iReader

My Kindle Paperwhite e-reader didn’t die. The hardware still worked. What failed was Amazon’s willingness to support it. When I discovered that my perfectly functional Kindle had reached the end of Amazon’s support, the solution offered to me was predictable: buy another Kindle. As consolation, Amazon offered me a modest discount toward a replacement. How generous!

Their lack of support for a functioning device, planned obsolescence and greed was telling.

I initially went along with it. I ordered a new Kindle. It arrived, I set it up, and for a little while everything was back to normal. New Kindle, same library, problem solved.

Except the whole thing pissed me off. I hadn’t replaced a broken device. I’d replaced a device because the company behind it had decided its useful life was over. Those are very different things.

The Kindle could still display books perfectly well. Its screen hadn’t suddenly become obsolete. The battery hadn’t exploded. I hadn’t dropped it into a bathtub. Amazon simply stopped supporting a device that otherwise continued doing the job I bought it to do. Then I started looking at the new Kindle sitting beside my iPad and iPhone. What exactly had I just paid for?

Both devices already run the Kindle app. Both give me access to the books I’ve purchased from Amazon. I also have Apple Books available on both. My phone is nearly always with me, and my iPad gives me a larger, excellent screen when I want to settle in and read.

I don’t need a new Kindle. More importantly, I didn’t particularly feel like rewarding Amazon for creating the circumstances that convinced me I needed one.

So I am returning it.

Welcome to iReading.

Instead of owning a dedicated e-reader, I’m reading on the devices I already own: iPhone and iPad, with Kindle and Apple Books handling the library. I can borrow and read Kindle books. I can use Apple Books. The device is mine. Maybe I’ll eventually miss e-ink enough to reconsider. I’m not declaring dedicated e-readers dead (how many times have I changed my mind?)

Amazon offered me a discount on another Kindle but I took a bigger discount. I am returning the new one and spend nothing more.

I still have my Kobo reader just in case. I’ll just dust it off when and if it is necessary.