6 ms·

Combined with the announcement that they're killing the old Kindles as well...this is 100% about preventing people from liberating DRM from their books. Full st

Combined with the announcement that they're killing the old Kindles as well...this is 100% about preventing people from liberating DRM from their books. Full stop. They are closing each and every remaining hole.

echelon 6mo ago
> they're killing the old Kindles as well Wait, what? What's the scope, and when does it happen?
- sgiratch 6mo ago
  I got this April 8th: "Dear Customer, Thank you for being a longtime Kindle customer. We're glad our devices have served you well for as long as they have. Starting May 20, 2026 — 14 to 18 years after their initial launches — we are discontinuing support for Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier. Here's what this means for you: You can continue to read books already downloaded on these devices, but you will not be able to purchase, borrow, or download additional books on them after that date. If you deregister or factory reset these devices, you will not be able to re-register or use these devices in any way. Affected devices include Kindle 1st and 2nd Generation, Kindle DX and DX Graphite, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Kindle 5, and Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation. To minimize any disruption, we're offering a promotional code for 20% off select new Kindle devices B4PT5XAJ74 as well as a $20 eBook credit that will be automatically added to your account after purchasing a new device (valid through June 20th, 2026, 11:59pm PST - Terms and Conditions apply). Our newer Kindle devices bring meaningful improvements in screen quality, performance and accessibility — and you'll have access to your complete Kindle library and the Kindle Store. You can also continue to read all your books on our free Kindle apps (Android, iOS, Mac, and PC) and Kindle for Web. If you have any questions or require assistance, please visit https://www.amazon.com/help/kindle/devicedeprecation https://www.amazon.com/help/kindle/devicedeprecation. Sincerely, The Kindle Team"
  - boneitis 6mo ago
    "or use these devices in any way"? My jailbroken Kindle has been sitting in a drawer for a while, but I do go into phases where I am using it heavily for months at a time. But, what I'm really getting at is, I don't find myself having to undertake the procedure to root a Kindle on a regular basis. Could someone clarify for me -- if I nab another secondhand device from eBay after May 20, will I be able to jailbreak it?
    - snailmailman 6mo ago
      Generally speaking, they auto update, and the latest firmware is always patched to not be jailbreakable. However airplane mode easily dodges the auto update process, and new vulnerabilities are found to enable jailbreaking eventually. When I bought mine, it was updated to the latest firmware. I wanted to jailbreak mine, the method was “there isn’t one yet” so I set it in airplane mode. For a bit I manually copied all books over usb to the kindle, or disabled airplane mode to read new books if there wasn’t a new firmware version out yet anyway. A few months later, there was a jailbreak method. Now ive jailbroken. I can even connect it to the internet, and auto updates are prevented. If the kindle is old enough it doesn’t recieve updates anyway though, then it should be very easy. https://kindlemodding.org/kindle-models.html https://kindlemodding.org/kindle-models.html
      - davkan 6mo ago
        Yeah once you jailbreak you can replace the ota binary with a dummy and it won’t update anymore. Personally i would not buy a kindle with the intent to jailbreak it, just buy a kobo. The exception being if you want a scribe. There is no other 10” 300dpi ereader. I bought mine from an eBay seller who had one on the correct version and jailbreaking it was a bit anxiety inducing, given the cost and the fact I had no use for it if it were unsuccessful.
    - 47282847 6mo ago
      I don’t see the point in buying a Kindle if you plan to jailbreak it anyway. Hardware wise, a wide range of better alternatives are available.
gjsman-1000 6mo ago
Not necessarily? There was a post just a year ago on how somebody jailbroke the kindle books from the web UI. I think the more plausible and likely explanations are: 1. Kindles take a beating when people actually use them instead of putting them in a drawer. Not many older kindles are still in circulation that are old + used. How good is a 14 year old lithium battery at best doing? 2. Added to the above, how is a 14 year old CPU doing when trying to support modern features and eBooks that now have metadata that did not exist at the time, such as fancier typesetting and color? 3. As for the Windows app, it's terrible. Horrible. Awful. Nobody liked it. Nobody uses it. It will not be missed.
- sgiratch 6mo ago
  Both my Kindle Touch and my Kindle Paperwhite gen1 are still completely fine. And I havent noticed any typesetting etc that doesnt work. All of these discontinued devices support the AWZ4-format (which can be de-drmed and what im guessing this whole thing is about), but the newer ones use KFX which locks you perfectly into the Amazon and Kindle-ecosystem
  - gjsman-1000 6mo ago
    [dead]
  - snailmailman 6mo ago
    It’s more difficult, but KFX drm is still possible to break.
- Washuu 6mo ago
  > Not necessarily? There was a post just a year ago on how somebody jailbroke the kindle books from the web UI. I used that research to build something similar. It only works for manga and comics right now, but I have been tinkering with implementing glyph support as well to be able to handle full books. https://github.com/Alexia/kandle-downloader https://github.com/Alexia/kandle-downloader The original research is here, but the web site is down right now. https://blog.pixelmelt.dev/kindle-web-drm/ https://blog.pixelmelt.dev/kindle-web-drm/
