Kindle 3 "Special offers" edition Screensaver hack help

[terencek]

We buy our favourite magazines with ads (at a fraction of the actual price of the paper, ink and labour that went into them thanks to the ads) and live happily with that. So why is it such a big deal just to ignore the ads as we do in a magazine?

[Jayd31]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

You can turn the ads off. Just go online to the Manage Your Kindle page, select Manage Your Devices, select Edit under the Special Offers column, then click Unsubscribe now with 1-Click. Since you paid full price, there will be no charge for doing so.

I didn't buy this through Amazon, looking at my devices under my Amazon account it shows me as subscribed but there is no unsubscribe button?

I definitely had no adverts before the upgrade, I can live with them but it's a but strange?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Jayd31

I didn't buy this through Amazon, looking at my devices under my Amazon account it shows me as subscribed but there is no unsubscribe button?

There should be an Edit button next to Subscribed.

Oh, and it doesn't matter where you bought it.

[Jayd31]

They wrote back, suggested restarting and if that didn't work then factory reset (tried both of these last night) and guess what, screensavers are back :-)

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Jayd31]

Ok, I was a little early, I re-registered and once I had re-registered the adverts reappeared
No edit button next to subscribed either, just next to my kindle name.

[Jayd31]

Yes it says subscribed for special offers but no edit button. Just had a chat session with Amazon and the long and short of it was this is part of the 3.3 upgrade, they cannot unsubscribe me (even though I didn't subscribe) and there is nothing they can do, seems hard to believe, followed by have a nice day of course!

I had no adverts before the upgrade so I have no idea where they have come from?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Jayd31

Yes it says subscribed for special offers but no edit button. Just had a chat session with Amazon and the long and short of it was this is part of the 3.3 upgrade, they cannot unsubscribe me (even though I didn't subscribe) and there is nothing they can do, seems hard to believe, followed by have a nice day of course!

I had no adverts before the upgrade so I have no idea where they have come from?

If they can't undo it, then politely demand a new Kindle without Special Offers. They owe it to you.

[sinan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You've bought it at a discount in exchange for displaying ads, haven't you? Aren't you trying to cheat the system in now trying to get rid of the ads?

I guess that passes for manners in your cracker view of things.

[tg123]

If you have a special offer Kindle 3 you need to do the following
to get rid of the Ads.

Note: please be careful doing this I take no responsibility for any loss or damage.

Step 1 Charge up your Kindle make sure you have a full battery.
If you are using Windows make sure the Show hidden files
option in Explorer is ticked.

Step 2 Plug the kindle into your computer via usb
(your kindle should show as a device on your computer)
and copy the kindle documents folder to your computer.
(this contains your kindle books)

Step 3 (CAUTION THIS WILL WIPE ALL INFO ON KINDLE)
(MAKE SURE YOU DO STEP 2)
Eject Kindle and Unplug kindle from usb
Reset your kindle to factory defaults - you do this by pressing
[HOME] then pressing [MENU] click settings in menu list
then pressing [MENU] then click Reset to Factory Defaults.

Step 4 Wait ... then Message about setting up Kindle appears.When you
see this message Plug kindle into your computer via usb
(your kindle should show as a device on your computer)
and find the folder on the kindle called System.
Open this folder and create a text file in this
folder called .assets (this turns off the Ads)

Step 5 Eject Kindle and Unplug kindle from usb and slide and hold the
power switch on the kindle for about 15 secs this should restart
the kindle.

Step 6 The Ads should be gone and now you can set up the kindle and
copy the documents folder that you copied in Step 2 back to the
kindle.

Enjoy the Kindle with no Ads

[tg123]

Please see my post about turning off Kindle Ads

[Equizotic]

Originally Posted by metr0man

I don't want to seem ungrateful. I think it would be awkward. Plus it's opened and used, I think Best Buy only will take back opened hardware if its defective. I don't know, I might stick with it (I hear there's an "1 mp3 album for $1" offer floating around that might show up at some point,), or just sell it on craigslist for a slight discount and get the wi-fi or maybe just go ahead and go 3G) then.

I work at Best Buy. We'll take anything back as long as you have a receipt, a valid photo ID, and everything that came in the box excluding manuals. As long as the item in question is not broken.

[aguerrero810]

Originally Posted by Aarony

Just got my Kindle 3 in the mail. Applied the latest 0.7 jailbreak, followed by the 0.22 screensaver hack 'successfully' without bricking the device, but the hacks are not taking effect on the Kindle 3.2 "Special offers" edition version.

Ads are still showing on the bottom of the home menu, and all screensaver cycles.

Appreciate help!

Delete .assets in system then go to http://ubuntuone.com/7c6oSlYXK9bfDUoQ8ixvJM and unzip it to system. There should be a blank file called .assets set to read only so the kindle can't re copy the .assets folder. This will help a lot, if you already have the screensaver hack installed then the new screensaver will pop up instantly!

EDIT:
Make sure you have hidden folders activated on Windows!

[qnix]

I bought the Kindle Special offers device. I did so because it was the lightest of all the kindles I looked at. The 25$ difference had no bearing on my decision to purchase this device.
I altered this device to not show ads. I did so because I own the thing and will do what I please with it.
I consider the $25 less I paid hardly enough compensation for the amount of time it took me to script a stable environment on it. I believe it was worth it though, I really like how small and light this kindle is.
I would gladly pay the $25 to have the same form factor without having to waste my time figuring out how to get the device to stop showing me ads. But too late now, its owned in more ways than one, and I'm happy.

[Wald07]

Originally Posted by Lanoitarus

I would have agreed with you until two weeks ago, when there were a series of ads for "twilight". A few people at work spotted that screen saver over the course of the week and commented on my "reading choice".

I would kill for a "I swear I am not interested in this please take it away forever" button.

Agree.

Diapers. I am tired of the ad for diapers. I don't need diapers. I don't buy diapers. Can the ads for diapers give it a rest?

Other than that, I just power it off, close the cover & forget about them. As earlier suggested.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Snorkledorf

So pwnazon sets up a de-facto screensaver server? Awesome! And arguably even cooler than the screensaver hack. That's the first time anything's made me wish I had a KSO instead of a K3!

You can sign into your amazon account, and you can turn ON special offers (even if you have a non-SO kindle). You can also turn off special offers on an SO kindle, but you have to pay for the upgrade.