Amazon is making a big change to how it handles serving ebooks to those who have bought them from the Kindle store. Starting on Feb. 26, itâs closing the âUSB sideloadingâ hole that allowed owners of older Kindle hardware to download a file in their web browser and transfer it to their Kindle via USB.
This feature was designed for users who had connectivity on their computer, but not on their Kindle. But itâs also been the easiest pathway to get ebook files out of Amazonâs copy protection scheme so that they can be converted to play back on other devices. As someone who switched to Kobo a few years ago, thatâs important to me. I bought these booksâif I want to read them on something thatâs not controlled by Amazon, thatâs my business.
While I remain optimistic about the ability of scrappy underdogs to circumvent the copy protection regimes of big tech companies, the fact is that Amazonâs newer file format has been incredibly difficult to crackâhence the value of the USB downloading hole that Amazonâs about to close.
I should be absolutely clear here that if all you do is use a Kindle or the Kindle app, nothing is changing and youâll still be able to download your books on your devices or in your apps. All thatâs happening is that Amazon is eliminating a way to easily download an ebook file directly, which is useful in converting those files to other formats.
If you have a substantial library of Kindle books and want to download them before Feb. 26, youâll find that Amazonâs website makes it laborious to download them a book at a time. Fortunately, thereâs a tool that will automatically download everything.
Most of the books you download from Amazon will come with an older form of copy protection. This is easily circumvented if you have the right software, as well as an older Kindle. (Which you should have, because Amazon should only allow you to download books for sideloading if you have such a device linked to your Amazon account!)
The process involves using Calibre, a free open source ebook library utility Iâve written about a lot. Youâll also need to install the DeDRM tools package, which is designed to remove copy protection from ebooks. When you configure DeDRM, youâll need to enter in the serial number(s) of the hardware Kindles you own, so they can be used to decrypt the book information.
With this all set up, you should be able to drag files downloaded from Amazon into Calibre, and then export them to other devices or even to read on standalone apps. When my Kobo is connected to my Mac, I can select items in my Calibre library, right click, and choose âsend to device.â The files are automatically converted to the Kobo ePub format and placed on my Kobo. Itâs really well done.
So now, the bulk download part. I used the Amazon Kindle eBook Bulk Downloader by friend of the site Sam Davis. You will need some Terminal know-how (or the help of a friend who has it). Following Samâs instructions, I installed bun, ran bun install, added my Amazon username and password to my environment variables via the export command, and then ran bun run start âbaseUrl "https://www.amazon.com" since Iâm in the United States.
At that point, Samâs tool took off and downloaded 1,692 items! It took a while, but then I dragged the results into Calibre and now if I ever want to read a book I previously bought for my Kindle on a Kobo or anywhere else that doesnât have a Kindle app, I can do so.
If you or a Terminal-confident friend want to make sure youâve got access to your Kindle library on other platforms (such as Kobo), make some time before Feb. 26. And if youâve already moved away from Kindle and didnât realize you could still access your old books, maybe this post will give you the inspiration. Better hurry.
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