Posted on 03/21/2016 6:47:23 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
This is not the time to take your Kindle camping, people
Readers will be unable to download their purchased books or buy new ones without a computer handy if they fail to update their Amazon Kindles by Wednesday.
Users of Kindle models older than 2013 will need to apply an update over their device's wireless connection to install a critical fix.
Those who do not will be kicked from Amazon online properties, including the book store, and their cloud library of purchased books and documents.
Amazon has sent emails to user account inboxes warning to update.
It has not explained what the fix addresses and had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
In a notice posted to the Amazon website marked urgent the book baron says devices that are not updated by 23 March will sport a generic connection error message and must be manually updated using a computer.
Manual updating will require users download their respective latest firmware files and transfer these onto the device via USB before selecting 'update your Kindle' from a menu.
The minor effort will become a major pain for readers who only connect their devices to the Amazon Whispersync network in order to buy books, and never to WiFi.
That setup would be common for the many readers who leave their devices on airplane mode between books in order to maximise battery life.
It will also grind those who miss the message and attempt to find a new book to read in locations where a computer and a wireless connection is not available.
Non-technical savvy users will also be caught out by the need to manually update.
To update Amazon recommends users plug in their devices to mains power and leave it connected to the internet overnight. Kindles may restart several times while applying the fix.
Updated devices contain a document in the library titled 03-2016 Successful Update. ®
This is tech-speak for "high-profile security update." They're acknowledging that something very bad could happen to the device if they publish the actual issue, so they're keeping it veiled. Microsoft did the same thing with Windows 8 when they forced everyone to Windows 8.1.
Ya. The big concern though, is what do you do if a company that you have data with in the 'cloud' just closes up shop? Now, I doubt that will happen any time soon with Amazon, but then again, there have been really large companies that have gone bankrupt in the past.
Personally, I prefer to have physical posession of my data. I import all my ebooks into Calibre so I can manage them however I want, including conversion between formats if I want. I make sure that all ebooks I pay for are always DRM-free so I can use Calibre with them without issues. Also been hanging out at Project Gutenberg quite a bit of late. At present, I have have 1236 ebooks. I'm in the process of reading through the entire library of sci-fi at Project Gutenberg. That will keep me busy for a while.
I know a lot of folks who dig their Kindles though. Glad this article was posted. I texted a few folks who it might affect to make sure they aren't caught off guard.
Can’t argue with you there. I believe some online storage companies have already gone out of business. I think of cloud storage as more of a convenience - being able to pull my data to any device - rather than as a backup solution.
BFLR
I felt like you and I have so many books I’ve bought from Goodwill and yard sales. Then my eyes stated getting very tired reading the small print and I broke down two years ago on Black Friday and purchased a Fire. Not the smallest but one up. I now can read even when I have one of my bi-focal contacts out to give my eye a rest. Its really nice. Last night I read freerepublic.com in my comfortable chair. I really use my Fire.
I see a growing trend, in a blurring of the lines over ownership of electronic devices, and electronic materials.
For example, I own my smartphone...but I really could never sell it used to somebody else, unless I were smart enough (and inclined to) ‘jailbreak’ the phone.
Another example would be IPhones - there was recently a story that people who had used a third party repair service to fix the start button were suddenly having their phones bricked. Apple’s reason was legitimate - it turns out merely replacing the button could bypass their security features...but what about the people who owned the phones. Well, they may own the phone, but it became abundantly clear that the phone only functions, if Apple wants it to function.
So now items you may own in cloud storage can be denied to you. I suppose its similar to renting a bay at ministorage...you don’t pay or follow their rules, you lose your stuff.
I can see this mentality entering into other markets, as devices become more connected...in particular automobiles. Just last week there was a story about researchers looking into cars that communicated with each other at an intersection. Well, as soon as that door is breached (cars communicating), there suddenly becomes a ‘network’, and the network will have updates and patches, and cars that don’t get the proper updates may be ‘bricked’ just like today’s phones.
Around a year ago, there was a court case about this (dealing with smart phones). I’m not sure if its over or how it turned out, but I think there needs to be some clarification over who owns what in the digital world.
Apparently, this does not impact the Kindles on our pc, Chromebook and Androids phones and tabs.
I wonder if this is also true of the Kindle app on iPads?
*cough* Calibre *cough*
The DX has been a godsend for me, and I expect also for others who, like me, have early stages of age-related macular degeneration. The only workaround for this condition is magnification.
I run my browser on one of the two 27-inch monitors attached to my 'puter. The browser fills one of those screens and the browser magnification is set at 150 percent.
With the Kindle DX I can adjust the font size so that the text can be parsed correctly and easily by these damaged retinas. The large screen size of the DX allows for a lot of magnified text to display at one time, reducing the frequency of page-turns.
My prediction is that the DX is going to be a bigger seller in the future as Boomers age enough to develop this vision liability. The DX has kept me reading recreationally when away from my computer.
And you can drop a book on that icky insect wandering across your floor.
My Kindles have been the most trouble free devices I've ever had. Even the FirePhone has never had a problem.
This is the ONLY time Amazon has done something like this in the last three years that I've had Kindles.
It definitely does apply to US users. I’m typing this on a Kindle Fire and own an earlier Kindle. I;’ve received the same notice.
Same here.
(I know Amazon is on the FR enemies list but I’ve had excellent luck with their shopping portal and the Kindle and Fire.)
That is correct. Add that the book in question was Orwell's 1984 and you have a case of cosmic irony. And yes, it was a copyright issue - they thought the book was in the public domain but Orwell's heirs had kept the copyright active. Oops.
Enemies list or not, my HDX 8.5 inch Fire is great. It is far faster and easier to use than my Apple IPad 2. Indeed, it’s a really great tablet and I love it for books because I don’t have a pile of dead tree books driving me out of my house.
Thanks for posting.
Excellent device for frequent travelers.
I checked my Kindle Fire for updates and it said I’m up to date. Guess I’ll be ok.
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