Amazon may get a bad rap sometimes when it kills off popular services and systems people have used for a long time. When they discontinue something, longtime users threaten to flee to an alternative ecosystem, such as Barnes & Noble NOOK or Rakuten Kobo. However, Amazon continues to have the best e-book ecosystem and quality e-readers compared to anyone else.
There were a few discontinuations in the past year. The Kindle no longer has the USB-File Transfer system. Two months ago, it killed off its serialized platform, Kindle Vella. Late last year, it killed Kindle Flashcards. Old versions of the Kindle for PC app can no longer back up new books published after April 2025. The Kindle app lost the ability to view Goodreads Shelves, which is to drive traffic to the dedicated Goodreads app.
However, with each new service that is cancelled, Amazon introduces new ones. There is a RECAP feature powered by AI and a small army of book editors that will sum up a series of books, making it easy to dive into the latest book in a series and get a small recap of what happened previously. This is relevant in books that take years to come out, such as Wheel of Time, Sword of Shannara, Game of Thrones, etc. Think of it as a TV show that quickly recaps what happened in the last episode. This is an excellent complement to X-Ray, which provides a deeper look at the book’s people, places, and things. The Kindle also got a new tap for page-turns, which uses the device’s accelerometer to turn an e-book page forward by tapping the sides, top, or bottom of the Kindle. They also made Kindle Rewards easier to redeem.
A few key services make Kindle distinctive in the market and are hard to beat. Their Kindle Unlimited platform is the best in the business. They bought Comixology a few years ago, so it’s populated with Marvel, DC, and other publishers’ comic content. They killed off their newsstand system a few years ago and gravitated all their old publishers to Unlimited. They also leverage Audible audiobooks as another way to get people. Self-publishers can get prominent placement by going exclusively to the Kindle bookstore, so there are more books on Amazon than on Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble, or Kobo. X-Ray is super helpful, along with the best stock internet browser in the business. Prime Reading is great for people who subscribe to Prime, and Amazon First Reads also provides free monthly books to Prime members. Goodreads on the Kindle is a good social book platform; the translation service on books is first-rate.
Send to Kindle does not have any peers in the industry. You can send digital content from anywhere on any computer or mobile device to your Kindle e-reader. If you send an EPUB, it will automatically convert it in the background into a Kindle-friendly format. If the book you loaded doesn’t have cover art, Amazon has a tool, too.
Amazon’s competition in the e-reader space cannot match it. Amazon has purchased too many companies, so nobody can compete against them for digital content such as magazines, comics, graphic novels, e-books, or audiobooks. Their software cannot be beat, and their e-readers regularly get new enhancements.
There are companies out there that try to do a few things well. Kobo makes the 2nd best e-readers in the world and sells audiobooks and e-books. They have a relationship with Overdrive to allow users to browse their local branches’ collection, checkout, and read on the same device. They have advanced font options too. Google Books is fantastic if you read on your Android phone, since it’s one of the only bookstores selling content on the device. Ditto with Apple Books if you read on an iPad or iPhone, because Apple can sell content directly without paying themselves the 30% of each book sold. Libro.FM is solid for DRM-free audiobooks. At the same time, Storytel is a good reading solution and audiobook platform for people primarily living in Europe.
On a pure hardware level, Amazon doesn’t make the best e-readers in the world. There are more advanced ones that run Android, have Google Play, and allow users to install apps. There are better e-notes than the Kindle Scribe, such as the Remarkable. However, Kindles are best for users who want to read and have the best experience, without many complications or sacrifices. Tech-savvy people who jailbreak their Kindles will continue to find ways to pirate their books, but the Kindle continues to reign supreme.
When it comes right down to it, the Kindle is designed and best for people who want to read, but it has enough cool features to make them feel like the ecosystem stands out from the competition.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.