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Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

nytimes.com

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Re: Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

#31

Post by themafia »

gdulli wrote: post #15
disillusioned wrote: post #6

It seems absurd to me that Amazon is making the product decision to EOL functional hardware that is _actively used to purchase books from them, legally_... all to... what? potentially sell another $100 or so reader? At the expense of... what? Some minimal amount of engineering effort to keep updates flowing for the extremely limited surface area that is the old Kindle OS? Why upset your customers over this when they…

You're an ant to them. All that data they have tells them this action won't hurt them. An incredibly important turning point of this era is that businesses have learned that they no longer need to fear acting hostile to consumers. Consumers don't practice agency.

> Consumers don't practice agency

Customers can't practice agency when the markets are mostly monopolized or the products pass through a cartel first.

The moment a viable, cheaper and more convenient option appears, your customers will show you exactly how fickle they are.

Re: Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

#32

Post by plorg »

ndiddy wrote: post #16
disillusioned wrote: post #6

It seems absurd to me that Amazon is making the product decision to EOL functional hardware that is _actively used to purchase books from them, legally_... all to... what? potentially sell another $100 or so reader? At the expense of... what? Some minimal amount of engineering effort to keep updates flowing for the extremely limited surface area that is the old Kindle OS? Why upset your customers over this when they…

The actual reason is likely that all of these Kindles only support azw3 format ebooks, which are easy to strip the DRM from. This lets Amazon switch to only serving ebooks in kfx format, which are encrypted and harder to strip the DRM from. Amazon stopped allowing saving ebooks to your PC last year, likely for the same reason. It definitely is frustrating though. I have an iPod from 2009 where the battery and hard dr…

It's more complicated than that. KFX was not encrypted differently than AZW, it's just a proprietary format that no one else supports (AZW being more or less MOBI with some tweaks). The DRM and the format get conflated because the same enthusiasts who want to strip DRM tend to want ebooks in an archivable, portable, standard format that was not achievable with KFX (no other ebook readers care to implement the kind of features it supports, and the way it works is antithetical to coverting it to the more conventional formats). You could still download and strip DRM in versions of Kindle for PC that pulled the KFX format. Only recently did it get to the point that versions of the app supported by the DeDRM plugins weren't allowed to download new books.

Re: Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

#34

Post by neilv »

> The company is offering a 20% discount that you can apply toward one of its new Kindle models,

Federal is complicated right now, but can state AGs step in, and make Amazon either continue to support the old devices, or provide comparable free replacement devices?

Re: Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

#35

Post by frio »

shell0x wrote: post #23

I’m thinking to get a device for reading technical books. Do you think an iPad mini would be the better option? I had a kindle before but it was slow to change pages and I heard even new versions are still not great for PDFs, but would like to get some opinions. I have a friend at Apple so wouldn’t pay the full price for an iPad.

If you want an e-ink type screen, the Supernotes (or Remarkables, or Viwoods) are all very good at this. Personally I hate trying to read things on iPads.

Re: Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

#36

Post by andyvanosdale »

neilv wrote: post #34

> The company is offering a 20% discount that you can apply toward one of its new Kindle models, Federal is complicated right now, but can state AGs step in, and make Amazon either continue to support the old devices, or provide comparable free replacement devices?

Can they, yes. Just about anyone can be used for just about anything.

Should they, no. Why should Amazon continuously support, checks notes... 14 year old devices??? Likely the number of customers using a device like that anymore is super small.

Re: Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

#37

Post by thewhitetulip »

andyvanosdale wrote: post #36
neilv wrote: post #34

> The company is offering a 20% discount that you can apply toward one of its new Kindle models, Federal is complicated right now, but can state AGs step in, and make Amazon either continue to support the old devices, or provide comparable free replacement devices?

Can they, yes. Just about anyone can be used for just about anything. Should they, no. Why should Amazon continuously support, checks notes... 14 year old devices??? Likely the number of customers using a device like that anymore is super small.

Unlikely. Kindles are e readers that last a long time. I have a 10yr old paperwhite as good as new!

Re: Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

#38

Post by snailmailman »

thewhitetulip wrote: post #37
andyvanosdale wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can they, yes. Just about anyone can be used for just about anything. Should they, no. Why should Amazon continuously support, checks notes... 14 year old devices??? Likely the number of customers using a device like that anymore is super small.

Unlikely. Kindles are e readers that last a long time. I have a 10yr old paperwhite as good as new!

how well does the battery hold up after that long?

Mine is only like 2-3 years old and I charge it so rarely. I can read several entire books on a charge easily. It lasts months. I imagine even if the battery degraded significantly it would be quite usable.

Re: Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

#39

Post by heyalexhsu »

crims0n wrote: post #25

> Earlier this week, Amazon notified its customers via email that, starting May 20, it will end support for Kindle and Kindle Fire devices released in 2012 or earlier. 14 years of support really isn't bad at all.

ya. compared to an iphone that normally gets 5-7 years.

Re: Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

#40

Post by Narishma »

thewhitetulip wrote: post #37
andyvanosdale wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can they, yes. Just about anyone can be used for just about anything. Should they, no. Why should Amazon continuously support, checks notes... 14 year old devices??? Likely the number of customers using a device like that anymore is super small.

Unlikely. Kindles are e readers that last a long time. I have a 10yr old paperwhite as good as new!

Your paperwhite will soon become paperweight.
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