Amazon discontinuing support for older Kindles in May

[macallik]

Bought my (used) PaperWhite late 2024 for $40 to guaranteed I could download + import books into calibre. It took one long weekend but paid for itself.

After some unrelated purchases led to a $3 no-rush promotional credit, I bought two discounted books and exported from my PaperWhite for the last time.

No more Amazon books for me. From here on out, I'll be using eBooks.com and/or whatever store is suggested via 'Get Books' in calibre. So long and thanks for all the fish Amazon

[DNSB]

I have recently helped multiple people set calibre, etc. to allow them to download their Amazon books and save them for later reading on their older Kindles prior to the May 20th deadline. IMNSHO, I suspect the most of them will never reread those books much like many of the people who downloaded all their Amazon books prior to D&T being shutdown.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I suspect the most of them will never reread those books...

Much like me packaging up my leftovers and putting them in the fridge. Only to later find myself pulling a good portion of them out and throwing them away. Yet, I still package up my leftovers every time. Good intentions, poor execution.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by nana77

My guess was if, alongside the end of support for the older Kindles, and the closing of Google Play's Amazon app, it might be fine to expect a drop down on others Android-based e-readers (if the Google Play's Kindle app is closing now).
Not like I hope for freeloader, not that others e-readers manufacturers has to drop the price for that, but while thinking at one newest one, that can be put on consideration if it's happening in this period (to expect or not discount prices ).

They aren't getting rid of Kindle for Android.

[Yapyap]

Still absolutely no notification of any kind from Amazon re: my 2012 Paperwhite. No email, no push to the device, nothing.

I guess we won’t know for certain until 20 May, but I’m starting to get the impression that people in a fair number of countries who have those older devices registered will not be notified at all, so it’ll be a fun surprise to everyone without their own Amazon storefront or whatever the thing is that determines who gets notified and who doesn’t.

I don’t expect any sort of coupon code or offer - obviously trade-ins have never been possible for many of us - but surely a notification isn’t too much to expect? Amazon certainly seems more than capable of sending me the occasional email to buy books, the monthly “first reads” etc.

[Nephesh]

Hello,

Sorry if it was already asked in this or other threads but in your opinion Amazon will go after less old devices soon or relatively soon, for example in like 2 or 3 years from now? As You can see from my profile I "kind of" barely made the list of survivor devices (well, It's from '14 so I'm well 2 years from the deadline date). My hands are itching for jailbreaking/hacking since I saw a video about it on youtube but I'm waiting to do it until my machine will eventually be removed from the ecosystem and a "definitive" way to un-drm bought AZW, AWZ3/KF8 and KFX ebooks. I already dedrm'd a book from another not-amazon provider some years ago and added to my Kindle.
Anyway my take is Amazon's planning to eventually phase out everything that could put a file inside an unprotected folder and opt for just stream content for apps. IMHO in the near future Kindle devices wouldn't even have a physical port but everything will be over the air.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Nephesh

Hello,

Sorry if it was already asked in this or other threads but in your opinion Amazon will go after less old devices soon or relatively soon, for example in like 2 or 3 years from now?

As long as they can inject those devices with an unbroken DRM (like they're doing now), my guess is no. Of course only Amazon knows what they're actually going to do.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Nephesh

Anyway my take is Amazon's planning to eventually phase out everything that could put a file inside an unprotected folder and opt for just stream content for apps. IMHO in the near future Kindle devices wouldn't even have a physical port but everything will be over the air.

I don't see online-only "streaming" devices being very likely. You'd need some sort of cellular plan to take it anywhere you don't have wifi access, and I don't see anyone paying extra for that. Amazon got out of the cellular game with new devices a while back, so I don't see them deciding to eat those costs again in the future either. Expecting people to tether their Kindle devices to a cell phone to read (when out of wifi coverage) seems like a non-starter to me too.

[Yapyap]

I guess they could go the “app” way without requiring you to be always online?

Like the various subscription & library apps which exist now, that do require you to read within the app (can’t download or access the file outside it) but once the book is opened, the content downloads (inside the app) and you can then turn off wifi and read offline.

Streaming in the sense of always requiring a connection though .. no, I can’t see that either.

[DiapDealer]

Yes. I would think app-only would be more likely. Which would probably mean the end of their dedicated reading devices altogether.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Yes. I would think app-only would be more likely. Which would probably mean the end of their dedicated reading devices altogether.

I'd agree. Most people already read on a phone or tablet and the battery life is no longer a major issue.

They are rumoured to be relaunching a Fire phone and doing a new Fire tablet.

[macallik]

Originally Posted by DNSB

IMNSHO, I suspect the most of them will never reread those books much like many of the people who downloaded all their Amazon books prior to D&T being shutdown.

I don't disagree but IMO the question is not "will they reread (all of) those books" but "will they reread (any of) those books".

Personally, pivoting to KOReader has made me read more w/ the stat tracking et al.

[lkmiller]

Or, in my own case, will I ever read some of these books in the first place? That's why I'm not gonna go crazy trying to download everything. If I haven't already got it, I probably won't miss it. And if I do, it's not like I can't still read it on something.

[texasnightowl]

Well...it's only May 13 and my K5 will currently not download.

I went to my content page on amazon and selected books to send to my devices. On the K5, my wifi is connected. If I choose 'View Downloading Items' it shows me a list of the 12 items but all of them say 'pending - 0%' and nothing is happening.

For the heck of it, I restarted. Same behavior.

The same books arrived on my 11th gen PW5 no problem.

For what it is worth, I last received books on this one last week for sure. It was a new release on Tuesday May 5. But tonight, nothing will download.

[Knightreader]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

Well...it's only May 13 and my K5 will currently not download.

Maybe it's the file format for the ebooks. I think Amazon has cancelled the AZW3 (KF8) format and send only KFX to Kindle devices in May. Older devices can handle the AZW3 files. If there are only KFX files in the future, older devices can't download them. I think this is a technical adjustment on Amazon's part to reduce technical overhead.