Amazon is getting rid of a feature that existed within the Kindle ecosystem for over 10 years, but don’t panic (seriously, don’t).
Beginning Feb. 26, you’ll no longer be able to download copies of Kindle e-books purchased through Amazon to save on a computer hard drive or to remove the DRM (digital rights management) side-load onto another e-reader not manufactured by Amazon.
What does this mean, though? Let’s break it down.
The “Download and Transfer via USB” function has been around nearly as long as Kindles, and in the early days, it was an incredibly useful feature since Kindles didn’t have built-in Wi-Fi yet. However, once Kindles began having Wi-Fi, a new “send to Kindle” feature was introduced that does exactly what it says in the name: it sends books over Wi-Fi to your Kindle.
Libby, the library lending app for e-books, and NetGalley, one of the leading sites for press, book influencers, and more, also utilize this Wi-Fi feature for quick and seamless book delivery.
That’s why the average Kindle user likely doesn’t use this feature. It’s not very useful.
In fact, Amazon had already taken this feature away entirely for anyone with a 2024 Kindle model before the Feb. 26 deadline. If your old Kindle is still hanging on, this may cause some problems with buying new books, but if you use any of the newer models (at least as far back as 2019), there’s truly no cause for alarm. The “send to Kindle” feature you’re used to — the one that’s built into Amazon itself, Libby, and NetGalley — is not going anywhere.
Like I said earlier, don’t panic and definitely don’t ditch your Kindle now. Why? Because here’s the honest truth from someone who’s tested e-readers across a handful of brands: Kindles are still the best on the market, even with this new change. The ease of using it is simply unmatched by competitors like Kobo and Nook no matter how you get your books.
I’ve never had to connect any of my Kindles to a computer just to get new books, and am even able to do that on the go with my phone’s hotspot, but with the various Kobo models I’ve tested, I’ve always had to take time to.
If you’re the kind of person who primarily buys e-books rather than borrowing them from Libby or a lending program like Kindle Unlimited, it’ll be harder to switch over to a Kobo or Nook with the removal of this feature, but if you’re a Kindle user who has literally never used this almost-defunct feature, there’s really no reason to want to move to a brand new device ecosystem.
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