Amazon rewards loyal Kindle devotees by closing the book on old e-readers(www.theregister.com)
31 pointsby beardyw7 hours ago9 comments
  • michael19994 hours ago
    This closes the DRM hole in Kindle. The newer Kindle DRM formats have been robust, but the old DX reader AWZ format was hacked ages ago. Anyone with an old device could download their books in the old DRM, and strip it with DeDRM. But those downloads will end in May.

    If you have a decent library at Kindle and want a DRM-free copy, I'd download it now.

  • TitaRusell31 minutes ago
    Bought a Kindle because it was the cheapest ereader I could find. Amazon heavily subsidised it.

    Joke's on them I've never bought a book from the Amazon store! It takes a few minutes to drop files on it via USB.

  • tacker20004 hours ago
    The Kindle hardware is great, but the software and ecosystem are just crap, and Amazon is making it shittier every year.

    I've now moved to an Android eReader (Boox Note 7, for example [1]).

    I can just get the Ebook or PDF files and transfer them via Calibre, simple as that, and I can also download any Android app i want. There are tons of apps out there that support eInk screens.

    [1] https://shop.boox.com/products/go7

    • hibiscus41562 hours ago
      How is the Boox Note 7 in regards to reading PDFs?
  • chocochunks6 hours ago
    Meanwhile Kobo is still shipping firmware updates to devices from the same time period...

    And even the ePub readers that have been left behind can still work with new books.

    • deng5 hours ago
      Also, pretty much every Kobo can run KOReader without any need for a jailbreak or similar.
  • mainecoder5 hours ago
    This is why having the actual pdf is better, if you can't have it offline you don't own it digitally, if you can't give it to another person or copy it or modify it then you don't own it to it simply attached to your account even with offline access.
  • CGMthrowaway4 hours ago
    Would be cool to be able to search this, I'm not a LOTR expert. But I wanted to search for the Valar island as i have no way of knowing where it is. The islands I clicked on didn't seem to be it.
    • R_D_Olivaw2 hours ago
      Uhhh, I guess the map is a little hard to use and you seemed too have taken a wrong turn. This is an ebook thread, not the LOTR map thread.
  • galleywest2005 hours ago
    I really wish the Libby app worked with devices other than Kindle. I got a Kindle because I wanted to check out eBooks from the library and read them on an eInk screen.
    • TitaRusell27 minutes ago
      Yeah the public library in my country insists on Adobe.

      I lend books legally (library membership), strip the DRM and convert it to mobi. There's just no way I am reading books on my phone.

    • chocochunks3 hours ago
      Libby works with Kobo (well Overdrive works with Kobo). You check out a book in Libby and then just sync the Kobo and it appears.
    • ZeroGravitas4 hours ago
      I use Libby on a Boox android based ereader.
  • robthebrew5 hours ago
    Could this help? https://uk.amazonforum.com/s/question/0D56Q00009ipZmHSAU/can...

    After all the kindle is a hard disk with a nice screen.

    • rationalist27 minutes ago
      No. Amazon discontinued USB transfers last year.
    • roryirvine5 hours ago
      I suspect that's a different issue, due to the 3G service being switched off (and those first models didn't support wifi as an alternative).

      This issue affects a wider range of devices, and is software-related. I'd guess at it being either TLS related, or something to do with updates to their DRM system.