alt Hacker NewsWait, wut? How would they stop me from adding new book to my kindle? I can just plug into USB and load directly right?
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Often big company drm software to read encrypted/drm files will have a time limit on it, where it will stop working if not updated - because they require knowing the current date. This is how they could block it.
Dvd players didn't need to know the date. The new world of constantly evolving drm schemes falls into this world, making it east to eol devices if not updated
Correct. It’s the ability to download books directly onto the device from Amazon that is being removed.
Well, I don't have a Kindle, so I can't verify this, but I am basing this from reporting:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98k91yy4z4o
"The move will mean owners of older Kindles, including its earliest models such as the Kindle Touch and some Kindle Fire tablets, will be unable to download new e-books."
For a more tech-oriented site, according to Ars Technica Amazon removed the ability to upload over USB:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/04/starting-in-may-pre-...
"Previously, owners of old Kindles could have worked around this loss of functionality by downloading books locally and transferring them via USB. But Amazon removed the ability to download books to a PC or Mac in February of 2025."
I don't like to brag "I told you so" but I saw this coming 16 years ago:
No you can't do that on a kindle. They have a "send to kindle" feature that allows you to add non-Amazon purchased ebooks to your library. But that requires support from the backend (and an internet connection).
I'm assuming send to kindle will no longer be supported on these older devices.
Among other things, if you become logged out of the device or it's reset you will no longer be able to login with an amazon account ( which is required ) to use the device