Update Your Amazon Kindle. Like, Now.

Consumer Reports
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If you own an Amazon Kindle, you might want to grab it and turn it on. Today will be the last day your Kindle will have access to the Amazon Kindle Store or Kindle books in the cloud, at least until you update it. And if you want to update it painlessly, you should do it now.

According to Amazon, “Customers using an outdated software version on Kindle e-readers require an important software update by March 22, 2016, in order to continue to download Kindle books from the Cloud,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.” The update isn’t necessary for all Kindle e-readers, though. Affected devices include Amazon’s first two Kindles, the extra large Kindle DX, and the fourth-generation Kindle Touch, among others.

The full list of affected Kindle devices includes:

  • Kindle 1st Generation (2007)

  • Kindle 2nd Generation (2009)

  • Kindle DX 2nd Generation (2009)

  • Kindle Keyboard 3rd Generation (2010)

  • Kindle 4th Generation (2011)

  • Kindle 5th Generation (2012)

  • Kindle Touch 4th Generation (2011)

  • Kindle Paperwhite 5th Generation (2012)

Updating your Kindle is a painless procedure. Just make sure it’s connected to Wi-Fi and the update should download automatically.

But what happens if you don’t update your device? You’ll receive this message: “Your Kindle is unable to connect at this time. Please make sure you are within wireless range and try again. If the problem persists, please restart your Kindle from the Menu in Settings and try again.”

The message might sound dire, but your Kindle won’t become some e-ink paperweight. You can download the update manually from Amazon and install it yourself. You’ll have to connect your Kindle to your computer and follow Amazon’s update instructions, but you’ll end up with a fully functional Kindle once more.



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