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Amazon will remove the option to download/transfer Kindle e-books via USB by February 2025
(alternativeto.net)
this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill is a thing, although you have to get the exact model in order to make it work.
I really wanted https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book to be a thing, but its very hard to get the parts and assemble (in my opinion).
https://gitlab.com/guyjeangilles/piereader looks promising.
Honestly, the biggest hurtle does NOT appear to be the hardware, its getting the ebook in an open format. If Amazon removes the ability to download the files, then it really doesn't matter what you run, you cant read your book.
Theres other publishers that give you all the file types like: https://www.baen.com/. I recommend finding and supporting those.
If you download your books, how do you read them in other hardware? Aren’t they all drm locked?
I heavily depends on where you get them. Most ebook publishers actually DONT put DRM on them. And other software can very easily remove the DRM if it is on the books.
Most systems can read the ebook format. Linux/Mac/Windows often comes with software. And if they dont, Calibre can work them.
~~My point is what’s the point of downloading kindle ebooks if they can only be read after connecting to the cloud or whatever anyway?~~
Read the second part of your comment lol.
What other software?
https://github.com/nodrm/DeDRM_tools is just the first one that pops up. Theres a LOT of software out there that does this. I would recommend getting a copy as GitHub has been going after "grey" repos for a bit once they are discovered (see switch emulation and the many fan games).
Most of the time, I personally just avoid by going to publishers that dont lock down books. They make things much easier than Amazon.