diff --git a/doc/README.txt b/doc/README.txt
index 547327308..c9c1edc1c 100644
--- a/doc/README.txt
+++ b/doc/README.txt
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ home directory, usually "C:\Documents and Settings\UserName".
 
 Dependencies
 -------------
-Dosage is requires Python version 2.5 or higher, which can be downloaded
+Dosage requires Python version 2.7 or higher, which can be downloaded
 from http://www.python.org.
 No external Python modules are required - only the Python Standard Library
 that gets installed with Python.
diff --git a/doc/changelog.txt b/doc/changelog.txt
index 6eb25809d..95b13616d 100644
--- a/doc/changelog.txt
+++ b/doc/changelog.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Features:
 
 Changes:
 - installation: Added support for dynamic configuration values.
+- installation: Require and use Python 2.7
 - comics: Removed the twisted and zope dependencies by adding
   an internal plugin search mechanism.
 - testing: Refactored the test comic routine in proper unit tests.
diff --git a/dosagelib/__init__.py b/dosagelib/__init__.py
index b38fa4a3c..0814ee8ad 100644
--- a/dosagelib/__init__.py
+++ b/dosagelib/__init__.py
@@ -17,5 +17,5 @@ thus making their individual implementations trivial.
 """
 import sys
 if not (hasattr(sys, 'version_info') or
-        sys.version_info < (2, 5, 0, 'final', 0)):
-    raise SystemExit("This program requires Python 2.5 or later.")
+        sys.version_info < (2, 7, 0, 'final', 0)):
+    raise SystemExit("This program requires Python 2.7 or later.")
diff --git a/dosagelib/loader.py b/dosagelib/loader.py
index 6ea543e65..bedfaac77 100644
--- a/dosagelib/loader.py
+++ b/dosagelib/loader.py
@@ -4,45 +4,33 @@
 Functions to load plugin modules.
 """
 import os
-import sys
+import importlib
 
 
-def get_modules(folder, importprefix):
-    """Find all valid modules in the plugins directory. A valid module
+def get_modules(folder='plugins'):
+    """Find all valid modules in the plugins subdirectory. A valid module
     must have a .py extension, and is importable.
     @return: all loaded valid modules
     @rtype: iterator of module
     """
-    for filename in get_importable_modules(folder):
+    dirname = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), folder)
+    for modname in get_importable_modules(dirname):
         try:
-            module = load_module(filename, importprefix)
-            if module is not None:
-                yield module
+            name ="..%s.%s" % (folder, modname)
+            yield importlib.import_module(name, __name__)
         except StandardError, msg:
-            print "ERROR: could not load module %s: %s" % (filename, msg)
+            print "ERROR: could not load module %s: %s" % (modname, msg)
 
 
 def get_importable_modules(folder):
     """Find all module files in the given folder that end witn '.py' and
     don't start with an underscore.
-    @return module filenames
+    @return module names
     @rtype: iterator of string
     """
     for fname in sorted(os.listdir(folder)):
         if fname.endswith('.py') and not fname.startswith('_'):
-            yield os.path.join(folder, fname)
-
-
-def load_module(filename, importprefix):
-    """Load and return the module given by the filename.
-    Other exceptions than ImportError are not catched.
-    @return: loaded module or None on import errors
-    @rtype: module or None
-    """
-    name = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(filename))[0]
-    modulename = "%s%s" % (importprefix, name)
-    __import__(modulename)
-    return sys.modules[modulename]
+            yield fname[:-3]
 
 
 def get_plugins(modules, classobj):
diff --git a/dosagelib/scraper.py b/dosagelib/scraper.py
index 358d1f552..f38dc9396 100644
--- a/dosagelib/scraper.py
+++ b/dosagelib/scraper.py
@@ -154,9 +154,7 @@ def get_scrapers():
     """
     global _scrapers
     if _scrapers is None:
-        folder = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'plugins')
-        importprefix = 'dosagelib.plugins.'
-        modules = loader.get_modules(folder, importprefix)
+        modules = loader.get_modules()
         plugins = loader.get_plugins(modules, _BasicScraper)
         _scrapers = list(plugins)
         _scrapers.sort(key=lambda s: s.get_name())