Amazon just killed a useful Kindle USB feature – leaving me stuck with less flexibility for ebook downloads and backups

A person holding the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) with the Home screen displayed
The latest Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

  • Amazon is removing the Download & Transfer via USB option on Kindles
  • The feature hadn't appeared on the latest models
  • It's likely that the move is to combat ebook piracy

I've owned and loved some of the best Kindles in the series since Amazon first introduced the ereader, but using these devices can feel somewhat restrictive – especially now Amazon is killing off a useful USB file transfer feature.

As reported by The Verge, the Download & Transfer via USB option is going away on February 26. That means you'll no longer be able to download ebooks purchased from Amazon, and then move them to your Kindle over a wired USB connection.

The feature isn't actually available on the latest generation of Kindles, pushed out last year, but all other models are going to be affected. Amazon doesn't give a reason for the move, but it's almost certainly to crack down on ebook piracy.

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.

Less flexibility

Amazon Kindle Oasis

An ebook on the Kindle Oasis

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.

It'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.

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's specifically the ability to download purchases from the Amazon website to a computer that's disappearing.

This also gets closer to fully killing off the older AZW3 format for Amazon ebooks: it's been replaced by the newer KFX format, which is much harder to crack in terms of its DRM, and which is now used in most situations (except downloads to a computer).

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David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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