If you use an Amazon Kindle reader, in about 7 days, on February 26th, you will lose the ability to transfer files to your Kindle via USB. Amazon is disabling and removing this ability in an effort to "combat piracy," as people can sideload books onto their Kindle without having to go through Amazon itself. You'll still be able to transfer books to your Kindle through the Amazon email method and wifi, but if you have a few hundred books from an old Kobo, or a Pocketbook, or just on your PC, you will no longer be able to transfer them to your Kindle through a USB connection. You will also be unable to download your books directly to your PC, so if you have books you wish to save on your local system, now is the time to do so. More on that here: https://www.theverge.com/news/612898/amazon-removing-kindle-book-download-transfer-usb
Solution: buy real books. They're nicer to hold than a Kindle, look good on a bookshelf, and the man can't remotely delete them from your library.
I buy real books on occasion, but the fact is that my eyesight isn't what it once was, and my hands can't hold books as well as they can hold a Kindle, because many of my paper and hardback books are large and heavy, and the Kindle will always be the same weight and size no matter what. There's also the fact it has backlighting, which means I can read it in the dark, and the light itself is soft and warm like paper. I can hold 3,000 books on my Kindle, compared to my bookshelf which has about 250, which means if I ever have to move, I am going to hate life while cramming a fuckton of books into totes so I can drive them wherever. Meanwhile, I can take my 3,000 books on my Kindle anywhere I go, and keep it in my back pocket. The charge lasts for about 3 weeks, and in less than 8 hours is ready to go again. There are a lot of upsides to having an e-reader, but that doesn't take away from my love of paper books.
So this is only for transfers of Kindle store books, which means I can still move .txt and other such files around. As the article above perhaps suggests, this decision is apparently to make it harder to remove DRM from the book files.
Well, Amazon's doing it again! This time their latest update reinforces DRM restrictions on modern Kindles, and it may eventually be backported to older Kindles. New DRM Added to Kindles with 5.18.5 Update, Breaking DRM Removal Source: https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2...dles-with-5-18-5-update-breaking-drm-removal/ My next ereader is definitely not going to be a Kindle. Such a shame, I remember my first Kindle from way back and I loved it so much. They've sunk so far into ad laden, DRM infested trash. I've said it before and I'll say it again: heavily restrictive DRM only hurts customers, not pirates.
