Gabriella N Snow

I’m going to start this post off by saying that yes, I do have a Kindle. I have owned a Kindle since I was at university back in 2013. The thought of carrying around several books or one small tablet seemed like a no-brainer at the time. What I didn’t consider, however, was that I would never truly own the books I bought…but that’s a different can of worms to dive into another time.

Very recently, Kindle announced that any Kindle device released before 2013 would no longer be supported. Now, it is not new that a company stops providing support for ‘outdated’ models released many years before. What is surprising is that they are completely locking these devices out of their libraries if they happen to be deregistered or factory reset. Customers are also no longer able to purchase, borrow or download additional books on them.
This is a huge blow to any Kindle owner. A lot of owners I know personally use their Kindles to borrow books from the library app, Libby. By locking customers out of this app Kindle are basically making their devices useless.

In comparison, I have read posts where other e-book readers have e-books purchased from the 2000’s and are still able to use the Libby app and download new books to their device. I cannot confirm or deny this personally as I do not have those devices, but hearing this is a thing is more than enough for me. I can see no reason why (other than money) the older models of Kindle cannot continue to use the Libby app or download ebooks straight to the device without the use of the shop e.g. using a cable from pc to the device.

Tech is constantly getting outdated. That’s not new news, but basically rendering the tech useless is a complete money grab and devastating regarding the environmental impact.

The email received by many:

There is a paragraph after this that goes on to give a 20% discount off select new Kindle devices. Something I did not want to show as I do not want to promote Kindle any longer. It is clear that they are only interested in the money their customers hand them and not the customers themselves.

So, what next?

Now, I plan to read every book I currently have on my Kindle and any future book I buy will either be a physical book or maybe I will look into the Kobo e-reader. I have seen some promising reviews of the Kobo devices and the application as a whole, but after the fiasco with Amazon’s Kindle, I need to read the small print before buying this time.

Do you have a Kobo or another ereader? Let me hear your thoughts 🙂