Download your Kindle books right now – Amazon is killing this option in a few days

Another day. Another cloud service changing the rules on stuff we already bought and paid for.

This time, Amazon is removing a feature that’s been part of the Kindle experience for more than a decade: downloading files to your computer.

Also: The best Kindles of 2025: Expert tested and reviewed

I’m not going to bury the lede: You have until Feb. 26, 2025, to download copies of your Kindle books to your computer. After that, Amazon will remove the ability to download books to files you can control yourself.

I’m a little disappointed that Amazon doesn’t say anything about this in its main Digital Content management interface.

The only time you see this warning is if you select “Download” from the three-dot menu next to a book.

So, if you mostly read Kindle ebooks on a Kindle reader or in the Kindle app, you wouldn’t necessarily know about the short-fuse download deadline until it’s too late.

Why should you care?

First of all, just as a matter of general principle, it’s nice to have control over the stuff you bought and presumably own. Digital content isn’t really property we own. Vendors make it abundantly clear that we’re licensing that content, and even if we paid full-price money for something, it’s just licensed, and they reserve the right to take it away if the whim strikes.

There have been some examples of where Amazon has reached into our Kindle devices and removed books. In fact, back in 2009, Big Brother Bezos deleted 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles everywhere. Just last year, Puffin Books edited many of Roald Dahl’s books, including Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to be more socially conscious by removing words like “fat” and “ugly.” Those edits were pushed into digital copies of the books already in customers’ possession.

Books have always been unchanging snapshots directly into an author’s mind. They are instruments of record. But when companies can change their content on the fly, well, that can change everything.

Also: I tested the Kindle most people should buy. Here’s why it’s the best e-reader out of the lineup

When people were able to keep their own copies of books, they had that instrument of record. But when books are changed on the fly, and we can’t see the previous versions anymore, it’s possible to rewrite history.

What if a president decides to sign an executive order to change the name of a body of water? Or what if a president decides that all books referencing his predecessor should be rewritten to describe that predecessor in wildly unflattering terms? Or what if an executive order is given requiring all existing digital books to edit out any mention of, say, slavery or the internment camps of World War II?

This could happen. Today, we still have print materials as instruments of record, even if digital copies are modified. But there may be a time in the future when all of our history is represented solely in digital form. Then, it’s entirely possible for regimes to rewrite history to represent a particular perspective, whether that’s the way it happened or not.

Practical consideration

But let’s get back to practical considerations. First, if you have an old Kindle of a certain vintage, the only way to get Kindle books onto those devices is to download the books and then load them via USB into those old Kindles. I describe the process in detail here.

Also: Have an old Kindle? How to add new books — and one thing you should never do

The same is true for those folks who (somewhat unethically, and possibly illegally) used tools to crack the Kindle DRM so they could read the books on other devices.

If you think you’re ever going to want to put one of your Kindle books onto one of those devices, go ahead and start downloading right now. Because if you wait a week, you won’t be able to do so.

If you’re going to want your books, download now.

Like right now. My wife and I own more than a thousand books. I have a day job, so I’m not about to spend my next week downloading each and every book I own. But you might want to. If you have hundreds or (perish the thought) thousands of Kindle books and you want to keep copies for yourself, get downloading. You’re going to have to do each one individually.

What now?

I’m going to still buy Kindle books when I want them. But my wife has really gotten into EPUB-based books. Although she owns one of just about every generation of Kindle ever made, this past holiday season, she bought a Kobo Libre Colour that she’s been very happy with.

She, too, regularly buys Kindle books (she likes the ones that sync with Audible), but she’s also regularly started to collect EPUB-format books. Now, with this Amazon change, there’s even more motivation to look at alternative e-readers and formats.

Also: My favorite Kindle accessory seriously upgraded my reading experience (and it only costs $20)

What do you think about Amazon’s decision to remove the ability to download Kindle books as files? Do you regularly download your eBooks for safekeeping, or do you primarily read them through Amazon’s ecosystem?

Does this change make you reconsider your reliance on Kindle, or are you already exploring alternative platforms like Kobo or Google Play Books? How concerned are you about the implications of digital book ownership and the potential for content to be altered after purchase? Let us know in the comments below.

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