On May 20, Amazon will cease supporting any Kindle devices released in or before 2012. This means that these models—the first and second-generation Kindles, the Kindle DX, Keyboard, Touch, 4, 5, and Paperwhite—will no longer be able to download new ebooks from the Kindle Store.
While you can still read your existing books or manually download documents via USB cable, this move is part of a wider trend where companies abandon support for older devices. Spotify and Google have done similar things with their Car Thing and Nest thermostats respectively, while Netflix took away support for millions of old devices last year.
For those keen to keep their digital libraries in the Amazon fold, you can access your collection through the Kindle app or via a browser on the Kindle Cloud reader. Alternatively, Amazon offers a 20% discount and $20 ebook credit towards a new device if you use the exclusive code they've sent out.
If you're not interested in staying part of the Amazon ecosystem, there are other excellent e-readers available. Bookshop.org also provides an alternative for those who want to support local booksellers while buying ebooks.







