alt.hn

4/19/2026 at 10:56:32 PM

Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore

 https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/older-kindle-support-ending/

by eigenhombre

4/20/2026 at 12:10:22 AM

Best thing I ever did with my Kindle was jailbreak it and install KOReader. Crazy that somebody needs to do that in order to truly own their device.

by overflowy

4/20/2026 at 12:18:30 AM

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 were otherwise using this device to give you money?

by disillusioned

4/20/2026 at 12:52:29 AM

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 drive still work fine, and I'm able to use the latest version of iTunes to sync my music and podcasts to it. Shoutout to Apple for that.

by ndiddy

4/20/2026 at 1:50:13 AM

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.

by plorg

4/20/2026 at 12:59:34 AM

It seems weird that they couldn't simply ship a software update to support kfx. Is kfx decoded in hardware?

by cogman10

4/20/2026 at 1:27:00 AM

They probably could do it in an update, but the devices where support has been dropped haven't had firmware updates in 7 years (and that was a certificate update, the last nontrivial update was over 10 years ago), so I guess they don't consider restarting firmware development to be worth it.

by ndiddy

4/20/2026 at 1:13:53 AM

Amazon can and already did this for my circa 2015 Kindle. I think it's just a lack of will to do so for devices even older than that.

by ravenstine

4/20/2026 at 2:52:01 AM

It is not like stripping DRM from Kindle books was the only available avenue that could halt the pirate ebook system. Moving the entire ecosystem to the format is still going to see all of the same material available on the high seas.

Worst case, the eye analog hole will ensure that books are the most piratable medium.

by 3eb7988a1663

4/20/2026 at 5:57:23 AM

there is something bitterly ironic about iPods (and their "sync" system to basically disallow arbitrary loading and sharing of music and "just" dropping music onto it) being now considered an example of an open device.

by rtpg

4/20/2026 at 12:31:42 AM

Bought a Kobo and decided I'm just going to stick to Ebooks.com DRM-free section from now on. Tired of not owning what I buy.

I did the same with music, using an Innioasis iPod knockoff + buy MP3s from Amazon Music, cheaper than Spotify and I never have to worry about my music becoming unavailable. I also prefer the experience of single-use devices.

by thisoneisreal

4/20/2026 at 12:50:46 AM

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.

by gdulli

4/20/2026 at 1:20:39 AM

There's a lot of moving parts here:

1. Competition is much lower in a lot of places.

2. Customers prioritize convenience and (perceived at least) low-prices over being treated well.

Look at airlines: Unless you happen to be traveling between two major airports, there will typically be at most 2 airlines with a reasonable schedule for the two endpoints, and most people will not pay $100 more for being treated like human beings over cattle.

by aidenn0

4/20/2026 at 1:49:38 AM

> 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.

by themafia

4/20/2026 at 12:23:08 AM

I transfer books by running `python -m http.server` on my phone or computer, then opening my Kindle’s browser to my IP and downloading my .mobi book. It doesn’t take long, and I can do it all over Wi-Fi.

I can mount it via SSHFS for anything more than copying a single book.

I stopped buying anything from Amazon on principal a couple years ago, books included; and anyway, most books I read these days are in the public domain – Project Gutenberg is a treasure trove!

by 0x38B

4/20/2026 at 6:22:35 AM

I sync articles and books to my phone via adb. There is this adbsync python script that syncs files in rsync fashion using adb. Hopefully google won't kill or add barriers to adb like they are doing with installing apks now.

by mayama

4/20/2026 at 1:46:14 AM

Why just don’t send books on the email associated with your kindle?

by ekropotin

4/20/2026 at 1:55:58 AM

Just use Calibre to transfer books to the reader

by nokeya

4/20/2026 at 12:19:04 AM

I just jailbroke my old Kindle 4 for fun. Found out of it ever connects to WiFi it unjailbrakes itself. :)

The email Amazon sent out said that if you factory reset your device after May 20 it becomes inoperable. I wonder if that means bricked, or if it just means you can't access your DRM kindle library.

by beej71

4/20/2026 at 1:08:11 AM

You will still be able to use it if you factory reset, but you won't be able to register it to an Amazon account or download any of your DRM'd book purchases. The Kindle will still work and you'll still be able to read books you load over USB. The one annoyance is there's a nag pop-up telling you to register your Kindle, but it only shows up in the main menu and not when you're in a book.

by ndiddy

4/20/2026 at 12:20:42 AM

I think you can disable the Over the Air Updates.

by Cider9986

4/20/2026 at 12:21:21 AM

They said that it affected less than 3% of Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablets. I wonder how that number would change if they only considered Kindle e-readers? I suspect that the disposability of tablets distorts that number significantly.

by II2II

4/20/2026 at 4:34:45 AM

This quote near the end of the article:

> “Kindle devices have a relatively small attack surface, and successful exploitation through ebook files is rare, though not impossible,” said Bogdan Botezatu, a senior director of threat research and reporting for cybersecurity software company Bitdefender.

Should sell more new Kindles.

by coro_1

4/20/2026 at 12:07:32 AM

> If you own one of the affected Kindles, you’ll still be able to access all of the books that are already downloaded to your device. However, you’ll no longer be able to purchase, borrow, or download books to your device from the Kindle Store.

> And while you can sideload DRM-free (digital rights management–free) titles to the Kindle via USB [...], it’s not the best option from a security standpoint.

