Amazon is ditching support for a series of Kindle devices in May of this year. They will no longer be able to access the Kindle store and a factory reset could cause problems.

The changes affect models released in 2012 or before. It's the first time Amazon has withdrawn support for any Kindle models, meaning the first generation received nearly 20 years of support. The first kindle was released in November 19, 2007 and featured a 6-inch e-ink display, a physical keyboard, and 250 MB of internal storage, which could hold around 200 non-illustrated titles.

The move affects the original ("1st generation") Kindle along with the 4 and 5 models, the Keyboard and Touch models, and the DX and DX Graphite. Also affected are the first generation of the Paperwhite, the first two generations of the Fire tablet, and the HD 7 and HD 8.9 versions of the Fire tablet. (Source: theverge.com)

Accessing Your Library

Users won't lose access to any Kindle books. They will remain accessible on the unsupported device as well as through mobile Kindle apps and the Kindle for Web tool. As usual, they will also be accessible if users set up their account on a new Kindle device.

The difference is that users won't be able to buy books on the unsupported device or borrow them through programs such as Kindle Unlimited. It appears users won't be able to re-download any content from their Kindle library to the unsupported device, though manually loading books (without copy protection) will still work.

Another issue to watch out for is that once an unsupported device becomes unregistered or factory reset, users will not be able to re-register and thus will lose access to content on that device.

Upgrade Incentives

These changes will affect eBooks on the unsupported Fire tablets, but users will continue to be able to install and use apps and other Amazon services on the tablets.

While 14+ years of support is pretty good going by modern tech standards, Amazon is offering something of a make-good. Affected users will get 20 percent off some new Kindle devices until June 20th, 2026 with purchasers also getting $20 in eBook credit. (Source: pcmag.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Do you still use an older Kindle or e-reader? Is 14 years of support sufficient for a modern electronic device? Would a 20 percent discount tempt you to upgrade your old hardware?