Have you bought an e-reader from Weltbild? How to save your e-books now

The lights are going out at Weltbild. At the beginning of August, the parent company in Augsburg filed for insolvency; a few days later, Weltbild in Switzerland could no longer be saved either. The company announced its insolvency and the immediate closure of all stores on 21 August. Weltbild can still be reached online, but the online shop no longer works and customer service is also no longer available.

Weltbild informs on its website that customers who have purchased an e-reader from Tolino at some point must take action. Especially if they have purchased digital works for the devices with a Weltbild registration, i.e. if they have downloaded e-books or audio books. Due to the discontinuation of business operations at Weltbild, the login is no longer available. Users should therefore move their digital library to another supplier. Anyone in Switzerland who wants to switch to Orell Füssli, for example, can already find corresponding instructions on how to link their library.

Download content to your own computer

If you don't want to commit to a new supplier just yet, you can download purchased works to your own computer. The quickest way to do this is with the Tolino web reader. The following steps are necessary:

1. Open the web reader in the browser.
2. Select the relevant country
3. Select "Weltbild" from the list of Tolino retailers and log in there.
4. In the "My books" and "My audiobooks" section, you will find an overview of the content you have purchased.
5. Download by clicking on the three dots below the cover; select "Download" as an option.

The library link or download can be completed by 30 September at the latest. In purely legal terms, users still have the right to use the purchased works after this deadline, as the consumer magazine "Beobachter" writes. However, it is unclear how this would work in practice because no one at Weltbild is still working and could manage this. In this case, anyone wanting to at least get their money back for the lost e-books would have to file a claim with the bankruptcy office - with very little chance of success.

Editorial note: In an initial version of this article, the deadline was 31 August. Shortly after the article was published, Weltbild extended this deadline by one month via information on the weltbild.ch homepage. The corresponding dates have been adjusted in the text above. Thanks for the tip to user [Ynor9].