What a terrible article.

by internet2000

4/20/2026 at 6:58:26 AM

I saw this coming when they stopped allowing downloads of purchased books. When that happened my Kindle got KOreader and after it broke I replaced it with a Kobo.

I’m much happier with my new device

by wrxd

4/20/2026 at 2:46:22 AM

I have a Kindle with KOReader on it and it’s awesome. I recently bought a book directly from the author (Isles of the Emberdark, Brandon Sanderson) and the author, being excellent, provided it without DRM so I had no trouble reading it.

But for less-excellent authors, where’s a good place besides Amazon to get ebooks?

by ashton314

4/20/2026 at 3:33:16 AM

The high seas (https://open-slum.org/) ... and as a compensation donate to the author somehow or make a donation to your local library for a clear conscience.

by freefaler

4/20/2026 at 1:25:47 AM

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.

by shell0x

4/20/2026 at 1:58:52 AM

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.

by frio

4/20/2026 at 1:37:26 AM

I'd go with an iPad instead of the mini just to be on the safe side. I have a 12" tablet and it's night and day compared to my 6" Kindle (2020 model). Kindles suck if you try to read pdfs, they don't scale naturally so you can't see shit. Anything with a screen at 10" or more would work fine for pdfs.

by elorant

4/20/2026 at 3:04:40 AM

Even 10" feels far too large to casually read in bed with.

by throwaway27448

4/20/2026 at 3:53:44 AM

I doubt anyone reads technical books at bed though.

by elorant

4/20/2026 at 4:25:54 AM

I read pdfs in bed all the time, but it's not much hassle to zoom and pan on a tablet

by throwaway27448

4/20/2026 at 1:42:16 AM

i guess that would be an iPaid air as it just got refreshed?

by shell0x

4/20/2026 at 1:45:04 AM

Probably just the iPad, unless you are not at all price sensitive. $350 ($299 refurbished) vs $600 is a big uplift; you can almost buy two iPads for the price of an iPad Air. For just PDF viewing, any Apple CPU is performant enough.

by secabeen

4/20/2026 at 1:56:51 AM

> 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?

by neilv

4/20/2026 at 2:06:33 AM

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.

by andyvanosdale

4/20/2026 at 4:31:08 AM

The network service side of the product should continue to work because the company sold that.

Unless you can find where the original advertisements (not microscopic fine print) said that the company would disable the network service side after a period of time, such that the buyers knew that's what they were buying, then the company is obligated to continue operating the service they sold. Or negotiate some alternative satisfactory to the buyer.

by neilv

4/20/2026 at 2:09:46 AM

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

by thewhitetulip

4/20/2026 at 2:41:54 AM

Your paperwhite will soon become paperweight.

by Narishma

4/20/2026 at 4:00:27 AM

Yes, if by soon you mean 5 more years. 15yrs is ok for any electronic device! I changed 6 phones in the last 15yrs

by thewhitetulip

4/20/2026 at 2:31:02 AM

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.

by snailmailman

4/20/2026 at 5:25:50 AM

I replaced the battery in mine. Unlike big tech, I believe in repairing old devices. Something Amazon have not considered is how many of these old devices are used as companion devices for other high end kindle owners. I have a scribe and old paperwhite and use them interchangably, with cloud sync of reading position etc, which won't be possible after 20 may.

by siliconpotato

4/20/2026 at 2:47:04 AM

My paper white is about 7/8 years old, and is still holding up fine though the battery is noticeably degraded - charging it approximately once a week now.

I was also having a play with a demo model of the latest one in a store and the page turn speed is much much better, which is tempting me to upgrade though I'd prefer to run the current one into the ground first.

by mnahkies

4/20/2026 at 4:02:00 AM

I have to charge once a month or once 15 days I didn't keep track tbh. And I read like crazy. I finished 22 books on the kindle this year so far.

Its a Lithium battery so unless you let it drain to single digits every time, it'll last a LOONG time

by thewhitetulip

4/20/2026 at 1:37:24 AM

> 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.

by crims0n

4/20/2026 at 2:37:11 AM

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

by heyalexhsu

4/20/2026 at 3:43:16 AM

I bought a used kindle paper white in 2015 for I think $70. It’s been through 75 countries on 5 continents. I must have read 500 books on it. Plenty of nights at -40C, years at +40C. Battery still lasts 5 books. Never turned on wifi, works great with calibre.

Best electronic purchase of my life.

by testing22321

4/20/2026 at 12:59:25 AM

Unrelated to the article, but the sticky AI prompt at the top of this page is infuriating. I've added the element to my ublock filter.

by LandenLove

4/20/2026 at 8:59:58 AM

why it wouldnt work? unless there is some hardcoded switch I doubt my offline Kindle where I copy offline books over USB will suddenly stop working, it's more likely work exactly same as it did in the past 10-15 years using it this way

by Markoff

4/20/2026 at 12:08:46 AM

you can still transfer over usb, which should be the bare minimum for eol hardware support... this isn't as bad as it seems on the surface

by micromacrofoot

4/20/2026 at 6:55:46 AM

You can transfer over USB until you have to factory reset the device. At that point it won’t re-activate and you’ve got a nice brick

by wrxd

4/20/2026 at 12:14:28 AM

Can you transfer your new Kindle book purchases to it?

by joe_guy

4/20/2026 at 12:20:20 AM

If they have DRM the answer is almost certainly no.

by beej71