I'm so glad I broke out of the Amazon ecosystem.

I am a huge kindle fan. It was the best ebook on the market in 2010 (or whenever it was first released). Then I got the fire phone. Then Alexa. Then Kindle Fire for my kids.

And every new device was shittier than the last as they're pretty much worse than stock android devices. Id pick up a Temu device over these Amazon devices.

Same. I enjoyed my kindle devices but I have in time been taught the lesson - do not participate in closed ecosystems.

If you don't control it, then you don't own it.

This is why I use, love, and advocate for Kobo. They're not super cheap like Kindles usually are, but they're pretty durable. I have the libre 2 and my cats knocked it off my end table onto a concrete floor dozens of times and it still works perfectly. Only issue is the unlock button is a bit pushed in, because I press it unreasonably hard.

The article has a different title* which doesn't mention bricking, because that's not what they're doing. I happily moved off Amazon onto Kobo and Koreader, but this post's title is a lie:

They can continue to read books already downloaded on these devices but won't be able to "purchase, borrow, or download additional books on them after that date,"

Bricking would mean they'd been completely sabotaged so that they wouldn't even boot, and would now only be useful as a paperweight or building brick. Again, not true.

* I've noticed the page title (as opposed to the visible heading) is the same as here, I thought that OP had made up this title.

This is the way I've been using my kindle for a couple of years. Works great.

If you factory reset it, it becomes a brick. They specifically warn of that.

14 years of software support is basically unheard of. These devices had a good run. This story seems completely blown out of proportion.

And if Amazon decided to not give them any more software updates, they'd be fine.

But actively taking away working functionality is inexcusable, even after 100 years. If the device itself is still working, its functionality should not be reduced.

The headline is misleading. You can continue using the device with the books you have downloaded onto it for as long as you’d like. There also seems to be some homebrew alternatives as well.

I mean, honestly they should have bought a new one by now 14 years old and older. Like you could go to a pawn shop and get one cheap that isn't affected.

You mean this bit:

"If you deregister or factory reset these devices, you will not be able to re-register or use these devices in any way."

I'd be interested to know what actually happens in that case - I suppose they could have sent an update that fully locks out an old device but factory-reset Kindles are usable offline (necessary to set up WiFi).

Why should they replace it if it still works? Thats just wasteful.

You have to register Kindle devices on first boot after a factory reset with Amazon's servers. They cut that off, so it's effectively a brick that cannot be activated, so it's stuck on a loop forever.

But I saw shiny one new with ai written on it

I threw away my Kindle when it deleted all my books.
Turns out if you enable wifi after a long time, it can delete all sideloaded books.

They need to do a budget model, because that fucker is going on the beach. It’s going to the bottom of my suitcase. It’s going in my tactical satchel next to my keys.

When it comes to open tech, I really think we need to change our way of thinking.

We have a habit or comparing the price of alternatives against the market leader (in this case Kindle) and assessing value on that basis, while at the same time forgetting that Amazon claws back a huge amount of profit after the point of sale on books - specifically because of their closed ecosystem. The monopoly allows them to subsidise the device.

If we are buying open devices which aren't locked down, the companies selling those devices have to actually make all their profit up-front on the device itself, and so it's naturally going to feel comparatively more expensive.

We have to remind ourselves, if we value freedom we need to be prepared to pay a premium for it.

Glad i ditched Amazon and its Kindle and went Kobo and bought stuff from local or national shops. Amazon is a cesspit ruled by an evil overlord

Kobo has a similar problem. I have a Kobo mini I can no longer use.

Just jailbreak your kindle and turn off wifi for good. It's probably vulnerable to a ridiculous number of remote exploits anyway.

Additional benefits: support for more formats. Then a computer with Calibre as mentioned in another comment will help you convert all the books you want.

What a bizarrely hyperconsumerist opinion.

It's not that bizarre. Is the understanding that devices change, technology advances, storage grows, etc.

That's not an excuse. Anything short of letting you keep all existing behaviour is a failure. It might not quite meet the literal definition of "bricked", but it's not much better.

Try the Calibre software to access the kobo. Keep it off the internet.

I think Amazon actually bought Calibre! At least it still works…

Edit: I’m apparently totally wrong here! Not sure where I heard that, so nevermind

What? No.

Thats... weird. I have Kindle Paperwhite 1st gen. It never kissed a Wifi. It was factory reset at least twice.

I live in EU though. Maybe that's a difference?

I've gone with 3rd party eReaders that can use the app for either, but my main concern is that a lot of authors seem to be locked in to Kindle and not actually providing books for other platforms, in particular authors under Kindle Unlimited.

