Old Kindles Will Be Disconnected Unless You Update By Tuesday (cnet.com)

An anonymous reader writes: If you have a Kindle device, you must update it before March 22 or else it's going to lose internet connectivity. Losing access to the internet means that you won't be able to use Kindle Store to purchase books, and your device won't be able to sync with the cloud. From a CNET article, "According to Amazon, the update is required to ensure the Kindle remains compliant with continuously evolving industry web standards." These are the devices that need to be updated: Kindle 1st Generation (2007), Kindle 2nd Generation (2009), Kindle DX 2nd Generation (2009), Kindle Keyboard 3rd Generation (2010), Kindle 4th Generation (2011), Kindle 5th Generation (2012), Kindle Touch 4th Generation (2011), and Kindle Paperwhite 5th Generation (2012). If you own a Kindle Paperwhite (6th or 7th Generation), or a Kindle 7th Generation, or a Kindle Voyage 7th Generation, you do not need to worry about the update. And suddenly, Amazon sending postcards to remind people about this update doesn't feel that wrong.

Comments

Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

" you must update it before March 22 or else it's going to lose internet connectivity. "

I just care about my Calibre connectivity that I use to fill it up with some of my couple of hundred thousand pirated ebooks.

Doesn't feel wrong?

[chispito]

And suddenly, Amazon sending postcards to remind people about this update doesn't feel that wrong.

Who exactly felt that was wrong?

Excellent news

[Anonymous Coward]

Does that mean no advertisements uploaded from amazon as well? And Amazon can no longer remotely kill books on my device?
Thank you for crippling amazon connectivity so I don't have to!

Re:Only if they've been offline for a while

[Anonymous Coward]

If you use the Kindle regularly, this should be a non-issue.

I use my Kindle regularly. I rarely let it go online, so if it were one of the affected models it certainly would be an issue.

Re:Cue the lawyers...

[__aaclcg7560]

But consumers would have to be brave enough to come forward and admit that they were foolish enough to buy one of these crippled devices in the first place.

I only paid $75 for a black-and-white Kindle last year. Works very well as an ebook reader. Not sure why you would call it a crippled device.

this is likely due to the AT&T shutdown

[YesIAmAScript]

AT&T will be shutting down 2G (EDGE) at the end of the year. And they (claim they) will not grandfather any device until December that didn't specifically ask to be grandfathered before the end of June.

This is affecting multiple companies. Nissan handled it rather poorly, forcing their customers to pay for a modem upgrade in their cars.

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/0...

Re:You have to update to read a book? Suckers.

[Anonymous Coward]

I know you're a troll and I shouldn't feed you but....

I love books too, but I also like to read without headaches. When you get a bit older it's great to be able to adjust the font.

I love books too, but I also like purchasing books instantly without having to go to a physical store or wait for shipping.

I love books too, but I also like having the ability to take a long trip with my entire library.

I love books too, but I also like having instant dictionary lookups for new words. It really helps build the vocabulary.

My mom said basically the same thing you just did when I showed her my first kindle (2nd generation). She now has multiple ones and loves them.

What is being changed

[goombah99]

While newer kindles are getting a newly formated home screen the ancient ones are getting just a single change to
(/opt/usr/java/lib/security/cacerts).

So evidently there must be a stolen cert out there that the machine trusts.