At this time last year, people were in an uproar over Amazon removing the option to download and transfer Kindle ebooks from their website. A lot of people swore they’d never buy another ebook from Amazon again, but I wonder how many people stuck through with that promise? Was it enough for Amazon to notice a dip in sales?
The download and transfer option officially went away on February 26th, 2025 so it’s been exactly one year since Amazon removed the option. Since then, they’ve locked down Kindle ebooks even more and have made it harder to get ebooks away from their closed-off ecosystem for those that want to be able to make backups and read purchased ebooks on non-Kindle devices and apps.
However, last month Amazon did start allowing downloads again, but only on DRM-free ebooks that authors and publishers have enabled a download option, and they’re requiring them to go back and enable the option on a book-by-book basis for previously published titles, and some publishers just don’t have the time or funds to make that happen.
I wonder if Amazon bringing back downloads on a limited basis was done because they noticed a drop in overall ebook sales, or if it’s because they wanted to avoid a potential lawsuit over adding DRM to ebooks that authors/publishers specifically requested to be DRM-free?
It also seems like Amazon is running more double point days for Kindle points to try and boost ebook sales, but maybe that’s just a coincidence.
Personally, I haven’t purchased a Kindle ebook since last February before the download and transfer option went away. I had no intention of boycotting Amazon over it, but if they’re going to make it a major hassle to backup ebooks I’ll just buy them from somewhere else that makes the process easy. Except I haven’t been buying any ebooks.
I use the public library and read books I already own, and frankly, I just haven’t been into reading very much lately. I’m the kind of person that doesn’t care about “owning” books. Borrowing ebooks from the library is fine with me. If I really love a book then I might buy it to read again later if it’s on sale for a reasonable price, but if it’s a book that I just read I won’t want to read it again for several years anyway. The whole concept of owning books that are already in my brain seems odd to me, but I’m not normal. I might actually prefer an ebook rental system, but nobody is interested in doing that, it seems.
So how long has it been since you last bought an ebook from Amazon?
The last one I bought was on 6 October 2020, long before the USB download and transfer option (which I have never used) was removed. I bought it because it is only available in e-book format on Amazon. I have no problem shopping on Amazon, but I have been buying from a Spanish bookshop for years (which now has an agreement with PocketBook, by the way) and I am used to shopping there. I am not particularly interested in Amazon, Kobo or Google, but I am unfamiliar with the DRM controversy. I find the Kindle reading software good enough that I don’t need to remove the DRM from the few books I’ve bought on Amazon. I haven’t had any problems with books disappearing either. All the ones I’ve bought are still there, so I’m not particularly interested in saving them elsewhere. But I think it’s fine for people to make backups of their books and edit them. That’s not my case.
Not since…. 2010? Whenever I got my PW1.
I didn’t like where they were going even fifteen years ago, and as soon as the Kobo store became more than a shell of a marketplace I switched fully over to that and independent book selling sites.
I still miss Mobipocket and the old Baen store.
Well, I started off only buying on Kobo after Feb of last year for the same reason many others have done the same. This amounted to a couple of hundred dollars worth of ebooks. Then in February of this year I got my Kindle Scribe Colorsoft (fig) and have really loved it. As a result, because of the simplicity, I have since bought about 4 or 5 Kindle ebooks/graphic novels on Amazon to enjoy on my CS scribe. I of course went through the hassle of gargling peanut butter to get those purchases backed up. I prefer my Kindle devices over Kobo and others hardware-wise. I have had a brief love affair with KOReader on my Kobo and still use it from time to time but realized I was spending most of my time on the Kobo/KOReader configuring it, installing plug-ins and fiddling with things instead of reading lol.
I only “buy” an eBook from Amazon if that is the only place I can get it and I really want it. Otherwise, I read what I get through giveaways at Goodreads.com or other site that offers free downloads (EPUB format usually), from an author’s site, or frequently from the library in Large Print, audio, or eBook format.
All that said it has been years since I actually purchased an eBook from Amazon.
Well, Goodreads is owned by Amazon…
I almost never buy any book from Amazon. – and couldn’t say when the last one I bought happened. Also, it was probably a spiritual book. Regarding fiction, I get books from Kindle Unlimited, the library (Libby), and Hoopla. I also get free books from book emails.
I “bought” a Kindle ebook for free on 5 Nov 2025. I can still easily remove DRM via my Kindle Touch. Plus I had nothing to lose if for some reason I couldn’t do so with this one.
