Amazon removed books from my Kindle

[jlinear]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

amazon is a poster child for enshittification.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/21/...hittification/
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cu...-of-everything
https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-p...cory-doctorow/
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...f-the-internet

Thanks. That "Wired" article is really well done. And funny.

[jackm8]

Could the problem have something to do with Calibre? I know that the program can write a ton of things into various folders of the devices based on plugins used.

As for Amazon, yeah, they've been like this forever. I remember loosing most of the dictionaries on my Kindle. As it turned out it was my own mistake. I was backing up files I moved them instead of copied them. Not knowing this I contacted their customer support, and the guy there saw every single file on my device. I'm not sure that he could access and open them, but just that they can see them, means that device is capable of sending plenty of data back to the company.

Also, how they're constantly nagging you about turning on wireless is starting to anger me quite a bit. Moving files to collection, "content not synched." Huge "turn off aeroplane mode" messages across wikipedia and translation tabs. Hit one of their adds on Home screen by mistake; "it looks like your kinde is in Aeroplane mode?!!! Do you want to turn Aeroplane mode off"? It's as if they hate you for not being always connected.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by jackm8

It's as if they hate you for not being always connected.

Of course they do. They can't get any data on you if you're not connected.

[arturg]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It;s not the only solution. Another solution is to buy a Kobo and give up using your Kindle.

That's like trading a Mercedes for a Toyota

[Quoth]

You do realise how reliable and better value and more functional some Toyota models are than a Mercedes?

There is nothing luxurious about a Kindle. It's Nissan vs Toyota, so depends on model and how important the Amazon ecosystem is to the user. Anyone that has a registered Kindle can use it for loans and a Kobo for bought Amazon Kindle ebooks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Do you have any sideloaded books on your PW3?

I do have some. I left WiFi on while charging and syncing. The problem is that I have too many synced books and I don't know exactly what was on the Kindle.

I'll have to wipe the Kindle and try again putting on content I'll know is on it. Some I'll put on via calibre and some converted with Kindlegen.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by arturg

That's like trading a Mercedes for a Toyota

No, it isn't, and I say this as someone who used Kindles for many years. Kindles aren't better than any other brand; they just have the Amazon ecosystem behind them, which I personally never found much use for. For people who sideload extensively and/or use Calibre for book management, Kindle is actually not a particularly good device at all. Basically the only thing where it's better than the competitors is reading Amazon content and syncing it across different Kindle devices and apps.

[TheSmitty]

Originally Posted by arturg

That's like trading a Mercedes for a Toyota

I have several Kindles and a Libra 2. I think the Libra 2 is great quality and I use it occasionally. But for me, the killer feature that keeps me on Kindle and purchasing from Amazon is Whispersync between audible and books bought on Amazon/Kindle. I drive a total of two hours a day to and from work and it is extremely convenient to switch between my Kindle and Audible (iPhone) and it syncs my spot in the book automatically.

If Kobo ever provided that feature it would be something that might get me to switch to Kobo. Other than the annoying *city tax* they charge me which I do not understand as my city does not have a sales tax.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by arturg

That's like trading a Mercedes for a Toyota

A Mercedes with no engine and a Toyota that has all it parts.

So you really like it when you turn on WiFi and all of your side loaded eBook go away?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by TheSmitty

I have several Kindles and a Libra 2. I think the Libra 2 is great quality and I use it occasionally. But for me, the killer feature that keeps me on Kindle and purchasing from Amazon is Whispersync between audible and books bought on Amazon/Kindle. I drive a total of two hours a day to and from work and it is extremely convenient to switch between my Kindle and Audible (iPhone) and it syncs my spot in the book automatically.

If Kobo ever provided that feature it would be something that might get me to switch to Kobo. Other than the annoying *city tax* they charge me which I do not understand as my city does not have a sales tax.

Whispersync is a great way to get you turn on WiFi so your side loaded eBooks can be removed.

[vermontcathy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Whispersync is a great way to get you turn on WiFi so your side loaded eBooks can be removed.

I know that this happened to you, and to others, and it sucks. But I believe it's an isolated bug. I have several kindles, some are frequently connected to wi-fi, some hadn't been connected to wi-fi in quite a while and then I turned it on, and I sideload a ton of books and I have never had any get deleted. I'm not downplaying what happened to you, but you shouldn't act like this is Amazon's policy now - that they delete any sideloaded books, always.

[jhowell]

It would be nice to gather more information to try and discover more about this book deletion and determine if there are any workarounds that might prevent it. It would be helpful if someone who finds that sideloaded books have been deleted after going online were to gather more information for debugging.

If you enter ;dm in the search box your kindle will create three log files with names like all_system_logs_as_of_Thu_Feb_1_10.00.54_EST_2024. txt in the documents folder. This would need to be done within a fairly short time after the deletion occurred since the logs only contain recent data. Those logs might reveal more details about what triggered the deletion of the book files.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by jhowell

It would be nice to gather more information to try and discover more about this book deletion and determine if there are any workarounds that might prevent it. It would be helpful if someone who finds that sideloaded books have been deleted after going online were to gather more information for debugging.

If you enter ;dm in the search box your kindle will create three log files with names like all_system_logs_as_of_Thu_Feb_1_10.00.54_EST_2024. txt in the documents folder. This would need to be done within a fairly short time after the deletion occurred since the logs only contain recent data. Those logs might reveal more details about what triggered the deletion of the book files.

I suggest that people affected by this and want to get to the bottom of what is actually going on work with jhowell. He is quite skilled at this sort of thing.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Basically the only thing where it's better than the competitors is reading Amazon content and syncing it across different Kindle devices and apps.

No. You're overlooking send-to-Kindle, Kindle's single greatest advantage over the competition IMO and which beats sideloading. One action and a book is available to all devices and syncs across them as well.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by issybird

No. You're overlooking send-to-Kindle, Kindle's single greatest advantage over the competition IMO and which beats sideloading. One action and a book is available to all devices and syncs across them as well.

Pocketbooks have the same feature, AFAIK.