Friday, January 9, 2026

Amazon Changes Format Policy

In a second major change of policy (the first being Amazon no longer accepts e-books in MOBI or related formats), Amazon will allow readers to download their purchased books in PDF and EPUB format for those e-books where Digital Rights Management ("DRM") is not applied. This change goes into effect on January 20, 2026.

How do I feel about this?

On one hand, I don't apply DRM because I want my readers to be able to backup their libraries without losing access to the books they bought. As a former IT professional, I'm too aware of the mishaps that can happen with our devices. Plus, there's plenty of books I've purchased that are no longer available as an e-book. I don't want to lose access to them before I've even read them!

Plus, everyone I know has their preferred format to read books. I'm sure it's the same with millions of other Amazon customers.

On the other hand, more of my books will end up on pirate websites. *sigh*

What happens if I add DRM to my e-books? Well, no much actually. It annoys the legitimate users, but it doesn't really prevent theft. Seriously, if an old fogey like me can crack DRM, anyone can figure it out.

Right now, I learn toward the good outweighs the bad. But we'll see how things shake out over the year.

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