UltraSane 6mo ago
Which is silly because you can easily just use OCR and screenshots to create DRM free versions of Kindle books.
- jm4 6mo ago
  Not to mention it’s as easy to download books from Anna’s Archive as it is to buy them from Amazon. It’s weird going through so much effort to lock down books people already paid for. I wonder how much this is about making it difficult for people to migrate to another platform. I recently switched to Kobo and the reader is far superior to Kindle. I had a hell of a time moving my library though.
  - carlosjobim 6mo ago
    It's to stop people from seeding new books to shadow libraries. It's not as easy to find new books on AA as on Amazon.
    - jasomill 6mo ago
      Given how quickly full-quality releases of movies and TV shows appear after they're first streamed, this is surprising to me, at least so long as the PC and/or Android Kindle apps continue to exist.
      - carlosjobim 6mo ago
        That's the title of the post.
  - sbarre 6mo ago
    I suspect at least some of this comes from publisher pressure. An acquaintance works for one of the big global book publishers and his general sense from upper management is that they still hate having to sell digital books. It feels like the last major media industry that is holding out against a "future" that has been here for a long time already.
asveikau 6mo ago
I stopped doing Kindle purchases in the last few years because I sensed they were going in this direction. There are tons of vendors that will give you an epub of most titles. They often come with Adobe DRM but the UX of breaking that is even easier than how it used to be with Kindle.
- fooqux 6mo ago
  Sadly the Kindle Unlimited program has gotten so popular that if you wish to read anything independent, you basically can't without using Kindle.
  - asveikau 6mo ago
    Might depend on what you like to read. I haven't hit this a lot. There was one title my daughter wanted which was Kindle exclusive in the US but I was able to get as an Adobe epub from a European seller.
  - chocochunks 6mo ago
    There's self published books and stories on other platforms. There's a bunch that are free too. There's some author's that only use Kindle, but there's plenty of independent stuff out there not Amazon.
  - therealdrag0 6mo ago
    Similar with “only on Audible” audio books. Not a majority yet I don’t think, but it’s a big chunk of books restricted to Amazon platform.
  - boznz 6mo ago
    I also make my ePubs a free download off my website which prevents me as an author enrolling in this. So just about anything on Kindle Unlimited is only for their ecosystem.
    - fooqux 6mo ago
      Thank you for this. I can understand why many authors don't want to do this (running a store, etc) but I wish they all did. I'll take a gander; I could use some more sci-fi!
exe34 6mo ago
For me it's the other way round - I used to buy from them when I could dedrm, and ensure that they can never pull this kind of bait and switch on me. Every ebook I've bought can be read on any device I own. I will not accept any other level of service.
tim333 6mo ago
I wonder if it'll actually work? At the moment you can pretty much go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Genesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Genesis and download whatever.
- not_your_vase 6mo ago
  Probably it will have a very measurable effect. By every day it gets a bit harder to discover such services - if you know, you know. If you have to ask, you have already lost. Also, AI chatbots outright refuse to give any answer that is remote related to piracy (or any adjacent topics). Since they take over the role of search engines, that's also a big factor IMO.
  - Boss0565 6mo ago
    eh... if you word it correctly, an ai chatbot will tell you everything it knows about piracy lol
- shakna 6mo ago
  You could download books I wrote from libgen, before the actual publish date, and the files were ones I created specifically for Amazon. So I'd assume libgen and Anna's Archive will continue on, operating just as normal.
- random_human_ 6mo ago
  Nowadays AA [1] is IMO a better choice for users, but aside from that I cannot imagine these changes making much of a difference. There's plenty of ebook sources (Kobo, public libraries, etc) whose DRM are trivial to break (meaning Adobe and, as of a few weeks ago, LPCM). For what little content is exclusive to Kindle, it will just end up like WEB-DL content from streaming services: a handful of knowledgeable uploader with a KU subscription ripping content en masse—and good luck stopping them. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna%27s_Archive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna%27s_Archive
snailmailman 6mo ago
This is absolutely what it is. The easiest way to strip drm from a kindle book was through this app. You download the file, strip the drm, done. I think newer versions of the app made it harder? But old versions were still supported. The more locked down kindle mobile apps and kindle e-readers make it more difficult, but stripping the drm will always be possible.
wolvoleo 6mo ago
When they stopped allowing downloads last year I liberated all my books (there was a month before it actually closed down) and stopped buying from Amazon. I'm done. I now buy from authors directly or I go to my friend Anna. Too bad because the prices were reasonable.