Since the day they removed the download option, I stopped purchasing ebooks from them. Even I’ve gone back mostly into paper.
I seem to buy a book or two a month from Amazon, mainly when deeply on sale. When they tightened their DRM, I decided only to buy from them if their price for a book I am looking for is four or five bucks lower than Kobo. This is mainly because their DRM means that I can’t easily keep track of what I want to read. I use calibre, then Dropbox or BookFusion to organize my current and projected reading.
But I can’t include Kindle books in that system. So I continue to buy kindle books, but only as a last resort. Basically, Amazon trained me to look elsewhere to buy books.
Bought quite a few series for the 3x double points a week ago on the 18th. Moist of the series I want to read are not on Kindle Unlimited, and getting them elsewhere is a hassle.
Amazon even ran a triple points day last week. That’s extremely rare and unpredictable.
For me, it was earlier this month. When a book on my wishlist becomes free, I’ll take it. The last one I paid actual $ for was Dec 26, 2025.
I read over 100 books a year. My books mostly come from the Kindle Unlimited selection, but I fo purchase some books that aren’t in the Unlimited selection.
On or about March 2025, after they killed off the de-drm thing, preventing me from converting their books to epub.
If Amazon has now started selling epubs as promised, I can’t find them.
Yeah, it’s really dumb how they don’t advertise which books have an EPUB download option now. I keep holding out hope they’ll add some indicator but apparently that’s too much to ask.
I haven’t bought a book from Amazon in more than a year. I likewise dropped my Kindle Unlimited subscription at the same time. Amazon is bad for people who love books, period. Their draconian policies, especially regarding books that they themselves publish, are anti-booklover.
I was part of their pilot program for Kindle points. Back in the early days of the program you could quickly build up points for discounts. Now the program is a joke.
I use a variety of sources to find books, including Early Bird Books, Kindle Daily Deals, Bookbub and review sites to get book recommendations, then I place holds at our state’s digital library. Since I’m now a Kobo owner I can check those books out directly on my reader.
I have to say it feels good to have Amazon in my rear-view mirror.
I’m the same in that I really don’t have an issue with DRM. I don’t plan to use any other branded reader. Most books I read are a single read book. I have been taking advantage of Kindle Unlimited since in Mexico we don’t have digital libraries that work with kindle. There are n0 public digital libraries that I am aware of. I did ‘buy’ a book last week, it was for zero dollars.
Hope you are staying safe!!
Except for the living in Mexico part, I’m the same. I have honestly never had an issue with purchasing kindle books through Amazon–the books I have purchased haven’t updated themselves nor have just disappeared from my library. I have bought kindle books since 2009, and seem to buy a book a month, excluding what I also read through Kindle Unlimited.
I’m also lazy. I really, really don’t want to move out of the Amazon ecosystem at this point.
Haven’t bought a single book from them since my PW11 bricked. If really want to _buy_ an ebook I’d get it from bol.com.
But it doesn’t happen a lot. We pay exorbitant taxes in my country and you can see that at lease some of this money is being put to very good use when you visit our amazing libraries.
Not since they removed the “Download and transfer via USB” option, as now I have no way to get their books onto my Boox device. (I could download the Kindle app and use that, I suppose. But I don’t want to.)
As with other folks, when d&t went away, so did I.
I bought one on Monday. Several last week. I don’t know how many my wife has bought lately but she hasn’t stopped buying them though. Of course, we’re still able to, hypothetically speaking, remove DRM. Totally hypothetically though.
I also stopped buying Kindle eBooks when d&t went away. I’m an occasional reader, and I still love print books, so I’m not hurting at all. I doubt Amazon misses me as I spent so little on their eBooks to begin with.
I absolutely stopped when D&T went away. I’ve bought 22 books from Kobo since then. Recently I used Kobo’s price match guarantee for the first time. Worked like a champ.
I always check the Kobo site before purchasing any Kindle ebook. Sales are often matched and they are always in the EPUB format which I prefer and can read natively on any of my devices using KOReader.
Last book I bought from Amazon was August 2025. I’ve been buying from Kobo because Amazon lost my trust.
Since lockdown for download offline last year. I have two kindles, not even sure what to do with them now. I’ve dumped all the library deDRMed and put it as converted ePUB on my Kobo. What was a huge selling point for me, Kindle books was possible to get with audio version for a marginal price. For fiction, it was ideal. Many Kindle books I was buying that way just to get Audio since it was drastically cheaper.