How long will old Kindle E-Ink devices remain viable?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Timboli

When you do a full wipe (Reset), then you lose everything if you haven't been able to sync the read statuses.

Yes, I know. I've done a full reset with my Sage (which has about 2500 books on it). But I stored the reading statuses in calibre before I wiped the device and restored them afterwards. Both can be done with the Kobo Utilities plugin with just a couple of clicks. No manual work needed at all.

The same with collections, calibre restored them automatically.

[ucfgrad93]

I'm still using my second generation Paperwhite, given as a gift for Christmas 2013, on a daily basis. No problems. My only complaint is that storage is getting tight, it only came with 2 GB, and my battery doesn't last as long as it used to.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yes, I know. I've done a full reset with my Sage (which has about 2500 books on it). But I stored the reading statuses in calibre before I wiped the device and restored them afterwards. Both can be done with the Kobo Utilities plugin with just a couple of clicks. No manual work needed at all.

The same with collections, calibre restored them automatically.

Good to know. Thanks for the info.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

I'm still using my second generation Paperwhite, given as a gift for Christmas 2013, on a daily basis. No problems. My only complaint is that storage is getting tight, it only came with 2 GB, and my battery doesn't last as long as it used to.

My Paperwhite is either first or second generation, probably second according to my memory. I've certainly had it many years now. I should look up how to check what version ... possibly something to do with the serial number.

EDIT - I checked the serial number segment of 9OD4 which according to the following is a Kindle Paperwhite 2.

https://www.epubor.com/identify-kindle-model.html

Anyway, an hour or so ago, I discovered to my horror, that most of my ebooks on it have now been converted to KFX, and the rest appear to be in the process of doing so. So it isn't exempt from KFX, like previously thought.

A few days ago, I made a purchase of two ebooks from an author I follow, that weren't available elsewhere, and today was my first opportunity to grab them to my device via Wifi.

Being KFX and no doubt the latest variant, calibre could not process them.

Luckily, my oldest device, the Kindle Keyboard, still uses AZW3 or older file types. But for how long I wonder? Or will they just stop supporting that device sometime soon?

This is probably the beginning of the final nail in the coffin for Amazon Kindle ebooks ... me buying them.

P.S. Generally when I get my latest purchases, I do only that and then disable Wifi again. But clearly it doesn't take much time to download a firmware update, and there would be no requirement to be connected after that, with conversions being done whenever the device is switched on, steadily working its way through the few thousand ebooks I have on the device.

[Sirtel]

Those KFX files can be deDRMed with the deDRM plugin 10.0.9 or alpha and the KFX Input plugin. But you must connect your Paperwhite directly to calibre for this to work.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Those KFX files can be deDRMed with the deDRM plugin 10.0.9 or alpha and the KFX Input plugin. But you must connect your Paperwhite directly to calibre for this to work.

Thanks for the info, that will likely come in handy.
I'd need to do that via my newer laptop, which isn't quite ready yet.
At this point I will just stick to using the Kindle Keyboard for my downloads.

[haertig]

I bought my Paperwhite 3 new in October 2017. WiFi was enabled and I registered it. It started locking up within a few weeks so I updated it to the newest firmware. That didn't fix the issue so I sent it back to Amazon for repair. They installed new firmware - the same version that I had previously installed - and predictably this did not fix the lockup issue either. When I got the Paperwhite back from Amazon the Device screen under Settings said "unregistered". I left it saying it was unregistered, and disabled WiFi (erased the password for my router and put it in Airplane Mode). For some unknown reason, the lockup issue disappeared on it's own a few weeks later. I have no idea why, but I happily accepted my good fortune.

Since then I have bought several ebooks from Amazon for my "unregistered Paperwhite". It still shows up as a device on my Amazon account to this day, despite what the Paperwhite says on it's Settings screen. The only way I have ever put ebooks on this Paperwhite is by sideloading them after having run them through Calibre and de-DRM'ing them with the plugin. I used either the Kindle For PC or the Download And Transfer method to get the ebooks to put into Calibre. I have updated the firmware once or twice by downloading the firmware file to my computer and copying it to the proper directory on the Paperwhite. It's currently running 5.9.4.

