic
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The Traitor Queen (other topics)
The Traitor Queen (other topics)
“Starting February 26, 2025, the “Download & Transfer via USB” option will no longer be available. You can still send Kindle books to your Wi-Fi enabled devices by selecting the “Deliver or Remove from Device” option.”
Sigh... So they don’t want us to have copies of the books we buy, go figure. I know we only buy a “reader’s license,” but come on people...
Does anyone have any idea how we’ll be able to get to our files?