echelon 6mo ago

> they're killing the old Kindles as well Wait, what? What's the scope, and when does it happen?

sgiratch 6mo ago
I got this April 8th: "Dear Customer, Thank you for being a longtime Kindle customer. We're glad our devices have served you well for as long as they have. Starting May 20, 2026 — 14 to 18 years after their initial launches — we are discontinuing support for Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier. Here's what this means for you: You can continue to read books already downloaded on these devices, but you will not be able to purchase, borrow, or download additional books on them after that date. If you deregister or factory reset these devices, you will not be able to re-register or use these devices in any way. Affected devices include Kindle 1st and 2nd Generation, Kindle DX and DX Graphite, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Kindle 5, and Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation. To minimize any disruption, we're offering a promotional code for 20% off select new Kindle devices B4PT5XAJ74 as well as a $20 eBook credit that will be automatically added to your account after purchasing a new device (valid through June 20th, 2026, 11:59pm PST - Terms and Conditions apply). Our newer Kindle devices bring meaningful improvements in screen quality, performance and accessibility — and you'll have access to your complete Kindle library and the Kindle Store. You can also continue to read all your books on our free Kindle apps (Android, iOS, Mac, and PC) and Kindle for Web. If you have any questions or require assistance, please visit https://www.amazon.com/help/kindle/devicedeprecation https://www.amazon.com/help/kindle/devicedeprecation. Sincerely, The Kindle Team"
- boneitis 6mo ago
  "or use these devices in any way"? My jailbroken Kindle has been sitting in a drawer for a while, but I do go into phases where I am using it heavily for months at a time. But, what I'm really getting at is, I don't find myself having to undertake the procedure to root a Kindle on a regular basis. Could someone clarify for me -- if I nab another secondhand device from eBay after May 20, will I be able to jailbreak it?
  - snailmailman 6mo ago
    Generally speaking, they auto update, and the latest firmware is always patched to not be jailbreakable. However airplane mode easily dodges the auto update process, and new vulnerabilities are found to enable jailbreaking eventually. When I bought mine, it was updated to the latest firmware. I wanted to jailbreak mine, the method was “there isn’t one yet” so I set it in airplane mode. For a bit I manually copied all books over usb to the kindle, or disabled airplane mode to read new books if there wasn’t a new firmware version out yet anyway. A few months later, there was a jailbreak method. Now ive jailbroken. I can even connect it to the internet, and auto updates are prevented. If the kindle is old enough it doesn’t recieve updates anyway though, then it should be very easy. https://kindlemodding.org/kindle-models.html https://kindlemodding.org/kindle-models.html
    - davkan 6mo ago
      Yeah once you jailbreak you can replace the ota binary with a dummy and it won’t update anymore. Personally i would not buy a kindle with the intent to jailbreak it, just buy a kobo. The exception being if you want a scribe. There is no other 10” 300dpi ereader. I bought mine from an eBay seller who had one on the correct version and jailbreaking it was a bit anxiety inducing, given the cost and the fact I had no use for it if it were unsuccessful.
  - 47282847 6mo ago
    I don’t see the point in buying a Kindle if you plan to jailbreak it anyway. Hardware wise, a wide range of better alternatives are available.

gjsman-1000 6mo ago

Not necessarily? There was a post just a year ago on how somebody jailbroke the kindle books from the web UI. I think the more plausible and likely explanations are: 1. Kindles take a beating when people actually use them instead of putting them in a drawer. Not many older kindles are still in circulation that are old + used. How good is a 14 year old lithium battery at best doing? 2. Added to the above, how is a 14 year old CPU doing when trying to support modern features and eBooks that now have metadata that did not exist at the time, such as fancier typesetting and color? 3. As for the Windows app, it's terrible. Horrible. Awful. Nobody liked it. Nobody uses it. It will not be missed.

sgiratch 6mo ago
Both my Kindle Touch and my Kindle Paperwhite gen1 are still completely fine. And I havent noticed any typesetting etc that doesnt work. All of these discontinued devices support the AWZ4-format (which can be de-drmed and what im guessing this whole thing is about), but the newer ones use KFX which locks you perfectly into the Amazon and Kindle-ecosystem
- gjsman-1000 6mo ago
  [dead]
- snailmailman 6mo ago
  It’s more difficult, but KFX drm is still possible to break.
Washuu 6mo ago
> Not necessarily? There was a post just a year ago on how somebody jailbroke the kindle books from the web UI. I used that research to build something similar. It only works for manga and comics right now, but I have been tinkering with implementing glyph support as well to be able to handle full books. https://github.com/Alexia/kandle-downloader https://github.com/Alexia/kandle-downloader The original research is here, but the web site is down right now. https://blog.pixelmelt.dev/kindle-web-drm/ https://blog.pixelmelt.dev/kindle-web-drm/

