New Kindle e-readers no longer appear on computers
The latest generation, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Scribe 2, Kindle Scribe 1, and Kindle and the upcoming Kindle Colorsoft, all have something in common. When you plug them into USB into your PC or MAC, they no longer appear as external drives. This prevents users from using file managers to back up their books or to sideload new books onto the Kindle. Amazon has also removed the download and transfer via USB option for purchased ebooks from the content page. This will likely prevent people from striping the DRM from the books and sharing them on piracy websites.
This is not the first time Amazon has removed the ability to backup books. Last year, they made the process almost impossible on the new Kindle for PC and MAC. They also removed the ability to back up books borrowed from the Kindle Unlimited subscription service and Prime Reading. Audible continues to allow users to download audiobooks locally for offline listening. Purchased Kindle books can also be read without an internet connection.
Older Kindle e-readers, such as the 9th generation Kindle and older, continue to have the ability to plug them into your computer with the USB cable, and they will show up as drives. This allows users to sideload and back up their books. New Kindles, especially the 12th generation models and the new 11th generation Kindle, do not allow you to do this. This is because these new devices have a new file system called MTP.
