Amazon is discontinuing a feature that lets you download your purchased eBooks to your computer and transfer them to your Kindle via a USB connection. Although few people take advantage of this, it still awful that we’re losing one of the ways we can download our content.
Amazon Will No Longer Let You Download Your eBooks to Your PC
Amazon did not make any official announcement about this on its support pages, but if you try downloading your purchased books from Amazon using your PC’s browser, a warning says that the “Download & Transfer via USB” option will no longer be available starting February 26, 2025. This means that after that date, you can only use your PC’s browser to read your books, but you cannot download them.
As for your other devices, Amazon spokesperson Jackie Burke told The Verge, “Customers can continue reading books previously downloaded on their Kind device, and access new content through the Kindle app, Kindle for web, as well as directly through Kindle devices with WiFi capability.”
The transfer via USB option was initially available for old Kindle models that didn’t have built-in Wi-Fi. However, it seems that Amazon is deprecating this feature as most new Kindle models already have built-in wireless connectivity. Another likely reason that Amazon will no longer let you download your eBook is because the Amazon website uses the older AZW3 format—because it’s designed for older Kindle e-readers.
Although these files are DRM-protected, this is easy to bypass online, which allows almost anyone to load them up in competing hardware like the Boox Note Air4 C we reviewed. On the other hand, modern Kindles use the KFX format, which has robust DRM protection, preventing users from copying them to other devices. Instead, you need to download and install the Kindle App on your tablet or eBook reader to be able to read them.
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The new features come at a cost.
This change also means Amazon Kindle users will no longer have ultimate ownership of the books they buy. That’s because if you download the eBook file to your PC, Amazon will not be able to change or delete that file. However, if we rely on the company to store our digital libraries, it could change the data at will without informing us. There are a few examples of this, like when Amazon deleted Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm after publishing them by mistake. It also edited a few Roald Dahl titles and automatically updated the copies that were already loaded inside Kindle e-readers.
That’s one of the downsides of owning eBooks instead of hard copies of your favorite books. Aside from not being able to share, resell, or donate your books, you lose ownership of the literary works you purchase, meaning Amazon could take away your collection at any moment.
