In a potential blow, all the apps and websites have popped up alongside the Amazon Kindle to streamline transforming EPUB ebook files to the e-reader’s propriety file format.
In addition, starting in “late 2022,” the Kindle Personal Documents Service will finally sustain EPUB files, expanding where users can source their content.
The Send to Kindle system will automatically convert EPUB files to the Kindle’s proprietary ebook format. The Amazon Kindle’s original AZW ebook file format was established on the MOBI format created for an e-reader app called Mobipocket, first released in 2000 for a wide variety of PDAs and older mobile devices.
It has grown into the KF8/AZW3 format and now the KFX format, which is all proprietary to the Kindle over the years. However, a proprietary file format isn’t an issue for those who solely rely on Kindle e-readers and apps and only buy eBooks from Amazon.
Instead, it is mainly when Amazon offers one of the largest selections of ebooks currently available and a streamlined way to get the files onto its devices.
But there are countless e-readers available on the market that offer better features than the Kindle, including color E Ink screens. Instead of supporting the EPUB ebook file format (among others), which is the most popular format in the world. It’s also a format that Amazon, to date, has refused to support.
It has typically meant that someone looking to buy an ebook reader has fully committed to the Amazon Kindle ecosystem. They select one of the many alternatives and stick with their preference because ebook files they’d purchased or downloaded weren’t cross-compatible.
That’s still mostly the case, but according to a recently updated help page on the Amazon website for its Kindle Personal Documents Service, which streamlines sending files and documents to Kindle e-readers, there will soon be a workaround. Starting in late 2022, users will be able to either email EPUB files to their device or use one of the Send to Kindle apps to get EPUB ebooks onto their Amazon e-readers.
Unfortunately, the Kindle still can’t natively load EPUB files, so connecting the e-reader to a computer and manually copying EPUB files is still not an option. Still, the Send to Kindle service will convert EPUBs into Kindle-friendly KF8/AZW3 files. Of course, it’s not an ideal key, but it’s still a welcome accommodation for users sitting on a mountain of EPUB files who want to opt for a Kindle device.
Amazon Kindle is a string of e-readers designed and sold by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices allow users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, magazines, newspapers, and other digital media through wireless networking to the Kindle Store. The hardware forum, which Amazon subsidiary Lab126 conceived, began as a single device in 2007.
Currently, it contains a range of devices, including e-readers with E Ink electronic paper displays and Kindle applications on all-powerful computing platforms. In addition, all Kindle devices incorporate Kindle Store content, and, as of March 2018, the stock had over six million e-books obtainable in the United States.
In 2004, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos instructed the company’s employees to create the world’s best e-reader before Amazon’s competitors could. Amazon initially utilized the codename Fiona, for the device.
Branding advisors Michael Cronan and Karin Hibma developed the Kindle name. Lab126 requested them to name the product, and they indicated “kindle,” meaning to light a fire. They sensed this was an apt analogy for reading and intellectual excitement.
Kindle hardware has grown from the original Kindle introduced in 2007 and the Kindle DX (with its larger screen) familiarized in 2009. The range includes:
- Devices with lighted touch-sensitive, high-resolution screens (Kindle Paperwhite)
- Devices with a keyboard (Kindle Keyboard)
- Tablet with the Kindle app (Kindle Fire)
- Low-priced widgets with a touch-sensitive screen (Kindle 7)
However, the Kindle e-reader has consistently been a single-purpose gadget for reading rather than multipurpose hardware that might create distractions.
Amazon has also introduced Kindle apps on various appliances and platforms, including Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone. Amazon also holds a cloud reader to let users read e-books using modern web browsers.