I recently realized the majority of people that complain about Kindles aren’t using them the way Amazon intended. They want to use them to sideload ebooks or comics obtained elsewhere, or they want to be able to backup their Kindle ebook files on a computer, for fear that Amazon is going to take them away at some point in the future, even though that only ever happened once with the 1984 fiasco all the way back in 2009.
Kindles are simple devices designed primarily to read ebooks purchased or borrowed from Amazon. That’s it in a nutshell. Yes, they can be used in other ways, but that’s not how Amazon designed them to be used. If you want to do more with your reading device, there are other brands better suited for that purpose. Get a Kobo or a Pocketbook or an Android ereader instead.
It would be great if Kindles were geared more toward being multipurpose reading devices instead of shameless ebook selling machines, but the fact is their primary purpose for existence is to display ebooks obtained from Amazon, so that’s something we have to expect going in. At this point you also have to accept the fact that you’re probably never going to be able to get your purchased ebooks away from the Kindle platform. If that’s a problem, simply buy your ebooks from Kobo or Google or other ebookstore where the DRM is still easily removable, and get a device with good sideloading support.
Kindles Aren’t Good for Sideloading
Don’t buy a Kindle if you prefer to sideload your ebooks via USB. Kindles are unequivocally the worst option for sideloading, especially considering the fact Amazon will delete all your sideloaded ebooks if you keep your Kindle in airplane mode for too long. It’s totally ridiculous and it should never be allowed to happen, but it’s been a “bug” for over half a decade now so we should all assume it’s the intended behavior at this point.
Amazon provides a workaround for sideloading in the form of Send-to-Kindle that actually works great and is something that other ereaders brands don’t offer. But some people still refuse to use it, and then they complain that book covers aren’t working for sideloaded books, or some advanced formatting options are unavailable, and then they’re furious when all their sideloaded books get deleted. Yeah, it’s a total jerk move by Amazon, but if people would just use Send-to-Kindle as Amazon intended this wouldn’t be a problem.
I can understand back in the day when there weren’t very many devices to choose from outside of Kindles, but now there are a lot of alternatives so why are people still buying Kindles and expecting them to be more than they are?
For example, there are a lot of complaints about sideloaded manga not displaying properly on Kindles now after a recent software update. Yeah, that’s annoying for manga users, but anyone choosing to buy a Kindle to sideload manga in the first place is just asking for a headache. There are much better options for that, like Boox devices that support comic formats natively. It’s like buying a sports car and then complaining that it’s not good in the snow.
Jailbreaking Kindles is Overrated
If you have an old Kindle laying around that you want to add some extra functionality to, then it might make sense to jailbreak it and install KOReader to read EPUBs natively. But whenever I see posts online with people wanting to jailbreak current-gen Kindles, I wonder why these people chose to buy a Kindle in the first place. You can install KOReader on Kobos, PocketBooks, and Android devices without extra “jailbreaking” hassles, and you don’t have to worry about software updates breaking the jailbreak every couple of months. And most Android devices are far more capable out of the box than jailbroken Kindles.
Part of the problem is people expect too much from Kindles. Kindles are best suited for reading ebooks from Amazon. That’s it. Buying them for any other reason and expecting them to be good at that isn’t a realistic expectation.
Yes you have hit a home run. You are absolutely right. I love the Kindle because I read mostly the Kindle Unlimited books. If I wanted to side load books I will get a genetic e-ink reader.
That’s a very clear explanation of something that’s so obvious. I’d just add one nuance that we usually overlook. Most e-reader users use their devices with the original software. Users of Kobo or PocketBook, to name a few other brands, do exactly the same as Kindle users. They buy their books from their respective shops or borrow them from their public libraries, download them directly onto their e-readers and read them. In other words, they are not an alternative to the Kindle because they can easily install different reading software or modify their e-readers (which most do not do), or because they download their books to a computer, remove the DRM, make a backup, edit them and reload them onto their e-readers via USB (most Kobo or PocketBook users do not do that either). Only a minority who frequent e-reader forums do these things, but the average user of any brand simply buys their books, downloads them directly onto their e-reader and reads them. We’ve been so immersed in e-reader forums for years that we lose perspective and assume what we do is what everyone else does. And that’s not the case.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again. A PocketBook representative stated that over 90% of their users used their e-readers exactly as they bought them. The various customisation options available on their e-readers (changing key settings or on-screen gestures) were never used. Not even something as simple as adding fonts, let alone installing alternative reading apps.
So why should a Kindle user who buys their books on Amazon, downloads them directly to their e-reader and reads them, consider an alternative that will probably offer a more limited experience? The alternative to Amazon is going to remain as scarce for many years to come as it is now (no matter how much this blog or e-reader forums fill up with people furious with Amazon and enthusiastic about other brands).
Completely agree! I love my kindle because I am perfectly fine with being tied into the Amazon ebook ecosystem–it’s convenient for me, especially since I’ve had a Kindle and Kindle books since 2009. Yes, I do realize that I don’t actually “own” the ebooks I purchase from Amazon; I’m lucky enough that any ebook I truly love, I am perfectly happy to buy a hard copy of either new or used.
In the end, the Kindle is a really simple device…and a lot of people like the simplicity of it.