Buying a film on Prime Video, a video game on Steam, an album on a digital store: in none of these cases are you really buying anything. You pay a user licenserevocable, linked to the existence of the platform and its conditions. It is the model on which the entire digital content market has been based for twenty years, and Kindle is no exception — indeed, in recent months Amazon has made this more explicit than it has ever done, thanks to a Californian law that has removed any margin of ambiguity.
You didn’t buy a book: you bought a license
In the Kindle Store Terms of Use, Amazon is explicit: Content is licensed, not sold. For years this clause was buried in the terms and conditions that no one reads, since February 2025 it has become impossible to ignore. Amazon has in fact changed the text that appears when purchasing an ebook on the American Kindle Store. Where previously only a reference to the terms of use appeared, it now reads:
By placing your order, you’re purchasing a license to the content and agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.
By placing your order, you purchase a license to the content and agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.
A license, not a purchase. The change would be prompted by California law AB 2426, which forces platforms to explicitly disclose when a digital transaction does not transfer ownership of content.
The download disappears, the control remains
Clarity comes along with a concrete grip. The February 26, 2025 Amazon has eliminated the “Download & Transfer via USB” feature from the Content and Device Management page. Since that day, Kindle users can no longer download their purchased ebooks to the computer and transfer them manually via USB cable. For years, that feature had allowed you to keep a local copy of your digital library — a backup in case of problems with your account, the Amazon server, or future availability of the title.
Amazon’s official justification was minimalist. In a statement to The Verge, spokeswoman Jackie Burke said customers can continue to read books already downloaded to their Kindle device and access new content through the Kindle app, Kindle for web, and directly on devices with Wi-Fi connectivity. Translated: you read where Amazon says, when Amazon says.
The precedent most cited by those who follow the issue dates back to 2009, when Amazon remotely deleted digital copies of George Orwell’s 1984 from users’ devices due to a rights issue with the publisher who had uploaded them. That case remained in the memory as a reminder that Kindle ebooks can disappear from the library at any time, for reasons entirely external to the reader.
Pay to remove ads
The advertising on the lock screen complete the picture. According to the Amazon support page dedicated to ads on devices, some Kindle models are offered at a reduced price in exchange for personalized advertising: the ads appear as screensavers when the reader is in standby and on the home screen, marked as “Sponsored”. Anyone who wants to remove them must pay $20 — even on a $159.99 Kindle they already purchased. Until some time ago it was possible to do this for free by calling customer service, a possibility that now no longer exists.
From May 20, 2026, the store will close for pioneers
The issue of digital ownership took an even more concrete form a few days ago. Amazon has communicated that Starting May 20, 2026, Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier will no longer be able to purchase, borrow, or download new content from the store.. They will be able to read what has already been downloaded, the libraries will remain accessible on smartphone and desktop apps, but the channel from which they were born – the book shop in the cloud – will close forever.
The models involved are those that accompanied the entry of reading into the digital age: first generation Kindle (2007), Kindle 2, DX and DX Graphite, Keyboard, Kindle 4 and Touch, Kindle 5, the first Paperwhite. And then the first Fire, like the 2011, 2012 versions and the HD variants. In total, eleven models.
The decision comes after 14 – in some cases 18 – years of support: technology has moved forward, those machines were created for another era and are not equipped for more recent services and functions. The reasoning is familiar in the world of consumer electronics — security updates, compatibility, maintenance costs — and Amazon estimates it affects about 3% of active users, to whom it offers a 20% discount on a new device. In reality, the round of reactions on specialized sites has returned a precise accusation, which sees devices that are still perfectly functional becoming ornaments. A huge waste on a large scale, in an era where global e-waste is already estimated to grow by 32% by 2030.
There is a further detail that does not appear in the official communication but which is circulating in the forums: if after May 20th you cancel the registration of the device or restore it to factory settings, it will no longer be possible to register it again. Definitive end.
A small opening, a great control
However, there is a signal in the opposite direction, at least partial. From January 20, 2026, Amazon allows DRM-free downloads of purchased titles in EPUB and PDF format from the Content and Device Management page. The measure only concerns books without digital protection – a minority share of the catalogue, mostly works by independent authors – but it is the first concrete opening towards formats readable outside the Kindle ecosystem.
The paper book, in this context, works differently for reasons that have nothing nostalgic about it, and once bought, it is yours. It doesn’t require an active account, it doesn’t depend on firmware updates, it doesn’t disappear if Amazon decides to renegotiate the rights with a publisher. The technological advantage of the physical medium, in this case, is called ownership, 100%.
