This is different to companies no longer issuing updates (eg Apple and older iPads) - users will no longer be able to download ebooks to these old Kindles:
It’s just as well that I worked out how to extract my ebooks from the old Kindle that I inherited from my late father. Of course, it’s too old to be eligible for a trade-in, and if I were looking for a new e-reader I’d probably go with a Kobo since I’ve pretty much switched to them for ebooks.
Frankly, the ‘support’ argument they give is baloney. I suspect this is more about closing off another way for people to get their ebooks out of Amazon’s clutches, and forcing ‘upgrades’ to newer & more locked-down versions.
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I’ve owned three kindles, one of these models was my first one, and the first two of them barely lasted a few hours reading time before needing to be recharged by the time I replaced them (it was, in fact, the reason why I did). I can’t believe too many of those people aren’t in the same boat.
I’m thinking my next one will be a Kobo to get away from paying Amazon for books, but it’s going to be a few years before I need to worry about that.
As long as the older Kindles continue to allow loading of non-DRM protected books, I think they will still be useful. Project Gutenberg is great place to grab classics and out-of-copyright works.
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Gutenberg and archive.org do have a lot of good stuff, but much of it is a mess. Standard Ebooks is a great first stop for nicely formatted and well proofread editions of public domain books, though of course it doesn’t have the vast quantity of titles.
Another useful source is Delphi Classics. They aren’t free, but they bundle up complete sets of an author’s work, often along with extras such as letters, multiple translations and biographies for a few bucks. What they’ll sell you depends on the country you’re in and the copyright laws. So USians can get the complete R L Stevenson, but not the complete Kipling. They do have subsets for the less fortunate countries.
https://www.delphiclassics.com/complete-catalogue/
For modern works, check author web sites. Some sell their work as drm-free ebooks for cheap though you might have to hunt a bit.
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Thank you for the reminder about Delphi Classics. So good. They have a spring coupon right now - 20% off with MEADOW. Have six of their terrific art books en route to my iPad.
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I have slowly been moving from Kindle to Apple Books. Not the best option but far better than being tied to Amazon forever. Due to eye limitations I use the Kindle while listening to the Audible file of the book, which is very helpful. The Kindle is the book reader I have used for years and don’t want to lose it but having an alternative is always wise given Amazon’s track record of keeping us dependent on all things Amazon ;-P Thanks for the sites where I can find classic book collections. I have been to several of them and they are great. Keep on reading everyone - oh, and (says a fanatic fountain pen collector) don’t forget to write in cursive, a great way to help the brain slow down and thinking to become clearer in an age of very foggy thinking….
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Frankly, the ‘support’ argument they give is baloney. I suspect this is more about closing off another way for people to get their ebooks out of Amazon’s clutches, and forcing ‘upgrades’ to newer & more locked-down versions.
Almost certainly, yes.
Well, I’ve been cracking my purchases out of Amazon’s control as soon as I buy anything for quite a while now… I guess Amazon’s announcement simply means that they’ve lost me as a customer. Not that they’ll care.
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eBooks from Amazon (or Apple) are licensed via a user’s login. If the login is not maintained, then the book cannot be reloaded. However, if your ID is associated with the book, assuming the vendor still keeps a copy in the cloud, you should be able to download it to any device with an app that can interpret it. So, for Kindle, that applies to newer Kindle devices, cell phones, tablets, and computers.
I’m not sure Amazon knocking off 12 year old devices is actually going to get them a wave of new purchases.
The moment I can’t backup my Kindle books for my own personal use, is when I stop buying Kindle books. I really hate DRM.
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Anything you buy with DRM, whether books, music, movies or a newpaper subscription, is a rental. The fact that you pay once for it instead of a series of monthly payments changes nothing.
We all figured this out early on with on-line music stores. It’s surprising to me that people haven’t figured this out for all other media.
Kindle purchases are all rentals for this reason. They are all DRM-wrapped, titles can be deleted (both from servers and from your device) at will, and the legalese you click-through says that they have the right to do so.
Do you seriously think that any other e-reader isn’t going to have similar terms and policies? Amazon makes the news because they’re biggest, not because they’re doing anything unique.
If you want all your rights as a purchaser of content, buy physical media or restrict your purchases to providers of DRM-free content. If that’s not possible for you, then accept the fact that you will always be subject to the provider’s terms, and those terms can change at any time.
You may find this of interest: How to Tell If Your eBook Has DRM Protection | EditionGuard Guide 2025. Apparently, you can tell from product listings which books are DRM-wrapped and which are not.
But you’re instead tied to Apple forever if you buy DRM-wrapped books. Not that much different, really.
Note, that if you have an old Kindle, you can still install the Kindle app and read those books on your computer or phone. Just like what you’ll get from Apple.
But Amazon has removed titles from their servers. Usually in response to contractual obligations/disputes with publishers. The fact that you can re-download today doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do so in the future.
I don’t think most people (outside of the blogosphere) are even going to notice. My oldest kindle devices can barely hold a charge, and the work to replace the battery would cost more than getting a new device.
Amazon dropping support is simply a way to cut support costs. No different from when Apple drops support for 7 year old Macs or 3-year-old OS releases.
You never could. Which is why in my household, we buy physical media for anything worth keeping.
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I should clarify that I have no issue with DRM for ebooks and that’s not my issue with paying Amazon. I also have no issue with Amazon cutting off support for 14+ year old devices, particularly for such low-cost ones. I’ll also say that I’ve never had an issue reading any book I’ve purchased in the kindle store on any of my Kindle devices.
The reason I’m planning to switch is that I prefer to limit my spending with Amazon and I’ll go with Rakuten/Kobo next time instead.
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This thread has made me appreciate the public library system in my city—and the support it receives from residents in a place that often has messed up priorities—even more.
I do own a Kindle but I rarely buy anything for it. Free book websites and the digital offerings from my public library offer up a lot more than I have time to read! But I prefer reading physical books so my Kindle is mostly a travel accessory for me.
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They also can be modified at will, and not necessarily with the licensee’s knowledge. It’s more obvious with tv shows and movies, where different versions of the same program may or may not show stars smoking cigarettes or doing other things no longer in fashion, not to mention entirely different scenes being included/excluded.
Yes, definitely. I have switched from Kindle to Kobo (marketed as Tolino here in Germany).
The reader itself can read epubs without drm just fine. No terms and conditions apply. I COULD create an Adobe account but I declined. I buy drm-free ebooks from several sources and just copy them over to the Kobo. Never looked back (and have physical page-turn buttons too) 
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Yes, for me that’s another reason - I’m thinking of that model as well. Kindle paperwhite often annoyingly skips a page every now and then after tapping to change the page. I’m glad to see a positive experience with Kobo.
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You can with Calibre and the DeDRM plugin. Not easy any more as Amazon keeps closing loopholes, but still doable.
As a creator I don’t endorse stealing writers’ works, but just for personal use and backup, I feel no qualms about stripping DRM and keeping backups of what I bought.
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