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Home » No, Amazon isn’t changing what “buying” means… let’s all calm down.

No, Amazon isn’t changing what “buying” means… let’s all calm down.

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Panic! Chaos! Doom and gloom!!! Seriously, the internet is losing their minds over Amazon’s new Kindle change.

What is Amazon actually doing?

For some time, Amazon has had a feature for your kindle books which allowed you to download them to your PC and then move them to your kindle (or another device) via USB. To be quite frank, this is a feature that probably shouldn’t have existed all this time, and we should be thankful that it hasn’t been removed sooner. The ability to download and transfer will be going away on February 26th, 2025.

OMG! I can’t download the books that I BOUGHT?!!!

Ok, take a deep breath, and then chill. The fear mongering is rampant right now!

No, you will no longer be able to download your purchased ebooks to your PC, harddrive, a thumbdrive, or other such places.

So I don’t have access to my purchased books anymore?!! How unfair!

See, this is why I told you to calm down. You will still have access to your purchases. Your ebooks are saved in Amazon’s cloud, so they can be accessed from the Kindle app, any Fire tablet, or any Kindle ereader. They will be downloaded via wifi, which has been possible for years and isn’t changing whatsoever.

Oh… so then why is there so much rage and panic?

People are upset about this change because it steals freedom, or at least, what people perceive as freedom. It’s all about the freedom of choice. The removal of this feature stops the ability to easily convert the ebook purchases so that they can be sent to a non-Amazon branded ereader.

But you know what it also stops? The ability to strip the books of their DRM for the sake of piracy. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. This is a bit of coding that is connected to a digital product to restrict it’s use. In the case of Kindle ebooks, the DRM locks the ebooks to the Kindle ereaders.

So this is about piracy?

A little. I think it’s mostly about keeping the licenses within the Amazon ecosphere, however, this will help with the piracy. This is especially true for library books. Library rentals are subject to be downloaded with the Download & Transfer option, which is great for utilizing your rentals, but not good for business and DRM restriction. I can understand people wanting to complain about not being able to download the books they’ve purchased and therefore “own”, but what about rentals? You didn’t purchase those, so why should they be connected to this service at all?

So, why are you so calm about this, Raven?

Mostly? Because it’s not something that affects me. I like my Kindles. I love Kindle Unlimited. I don’t mind the books being company locked. That doesn’t mean I don’t understand how others feel about the change though. There has been quite an exodus to Kobo and Boox ereaders in recent years, so I can totally understand why people who went with those ereaders in place of a Kindle would be upset, especially since Amazon does have quite the monopoly on the ebook market. I also prefer to focus on smaller businesses, but I also understand that convenience is worth the price some times. In the case of the ebook market, I can handle it for now. Perhaps things will eventually change, but for now, I’m fine with it.

As I said above, I’m shocked this feature has existed for this long. I’m a business owner, so I think about these things, and from a business stand point, this change just makes sense. No one wants to give their competitors business when they can keep it for themselves. Does Amazon need those profits? Not really… I mean Jeff Bezos has long since had more money than brains that he’s using the excess to literally launch himself into space for funzies. However, Capitalism has it’s rules and this change falls in line with those rules. As a business owner, I understand it and can only approve. From a customer standpoint, it just depends on the strength of my convictions and if this is going to be a hill I die on or not. Spoiler: It’s not.

What it really amounts to, is how you view digital content.

A lot of the discord is focusing on the fact that they’ve purchased these books and now they no longer have the freedom to do with it as they wish. The thing is, that isn’t the way to view this. When you purchase a digital product, you aren’t acquiring an item, you are buying the license to use that product.

Think about the gaming community. Let’s say you buy Kingdom Hearts 3 off the Playstation Network; you don’t own the game despite buying it. You just bought the license to be able to play it. It’s a digital product, it’s not something you can have or hold. If the PSN ever goes out of business, you will lose that game. What about buying Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth on Steam? You don’t own that game. You can’t play it on the Playstation or the Nintendo Switch, it’s for Steam only. You bought the license to play it on Steam.

There is no product. It’s pixels, bits of code, there is no item to own. You are buying the rights to use those pixels and bits of code. It’s nonsensical to get upset about a company making changes that lock you into their ecosystem and add preventative measures against piracy. Digital products can be easily replicated with the click of a button or a tapping of a key. Physical products are different. We don’t have that technology yet. Or perhaps we do and it’s being kept a secret. Could you imagine the ability to duplicate a physical item at a whim? It’d be the death of our economy!

When it comes to digital products, you have to have the right frame of mind. Remember that you can’t own them. It’s like owning air, you can’t own air. It’s nontangible. You can only own rights and licenses to use of nontangible items.

Amazon even states on their purchase page that the ebooks are not a purchase of a product but of a license of use for the product. You can see that in their terms of use, last updated December 31st, 2024, which is commonly updated each year, and doesn’t necessarily means it’s a recent change.

Use of Kindle Content. Kindle Content is licensed, not sold, to you by the Content Provider. Upon your download or access of Kindle Content and payment of any applicable fees (including applicable taxes), the Content Provider grants you subject to the terms of this Agreement, including without limitation those in “Changes to Service; Amendments” below, a non-exclusive right to view, use, and display such Kindle Content (for Subscription Content, only as long as you remain an active member of the underlying membership or subscription program), solely through Kindle Software or as otherwise permitted as part of the Service, solely on the number of Supported Devices specified in the Kindle Store, and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Content Provider may include additional terms for use within its Kindle Content. Those terms will also apply, but this Agreement will govern in the event of a conflict. Some Kindle Content, such as interactive or highly formatted content, may not be available to you on all Kindle Software.

Limitations. Unless specifically indicated otherwise, you may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense, or otherwise assign any rights to the Kindle Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove or modify any proprietary notices or labels on the Kindle Content. In addition, you may not attempt to bypass, modify, defeat, or otherwise circumvent any digital rights management system or other content protection or features used as part of the Service.

– Amazon Terms of Use

Amazon has always owned the digital ebooks, despite you being able to download them to your devices. You weren’t buying the product, you were buying the right to have the product to use at any time you please. The fact that you’ve been able to take these books over to ereaders made by other companies is an oversight more than anything. I’m shocked that it’s ever been possible. If you want the ability to take the licensing right to any ereader, than you need to buy your digital books from a company that is software only (Remember buying books via Smashwords, anyone?) that has no ereader hardware.

Would it be nice if companies could come to an agreement and play nicely together? Of course! Will it ever happen? Not with a monopoly it won’t. It’s just something you have to deal with. If you want to own the book and be able to take it wherever you please, then you have to buy a tangible, printed copy. But getting mad at Amazon for making a change that is a smart business move and complaining about how it shows they “don’t care about” and are “so mean to” their customers, is just a waste of your time, energy, and emotions. Spoiler alert: they don’t care. All that matters is their bottom line and how many sales they make. That’s how business works. Successful businesses take emotions out of themselves. It would be nice if they kept morals and empathy in there, but those are too often easily tied into emotions, so I understand why are are gray areas.

If it bothers you that much, drop them like a rock and find new places to buy your entertainment. You have to decide if this is your hill to die on. If it isn’t, then cool, keep buying off Amazon. If it is, that’s fine too, but don’t make a big hullabaloo about it and try to force others to agree with you. It’s your hill, not everyone’s. Lower your shoulders, relax your back, step back from your rage, and just breathe.

let’s chat

  • How do you feel about this change?
  • Will this make you leave the Amazon ecosphere?
  • Where will you look to purchase instead?

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