Critical Update For Your Kindle

[AlanHo]

Amazon has announced a “Critical Software Update for Kindle E-Readers” with a warning that your device may be useless without it. Amazon warns that: “customers using an outdated software version on Kindle e-readers require an important software update by March 22, 2016 in order to continue to download Kindle books from the Cloud, access the Kindle Store, and use other Kindle services on their device.” And as it happens, every Kindle device released from the 2007 Kindle 1st Generation to the 2012 Kindle Paperwhite 5th Generation should need that update.

 

For worried Fire owners, do note that this is only for eInk Kindles – not the color Kindle Fires. Owners of 2013 Kindle Paperwhite 6th Generation devices and any subsequent Kindles can also relax. However, for other devices, Amazon provides a long list of the relevant OS release your device needs. If you own such a device, it’s probably wise to connect to WiFi anyway just to be sure.

 

What’s Amazon’s reason for the across-the-board upgrade? No idea. New services? Maybe. Security concerns? Possibly. For users, though, it’s more than advisable to connect your Kindle and sync, then follow Amazon’s instructions to upgrade software as necessary. Keep that aging Kindle working as, potentially, a valuable vintage model, rather than a brick.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=201994710&linkId=67043fee5de298483f2af7d83ed3e5a8