This is sadly not globally universal though. Part of the reason I've usually gotten Kindles in Germany in the past is that while their readers are only marginally cheaper than their biggest competitor here (Tolino), they sell virtually all books in english not just german, and it's cheaper.

If I were into reading in german, sure, library card, etc etc. But that's not what I do, that's not my use case (and I understand that obviously no one is going to optimize for my use case as it's fairly specific). And once I want to buy in english, my options are basically Amazon or overpay-like-crazy at which point their slightly cheaper reaper + 30%-50% cheaper books combine to make it irrelevant whether the reader goes kaputt faster than a Tolino or might lose internet access in 14+ years, I save enough money that I can easily pay for 2+ extra readers in that time.

But that means you might as well use a Kindle again and save a lot of money. That was kinda the original problem, after all.

Kobo does the exact same shit tbh.

Could very well be, I also don't know what the person you reply to mention, we never had to do that with our first gen Kindles either.

Except it hasn't, and they are still functional. If anything they could have disabled WiFi to remove an exploit vector if they were out of support but retained the USB functions, but they promise to brick them on factory reset instead.

It literally says they won't be able to be registered after a factory reset. That's a ticking time bomb for anyone that might not be aware.

Those are all valid points, and in your scenario I am sure that's a good choice for you :)

You may have interpreted I was making the argument that in the long-term, being open is a smarter decision financially - but I didn't mean to imply that. As you point out, it's often quite the opposite.

My dislike for closed systems isn't because I was bitten in the ass financially by them; it's because I was bitten in the ass ideologically.

Open may sometimes cost more, but I am fortunately able and willing to pay it for the privilege of knowing that what is mine is mine, forever and always, with no terms attached.

Except that the file format hasn't changed, the delivery methods haven't changed, and these devices are perfectly capable of downloading new books from Amazon. This is not a technological decision. This is purely to extract more money from repeat customers.

The oldest Kindle I had was a WiFi one, so maybe the process is different for the older ones.

Weird, I don’t usually make up stories like that… nevertheless you are correct and I was wrong! Glad to see it in this case.

Sadly Calibre has AI crap in it now: https://codeberg.org/small-hack/open-slopware#services-and-utilities

Thankfully there are forks which exclude that.

Sadly Calibre has AI crap in it now: https://codeberg.org/small-hack/open-slopware#services-and-utilities

Thankfully there are forks which exclude that.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I still don't understand why people even use e-books, let alone an Amazon one. Picking up and reading a paper book is one of the most beautifully simple hobbies you can possibly have. You don't need to pay a monthly subscription, you don't need to log into your account, you don't need internet access, you don't even need electricity!

I think it is kind of absurd to argue against the utility of a computer attached to an eink screen. Sure I love physical books too. I don't see the conflict.

The problem is Enshittification not the "digital" part..??

In short, I feel the "digital" part has enabled the "enshittification" part

I would only buy an ebook to read (pirated, possibly) EPUBs and PDFs

I think that is a problematic simplification.

Consider that the vast majority of people who use digital devices and eink digital devices whether they be big corporate kindles or more interesting devices like supernotes, boox, or remarkable note taking/reading devices still enjoy reading a physical book on occasion too.

It isn't that simple, the question is how do you relate to reading through physical and digital contexts and how heavily those contexts are controlled by ensnaring forces generally in the pursuit of resistance against freedom of speech and freedom of thought?

The promise of digital books wasn't to allow corporations to further dissect what is beautiful about reading... the promise was to be able to make books that could magically be copied endlessly for anyone that wants it.**Most of the classics in english literature, Ulysses, Moby Dick, Dracula, Pride and Prejudice, Middlemarch, Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby, The Brothers Karamazov, The Complete Works Of Shakespeare.... are available in open access ebook formats. Can you not see the deep beauty to that?

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?sort_order=downloads

I love reading on digital screens, but also I love buying a physical version of my favorite book so I can carry it around and read it, which makes me more careful with buying books and more likely to try utilizing libraries for the books I don't want to buy when I still want to read them physically.

I also love sometimes picking up a random book somewhere in life and reading it just because it is the kind of book I never would have encountered through another means other than happening to encounter it while pursuing some other goal.

There is no fundamental conflict here, just a bunch of bullshit brought in by late stage capitalism and shitty greedy behavior.

Putting books on computers is a great idea, so are audiobooks. Books are great too. End of story.

Some people have finite space in their backpack/purse/fanny pack.

And the subscription argument is only valid for those not willing to pirate.

I didn't know that! Sad for Calibre, but thank you for the info!