One in all Kindle's most helpful options was simply discontinued for no actual purpose

Abstract

Amazon is eradicating the ‘Obtain & Switch by way of USB’ possibility for Kindle books beginning Feb 26.
It is unclear if this alteration impacts all Kindle fashions and all international locations.
Kindle customers can nonetheless learn books on a number of units, however cannot obtain their Kindle books to a PC by way of USB, making it tougher to backup Kindle books they’ve bought.

When you have a Kindle e-reader and download the books you purchase onto your PC, that course of is about to turn into extra advanced.

Based on Kindle customers on Reddit, Amazon is eradicating the flexibility to obtain and switch Kindle books by way of USB. This implies the one strategy to ship Kindle books sooner or later will probably be over a Wi-Fi connection. It is at the moment unclear whether or not this impacts just a few Kindle fashions or all of them. The change will reportedly take impact on February 26.

Amazon is sending out the next warning message to some customers once they obtain a ebook: “Beginning February 26, 2025, the ‘Obtain & Switch by way of USB’ possibility will not be out there. You possibly can nonetheless ship Kindle books to your Wi-Fi enabled units by choosing the ‘Ship or Take away from Gadget’ possibility.” You possibly can take a look at the unique Reddit thread under.

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What this implies for Kindle units

It is attainable the change is not worldwide

Two fingers pressing on the corner of a Kindle Paperwhite to take a screenshot.

It is necessary to notice that this replace doesn’t have an effect on your capacity to learn your Kindle books on a number of units. It simply means you’ll be able to’t obtain a bought Kindle ebook and switch it to your PC by way of USB, making it tougher for Kindle customers to again up books they personal onto their PC for safekeeping. Nonetheless, this alteration might not occur in every single place but.

Kindle customers within the UK and Canada report on Reddit not seeing this message pop up when downloading a ebook, simply US Kindle house owners. It is attainable this replace might have a gradual rollout, however that’s not sure. One Reddit user within the US who owns a number of Kindle units says the message pops up earlier than they choose a tool, main them to consider the replace is not device-specific.

It is unclear why Amazon is doing this precisely. One risk is that the corporate could also be attempting to lock down its Kindle ecosystem much more than it already is. Nonetheless, there’s a fix for that. Apparently, the day the ‘Obtain & Switch by way of USB’ possibility is reportedly not out there on Kindles is identical day Amazon is holding a devices and services event in New York Metropolis, which might simply be a coincidence.