Amazon discontinuing support for older Kindles in May

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Actually, the kindle won't download ebooks already on another Kindle.

If you mean "a Kindle won't download an ebook unless it is explicitly told to", then, yes, that's correct.

When you purchase an ebook from Amazon, it will send it to your "primary" device automatically. All other devices must be explicitly told to download it. But, you can do that "explicit telling" in two ways:

• on the Kindle itself, by clicking on an ebook in your library
• using "Manage My Content and Devices" web page

In either case, the book will get downloaded to the device, even if it is already on another Kindle in the same account.

Note that some older Kindles (like the first Paperwhite) aren't very good at automatic sync, so you do have to manually sync if you have used the "Mange My Content" page to send the ebook. OTOH, the Kindle 4 Touch has no problems with this, and will download the ebook immediately without touching the Kindle.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

If you mean "a Kindle won't download an ebook unless it is explicitly told to", then, yes, that's correct.

When you purchase an ebook from Amazon, it will send it to your "primary" device automatically. All other devices must be explicitly told to download it. But, you can do that "explicit telling" in two ways:

• on the Kindle itself, by clicking on an ebook in your library
• using "Manage My Content and Devices" web page

In either case, the book will get downloaded to the device, even if it is already on another Kindle in the same account.

Note that some older Kindles (like the first Paperwhite) aren't very good at automatic sync, so you do have to manually sync if you have used the "Mange My Content" page to send the ebook. OTOH, the Kindle 4 Touch has no problems with this, and will download the ebook immediately without touching the Kindle.

That's what I meant. However I think on oldest Kindles you can only initiate via web page, not on device, especially if it's a secondary device.

The DXG doesn't seem to see the Amazon Library at all. It will get the ebook if you send on Amazon web page and then sync. Tried a few days ago.

The K3 seems to auto sync, but it's the only device on that account.

I'm baffled that Amazon are obviously still paying for the SIM and mobile traffic!

The oldest Kindle firmwares only have a view of books on the device.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Thing is, why cut off the PW5 (10th Gen) . It was only released in November 2018. I don't see why it cannot have another firmware release. Why leave it stuck on such a crappy firmware?

Assume you mean Paperwhite 4. I'd guess that at least some people are happy it's stuck on firmware which can still work with DeDRM at the moment. It is suppose to get security updates through the end of this year, but apparently that doesn't mean it will get feature updates.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Regina

By killing all the devices that do not support their recent file format (KFX), Amazon is ensuring that older devices are not usable as a means to leak content.

This leads to lot of Kindle devices being non usable but Amazon would be happy to reap some money from the people who upgrade. sigh!

But if you haven't upgraded by now, will you bother? And the offer is pretty crap. Obviously those of us here are edge cases, but I certainly won't be. I bought my Kindle Touch in 2017. It was a scratch and dent deal at Woot for something ridiculously cheap. I got it because the signs of change were already brewing, and I wanted a little more time to be able to get kf8 format. A 9 year run is way more than I expected.

[DNSB]

Anyone have any idea if a jailbroken PW4 (10th gen) with OTA blocked will still have the 'security' update forced to it or is it delivered through the same OTA mechanism used for firmware updates?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ebookus

Stop spreading misinformation, will you? the PW5 is 11th gen. then you complain why people call things by the wrong name

It's not misinformation. It's a typo aka a mistake.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

And it was released in 2021, not 2018. The Paperwhite released in 2018 was the PW4.

The PW5 is less than 5 years old and Amazon is already dropping support for no reason.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Assume you mean Paperwhite 4. I'd guess that at least some people are happy it's stuck on firmware which can still work with DeDRM at the moment. It is suppose to get security updates through the end of this year, but apparently that doesn't mean it will get feature updates.

I made some mistakes there.

