Luckily, I am an untrusting, paranoid pessimist...

I think the Amazon Kindle, especially the Paperwhite version, is one of the greatest inventions in the last 20 years. I can put into my pocket a small device with a thousand books and battery life is amazing, 2 weeks of reading. I have at least 700+ eBooks that I have purchased from Amazon and numerous Kindle devices.

Now, Amazon informed me that I will no longer be allowed to purchase and download any new books with my 'old' kindle nor will I be allowed to download any of those 700+ books that I previously purchased so... They handed me a reality check and showed me who is Boss. In reality, I do not own the books. I sort of rent them, sort of... I also don't own the device since they can simply deny it service, guess that is a rental too... All perfectly legal, of course...

Why are they doing this? A new and tougher Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption which the older kindles cannot support so... Don't like it? Tough.

Many have told us this would happen someday and I guess since Amazon holds at least 70+% of the eBook market they feel they can do whatever they want...and they did.

Luckily, I am an untrusting, paranoid pessimist and never trusted Amazon to hold the only copies of my eBooks. I have two complete copies of all my books, my personal library. The DRM? Well... I think of DRM as a 'lock that keep honest men honest' but it really doesn't keep a thief out. It's not a big problem and now I see why many have advocated against it, not so they can pirate but so they can protect their own purchases. My library is safe...thank goodness I am a paranoid pessimist. LOL!

All Amazon has done is show me they cannot be trusted. My personal library is something very special to me. They screwed around with it and now lost my trust, something they will never regain...not that they care but I sure do. All-in-all, it was a good lesson, and I was right not to trust them. They proved me 100% correct. We are not customers. We are simply numbers and if we don't like it then move on...so I will. I will move towards a Kobo...and I won't trust them either.

Here's the letter I received:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for being a longtime Kindle customer. We're glad our devices have served you well for as long as they have. Starting May 20, 2026 — 14 to 18 years after their initial launches — we are discontinuing support for Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier. Here's what this means for you:

* You can continue to read books already downloaded on these devices, but you will not be able to purchase, borrow, or download additional books on them after that date.
* If you deregister or factory reset these devices, you will not be able to re-register or use these devices in any way.

Affected devices include Kindle 1st and 2nd Generation, Kindle DX and DX Graphite, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Kindle 5, and Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation.
Blah, blah, blah...
Sincerely,
The Kindle Team

 

Had Kindle for computer on a computer and it died. Got new computer and switched from Micro to Linux. Never did figure out how to get it switched. Had a couple thousand books on it. Don't buy them any more but then I don't buy a lot of the $30 paperbacks. Seen comments by the authors that they don't do well with Kindle either. Used to be a lot of authors made a living off of writing. Now either make a million like King or Rowlings or nothing. Don't know how they are going to both make money and keep the internet viable. More and more sites are no longer available to me. While each site is not that expensive, I may look at a couple hundred sites in the course of a year. Cheapest seem to think $1 a week is fair and it might well be, but 20 sites would cost me a $1,000 a year. Streaming video seemed to be a good idea and the wife watched some when she was alive. Very easy to get up to $100 a month. I haven't bothered to view one since she passed and we got rid of the TV about 5 years ago.

 

That's why I like physical, paper books. The cost is greater, but thank GOD for eBay and Amazon, where I can find out-of-print books for less.

 

I still have an old Barnes And Noble Nook, a very simple pdf reader, I have so pdf’s on the Nook that it will take multiple lifetimes to read each and everyone. Internet Archive is the main source for these free books.

 

The best source for free books, Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

 

Yeah, the truth of it is Amazon owes the eBook market 100%. I think they allow Kobo to exist simply so they do not get brought up on monopoly charges. I have a 12th generation Paperwhite and love it. It does exactly what I want, no fancy color, just the printed word, clearly displayed with a battery that last for weeks and fits in my pocket. I am an addicted reader and need this. Hell, I cannot go to sleep at night unless I read a few lines first to shut down my mind first.

@duane "Had a couple thousand books on it."
I hope you had backups? If not perhaps I can help...PM me if I can help.
"Seen comments by the authors that they don't do well with Kindle either. "
The other side of the coin is it has brought to light many excellent independent authors that do not rely on Publishers. I follow a lot of independents many of which would never have had a chance with a Publisher.

Yes, but the real beauty is that all your books can be transported anywhere with you. I spent most of my life overseas and moved dozens of times and each time I had to say goodbye to my books. Never again. I love my books and they are much more than a hobby to me. I still use paper books for reference and/or technical stuff like medical, mechanical, etc. Why? I think I am too old fashion to change but do have most of those books in PDF format also on a tablet. However, all other books are in eBook format. I prefer reading on a Kindle much more than paper, a lot more. Once you get hooked you will never go back.

 

I didn't know they had audiobooks too! I have used them in the past, but they have upgrade it to include audiobooks. Thanks!