UltraSane 6mo ago

Which is silly because you can easily just use OCR and screenshots to create DRM free versions of Kindle books.

jm4 6mo ago
Not to mention it’s as easy to download books from Anna’s Archive as it is to buy them from Amazon. It’s weird going through so much effort to lock down books people already paid for. I wonder how much this is about making it difficult for people to migrate to another platform. I recently switched to Kobo and the reader is far superior to Kindle. I had a hell of a time moving my library though.
- carlosjobim 6mo ago
  It's to stop people from seeding new books to shadow libraries. It's not as easy to find new books on AA as on Amazon.
  - jasomill 6mo ago
    Given how quickly full-quality releases of movies and TV shows appear after they're first streamed, this is surprising to me, at least so long as the PC and/or Android Kindle apps continue to exist.
    - carlosjobim 6mo ago
      That's the title of the post.
- sbarre 6mo ago
  I suspect at least some of this comes from publisher pressure. An acquaintance works for one of the big global book publishers and his general sense from upper management is that they still hate having to sell digital books. It feels like the last major media industry that is holding out against a "future" that has been here for a long time already.

asveikau 6mo ago

I stopped doing Kindle purchases in the last few years because I sensed they were going in this direction. There are tons of vendors that will give you an epub of most titles. They often come with Adobe DRM but the UX of breaking that is even easier than how it used to be with Kindle.

fooqux 6mo ago
Sadly the Kindle Unlimited program has gotten so popular that if you wish to read anything independent, you basically can't without using Kindle.
- asveikau 6mo ago
  Might depend on what you like to read. I haven't hit this a lot. There was one title my daughter wanted which was Kindle exclusive in the US but I was able to get as an Adobe epub from a European seller.
- chocochunks 6mo ago
  There's self published books and stories on other platforms. There's a bunch that are free too. There's some author's that only use Kindle, but there's plenty of independent stuff out there not Amazon.
- therealdrag0 6mo ago
  Similar with “only on Audible” audio books. Not a majority yet I don’t think, but it’s a big chunk of books restricted to Amazon platform.
- boznz 6mo ago
  I also make my ePubs a free download off my website which prevents me as an author enrolling in this. So just about anything on Kindle Unlimited is only for their ecosystem.
  - fooqux 6mo ago
    Thank you for this. I can understand why many authors don't want to do this (running a store, etc) but I wish they all did. I'll take a gander; I could use some more sci-fi!

exe34 6mo ago

For me it's the other way round - I used to buy from them when I could dedrm, and ensure that they can never pull this kind of bait and switch on me. Every ebook I've bought can be read on any device I own. I will not accept any other level of service.

tim333 6mo ago

I wonder if it'll actually work? At the moment you can pretty much go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Genesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Genesis and download whatever.

not_your_vase 6mo ago
Probably it will have a very measurable effect. By every day it gets a bit harder to discover such services - if you know, you know. If you have to ask, you have already lost. Also, AI chatbots outright refuse to give any answer that is remote related to piracy (or any adjacent topics). Since they take over the role of search engines, that's also a big factor IMO.
- Boss0565 6mo ago
  eh... if you word it correctly, an ai chatbot will tell you everything it knows about piracy lol
shakna 6mo ago
You could download books I wrote from libgen, before the actual publish date, and the files were ones I created specifically for Amazon. So I'd assume libgen and Anna's Archive will continue on, operating just as normal.
random_human_ 6mo ago
Nowadays AA [1] is IMO a better choice for users, but aside from that I cannot imagine these changes making much of a difference. There's plenty of ebook sources (Kobo, public libraries, etc) whose DRM are trivial to break (meaning Adobe and, as of a few weeks ago, LPCM). For what little content is exclusive to Kindle, it will just end up like WEB-DL content from streaming services: a handful of knowledgeable uploader with a KU subscription ripping content en masse—and good luck stopping them. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna%27s_Archive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna%27s_Archive

snailmailman 6mo ago

This is absolutely what it is. The easiest way to strip drm from a kindle book was through this app. You download the file, strip the drm, done. I think newer versions of the app made it harder? But old versions were still supported. The more locked down kindle mobile apps and kindle e-readers make it more difficult, but stripping the drm will always be possible.

wolvoleo 6mo ago

When they stopped allowing downloads last year I liberated all my books (there was a month before it actually closed down) and stopped buying from Amazon. I'm done. I now buy from authors directly or I go to my friend Anna. Too bad because the prices were reasonable.