Amazon: Older Kindles can no longer download e-books

On older Kindle devices from Amazon, you will no longer be able to download e-books from May 20th. Amazon is informing its customers about this via email. Access to the Kindle Store was cut off on some of the affected devices several years ago. Since then, it has no longer been possible to buy new content, but downloading already purchased e-books was still possible.

This will change on the cut-off date of May 20th: Then it will no longer be possible to buy, borrow, or download new content, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed. Furthermore, the list of affected Kindles has grown: In addition to Kindle readers, Kindle tablets released in 2012 or earlier are also affected. Specifically, the following devices are involved:

• Kindle: Kindle (1st generation, 2007), Kindle DX and DX Graphite (2009 and 2010), Kindle Keyboard (2010), Kindle 4 (2011), Kindle Touch (2011), Kindle 5 (2012), and Kindle Paperwhite (1st generation, 2012).
• Kindle Fire Tablets: Kindle Fire (1st generation, 2011), Kindle Fire (2nd generation, 2012), Kindle Fire HD 7 (2012), Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (2012).

Discount code for new devices

Amazon points out that these devices have been supported for at least 14 years. However, technology has evolved significantly since their release. The company's statement does not explain why it is technically no longer possible to offer the download of e-books on older Kindle devices. Amazon is offering users of affected devices a promotional code that gives them a 20 percent discount on selected new Kindle models.

Purchased content is linked to an account on Amazon's Kindle service and can therefore also be accessed on mobile phones, for example. So no purchased e-books are lost, but the readers themselves become much less useful due to the change – especially since it is also no longer possible to send Amazon e-books to the affected devices via USB transfer. Strictly speaking, they do not become complete electronic waste: E-books already stored in memory can still be read.

Users of older Kindle devices can find out more about the upcoming changes on an Amazon support page.

(dahe)