February 19, 2025, 12:01pm
Starting February 26th, Amazon will stop users from downloading purchased ebooks. This move locks readers into Amazon’s own system, making it harder to access their own books freely.
According to The Verge, Amazon is taking away a feature that allowed readers to back up their ebooks, convert them, or transfer them to other devices. The main issue is simple: if you buy something, you should control it.
Downloading ebooks from Amazon has always been a bit confusing. It requires several clicks and converting files can be tricky. But now, even that option is going away.
This isn’t surprising. Amazon has a history of limiting what users can do. For instance, they have deleted books they mistakenly sold or replaced them with new versions without telling readers. They’ve also avoided selling ebooks to libraries, keeping control over what people can read.
Many digital platforms treat purchases like rentals. This means you might not truly own what you buy. Alternatives like Bookshop.org and Libro.fm allow you to download your purchases and support independent bookstores at the same time.
If you have ebooks from Amazon, you have until February 26th to back them up. It might take some work, especially with a large library, but writer Craig Mod shared a tool that can simplify the process:
In case you were looking to backup your kindle books (since Amazon is removing the option to download them on the 26th), this script works quite well in minimizing the click-pain of downloading them individually: gist.github.com/spf13/1fee1e…
If you’re interested in reading more about the challenges posed by big tech, consider picking up Brian Merchant’s Blood In The Machine or Tim Wu’s The Curse of Bigness. Both offer insightful perspectives and are available as downloadable ebooks.