This Paperwhite has been in Airplane Mode since late 2017. I no longer buy ebooks from Amazon because I can't download them, run them through Calibre, and sideload them onto my "network unaware" Paperwhite. I do not intend to ever update the firmware on this Paperwhite because (1) it works just fine the way it is, and (2) I don't trust Amazon to not do nefarious things with firmware updates. Even if the Paperwhite somehow finds a way to claw itself out of Airplane Mode, it's not going to get very far since it doesn't know any SSID's or passwords to connect to any WiFi network.

I'll keep using my Paperwhite until it dies. I have tons of books in Calibre, ready to sideload, thus I have no need to buy any more ebooks from Amazon (or anywhere else, really). Once this Paperwhite dies, it appears that the only choice might be a Kobo. At least based on what I see today. B&N made Nooks unattractive several years ago by denying ebook downloads, and now Amazon has done the same with the Kindle. The only other big player in the eReader market is Kobo (as far as I know). Things may change over time, so I will reevaluate the situation if/when my Paperwhite finally dies. But it's still going strong. Battery still lasts a reasonable length of time. I at least partially attribute this Paperwhite's longevity and stability to me having kept Amazon's tentacles out of it for all these years.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

I am a avid reader and I trade my Kindle PW in every other generation. Now that I have the latest PWSE I may change from my normal plan as this PW is proving to be an excellent choice. I can't find anything lacking about this Kindle.

I can. There is no access to the system directory so you cannot use the cover workaround.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I can. There is no access to the system directory so you cannot use the cover workaround.

I guess that's not an issue for someone who only buys and downloads directly from Amazon, or uses Send to Kindle for non-Amazon books.

I would not buy any of the current Kindles. But others may well think differently.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by haertig

The only other big player in the eReader market is Kobo (as far as I know).

There is also Pocketbook, better known in Europe maybe, but still a good choice for many use cases. And then there are Boox devices (Android), but those aren't much good if you want to keep your device strictly offline.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I can. There is no access to the system directory so you cannot use the cover workaround.

Also PW SE gets KFX. I like my Kindle Gen3 / Keyboard because it gets azw3.

On the thread title?
I guess old kindles limit to life as an ereader is the Flash Memory life, assuming you can replace the LiPoly cell every 5 to 10 years.

If the OP means to use with download for a bought book from Amazon, that's at the whim of Amazon manglement. We can only guess. Tomorrow or as long as the Kindles work.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I guess old kindles limit to life as an ereader is the Flash Memory life

Which should be near-infinite, given the incredibly low number of write (or even read) operations for an eReader.

[j.p.s]

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the massive amount of logiing and on-device database updates done on kindles and that changes are made to blocks on flash memory by copying the block with modifications to a new location and marking the old block as empty.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the massive amount of logiing and on-device database updates done on kindles and that changes are made to blocks on flash memory by copying the block with modifications to a new location and marking the old block as empty.

I wonder what they are doing so much logging of?

"Log entry #26359: Device is sitting here with the same books on it as yesterday"
"Log entry #26360: Ditto"
"Log entry #26361: Ditto"

Compared to a multi-purpose computer, tablets, or a smart phone, an eReader does amazingly little processing of anything. Their storage contents are near-static, only occasional changes relatively speaking.

I have never heard of an eReader wearing out its flash memory. Doesn't mean that it couldn't happen. But have you ever heard of it actually happening (other than a defect - I'm talking normal wear and tear)?

[j.p.s]

I have no idea how comprehensive it is, but it includes every page turn, word lookup, highlight, note, book open, book close, sleep, wake, wifi status, and failed connections attempted despite airplane mode. kindles have been doing the last more and more frequently lately. Some of these update several files as well as getting written to logs. The logs are periodically gzip'd and a new version opened.

This forum isn't flooded with such messages, but it is not rare for someone to post that deleted books reappear after a reboot, new books disappear after a reboot, setting changes don't stick, etc. These are all symtoms of a worn out flash memory mounted readony. When other possibilities are eliminated, flash wearout is the most likely explanation.