What I mean is PW5 (11th Gen) release on October 27, 2021. Less than 5 years old.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

But if you haven't upgraded by now, will you bother? And the offer is pretty crap. Obviously those of us here are edge cases, but I certainly won't be. I bought my Kindle Touch in 2017. It was a scratch and dent deal at Woot for something ridiculously cheap. I got it because the signs of change were already brewing, and I wanted a little more time to be able to get kf8 format. A 9 year run is way more than I expected.

I got my Kindle Touch for a good price. I got it from Goodwill (back before they went auction) for $25. It works well.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I got my Kindle Touch for a good price. I got it from Goodwill (back before they went auction) for $25. It works well.

I think that's what I paid too. I actually like it more than I expected. It will still be good for something like reading at the beach where I don't want to take a newer nicer ereader. I've more than gotten my money's worth out of it.

[haertig]

I've got a lowly PW3. I'm perfectly happy with it. It doesn't need security updates because it cannot go online. That makes it quite secure as-is. And I don't desire feature upgrades because I'm perfectly happy with the way it works currently. It seems these "feature upgrades" are often times just thinly disguised "Amazon control upgrades". Or a feature that requires the Kindle go online - which just exposes it to Amazon automatically installing their "control upgrades" while it is online.

I can't think of any software-based feature upgrade that is a must have for an eReader, not since eReaders were first invented. Load eBooks onto the device locally, select an eBook to read, and read that eBook - those are the only software-based features that are really needed IMHO. Changing fonts and font sizes and spacing/margins are pretty handy as well. The upgrades that might be desirable - larger and higher resolution screens, built-in lighting, waterproofness, USB-C plugs, etc. are all hardware-based upgrades, not software.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by haertig

I can't think of any software-based feature upgrade that is a must have for an eReader, not since eReaders were first invented. Load eBooks onto the device locally, select an eBook to read, and read that eBook - those are the only software-based features that are really needed IMHO. Changing fonts and font sizes and spacing/margins are pretty handy as well. The upgrades that might be desirable - larger and higher resolution screens, built-in lighting, waterproofness, USB-C plugs, etc. are all hardware-based upgrades, not software.

Personally I like several software features that Kobos have and Kindles don't - integration with calibre, the ability to automatically manage metadata and collections, series information for sideloaded books, synopsis in book details (taken from the comments field in calibre), customizable subtitle and so on. Are they must-have? No, but they're still nice to have.

Now I know of one Kindle software feature that is a must have for many people, and that is syncing the reading progress for sideloaded books. There are lots of people who read on more than one device, and want automatic syncing between them. I also read on two different Kobos and syncing the reading progress between them would be nice to have, but Kobos don't have this feature, so I must manage without.

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The PW5 is less than 5 years old and Amazon is already dropping support for no reason.

The reason is that Amazon has only guaranteed 4 years of security updates on their published support timeline: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...3LDHSB5YM9BYF7

Why 4 years? Because they said so. Why just security updates? So they don't have to push new features unless they want to.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Frogm4n

The reason is that Amazon has only guaranteed 4 years of security updates on their published support timeline: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...3LDHSB5YM9BYF7

Why 4 years? Because they said so. Why just security updates? So they don't have to push new features unless they want to.

For the PW5, software security updates until at least December 31, 2028.

But this is not new firmware with new features or fixes for the previous crappy firmware. I hope the EU sues Amazon for not supporting the PW5.

Apple got in trouble for dropping support when there was no actual reason for it. Now devices will get new firmware if the firmware works on the older device.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Now I know of one Kindle software feature that is a must have for many people, and that is syncing the reading progress for sideloaded books.

That falls into the category I mentioned of "features that force the Kindle to go online to Amazon servers". So Amazon's implementation of this feature does not entice me in the slightest. Syncing, in general, entices me. But not syncing that requires me to use Amazon's servers and forces me to let Amazon into my Kindle to have their way with it. So I guess my beef is not so much "going online", but "going online TO AMAZON SERVERS".

If Amazon implemented the syncing feature like Moon+ does - where you can sync using your own computers and not some other third party cloud servers - then that would be a usable implementation IMHO. But as Amazon has implemented it, the risks outweigh the rewards (for me).