Good call out. Clickbait article.
Comment on New Kindle e-readers no longer appear on computers
atocci@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I like to rag on Amazon as much as the next guy here, but this article seems a tad misleading. The article even says they use MTP now instead of functioning as a direct USB mass storage drive, but you can still plug them into your PC and transfer files though File Explorer. Android handles USB file transfers the same way, and that works fine.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
casmael@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
………. So is there any attempt by Amazon here to limit users transferring their ebooks to their computers?
atocci@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
In short, no.
What’s changed here is now the Kindle and PC will actively communicate with each other during file transfers with MTP instead of the Kindle “pretending” to be a USB flash drive with USB mass storage. There are some important trade-off that come with the switch to MTP but nothing that will stop you from transferring ebooks to or from a computer.
casmael@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Nice one thanks for clarifying. Sounds like a relatively minor change?
atocci@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Pretty minor as long as your computer’s OS supports MTP, which most do, except for MacOS. If you’re a Mac user, you’ll need 3rd party software like Calibre or Android File Transfer for it to show up, but if you’re the kind of person who’s transferring books to and from your Kindle over USB, you’re probably already using Calibre anyway.
vxx@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah, until they do this:
Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) over USB Mapping
The MTP extension defined in this section provides a mapping of WMDRM: Network Devices Protocol messages to the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). The WMDRM: Network Devices Protocol extension to MTP defines operations that enable DRM-protected content to be securely transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver.
atocci@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The Kindle doesn’t use Windows Media DRM for its DRM protected ebooks, they use Amazon’s own DRM. Even if they did use WMDRM though, this is just an extension MTP that would enable it to be used for streaming WMDRM content. It “provides a mapping of WMDRM: Network Devices Protocol messages to the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP)” and that’s necessary because MTP would otherwise not provide the data necessary for for the DRM protected content to play.
There’s still nothing here that would prevent you from copying your own “legitimately obtained” epub files or Amazon-encrypted AZW files to or from your PC.
I do see this article was the first result when I searched “MTP DRM” on Google though 😉
chaosCruiser@futurology.today 3 weeks ago
So, basically the whole article is just a complete nothign-burger.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Sounds like a regular internet article to me.