This past week I read about a new “update” coming out next month for certain older Kindles. Unlike most updates which may add features, update security or fix bugs, this one will break your Kindle. It will still turn on and you can still read the books you have on it. However, that’s it. You can’t download any more books to it. It looks like these are the affected models:
- Kindle 1st Generation (2007)
- Kindle 2nd Generation (2009)
- Kindle DX & DX Graphite (2009-2010)
- Kindle Keyboard (2010)
- Kindle 4 & 5 (2011-2012)
- Kindle Touch (2011)
- Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation (2012)
- Kindle Fire 1st Generation (2011)
- Kindle Fire 2nd Generation (2012)
- Kindle Fire HD 7 (2012)
- Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (2012)
It looks like the motivation for this update is that they feel they made these devices too usable and long lasting – and unlike a phone the software doesn’t need to do more complex things. It needs to display text files. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
Reading about this issue I saw that some are “jailbreaking” their Kindles, basically untethering them from Amazon, breaking the software locks so they can put their own software in and use it in ways they want to. Mostly this means being able to load other ebook or other document formats – ones they bought for their Kobo, or downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg.
I remembered I had an 11 year old Kindle in the closet I haven’t used in some time and wondered if it was old enough (it isn’t quite old enough – it will survive for now). But seeing that I might be able to make this device useful to me for something other than Amazon products (I swore off Amazon purchases along with most American products when the tariff nonsense started), I decided to give it a shot.
This is not a how-to, there are tons there including the main site for it here. I will say it took a bit over an hour with a bit of trial and error. But let me tell you what I ended up with. I’m pretty pleased!
So the Kindle itself has KOReader installed. This lets me read nearly any type of text document I put in it. At first that meant copying files using a USB cord. It worked but it wasn’t as elegant as I wanted so I added a few more tweaks.
I installed Calibre on my PC. This is free and open source software that works like iTunes does for music. Any eBook I have I can put in that program, organize how I like, sort by tags, genre, year written, author, and so on. But I can also now use it to send books from my PC to my Kindle.
I do like to keep track of my reading online. Goodreads is owned by Amazon and they own most of LibraryThing. I like The Storygraph but they don’t have a software API (means to have two software programs talk to each other) and I like the social options over at Hardcover.app. There’s a plugin to connect KOReader and Hardcover together so I can automatically mark a book started or finished there and update progress as I see fit and even leave a review after reading it – directly from my Kindle.
But as you know, I don’t just read books. I also like to read articles and fiction I find online. Fortunately I was able to integrate that too. I use FreshRSS for the blogs I follow (WordPress friends, I do follow you but you can’t see that I do because I use this app which allows me to subscribe to any site with an RSS feed which is most of them). When I see something I like in FreshRSS, I can click a button and send it to Wallabag for offline reading later. I also have a plugin for Waterfox, my browser, that lets me save any page for offline reading in Wallabag. And Wallabag is also connected to KOReader which means that everything I save to read later gets automatically sent to my Kindle. When I finish reading something it automatically is archived on the Wallabag website and deleted from the Kindle.
But here’s the cool part (and where you all come in). If I use the same function I use to leave book reviews on an article, my “Review” can just have tags in it like “PostLater” or “SageWillLikeThis” and then I can search for those tags on the website and use them to share with you or email to Sage or a friend later.
All that is great and the kid who used to stay after school late until the computer teacher said “Sorry, I have to go.” back in 1982 loved watching all that and the outcome, that’s not why I’m sharing this.
Why I’m sharing this is what I notice about reading on this device versus the eReader apps on my iPad.
My iPad is pretty stripped down. I have the eReaders I use there but I also have Obsidian to take notes, I have an email client, text messages from my phone go there, I have Tidal on it for streaming music, I even have our grocery list app on there. If I read and Daegan sends a text message I go check and respond. I might feel moved to check email or add ‘onions’ to the shopping list or a task to my to-do list in Obsidian because I just remembered it. If I don’t like the library book I’m reading, I can go to Libby and browse for a new one.
Contrast that with my current Kindle which has loads of functionality, all with one purpose: reading long form text. Also critically all updates are a pull not a push. There is nothing new, nothing to browse. Getting a new book means going to my computer. I can sync with Wallabag and get new articles but I don’t need to “Check to see if anything new and interesting has come in.” because it’s not going to happen.
And the result of this is a palpable mental quiet and focus when I’m reading because there’s no longer the part of me thinking “I wonder if there’s a better book” (an email, a text, or maybe I want to see a music video?). There’s just reading. And now I have the opportunity to make a conscious choice when I have spare time or while having lunch. I can grab my phone/iPad or I can grab the Kindle and read. If I’m waiting in line and bored, I can pull the Kindle out of my bag instead of the phone. Or, as I did a few days ago when going out to lunch with Daegan, I could just leave my phone at home.
Another fun aspect of KOReader is that it keeps track of how much I’m reading and even how much I’m spending on each book or article and even when I read them. (And hey, folks, unlike many devices, this data is not going to some company’s marketing department, it’s sitting locked in my device). So I can tell you that in the past 3 days I have read over four hours (and that doesn’t include the time I’ll spend reading this evening).
I think most of this has to do with the fact that what I have done is at least in this place gone back to a single function device. One purpose, one focus. The same would likely be true if I went for photo walks with a camera versus my phone. I did notice how things changed when I switched to a chest mounted GoPro for filming on the bike versus the phone. No need to stop, photograph, maybe post and then who knows, check notifications. No, I don’t even stop. One press starts filming, another stops it. Done.
I do have another multi-function device that might be a little different and that’s my Apple Watch. It does tons of things but for the most part they aren’t time sinks. I can’t spend hours scrolling on it, for example.
But what I realized I can do is download music to it to play offline for phone-free (or phone-off) outings when I want music. So I’ve added a few albums and playlists to try that next time I’m out. Added bonus: No time sink of finding the perfect thing to listen to. It’s like the old days when you just had the cassettes you had in the car and that’s it. If you want more you had to go home and get more. (Full disclosure: When I was in my late teens I had those restrictions but I also had a cassette carrying case that could hold 100 cassettes that I’d bring in the car with me – that might be near the limit of what my watch can hold!)
So what about you? Do you still use single function devices? MP3 players (cassette players), standalone cameras, ereaders?
Oh and one last thing – as you might have noticed, I haven’t posted any cycling videos. As I was worried would happen, I have been sick with a chest cold. It’s not too bad but enough to keep me home and off the bike. I did have some fun this weekend with some old footage though. But first a bit of explanation:
Some people, seeing my pre-dawn rides think they look a bit scary and I can see how they might. But honestly when I’m out they feel like the furthest thing. I hardly see anyone, wildlife here is mostly harmless (well, unless I run over a skunk which would be awful for both of us) and traffic is extra light – my last ride was 23 km and nobody passed me for the first 15 km. So in reality it is probably the safest time I could be out and about.
Another person in Toronto has been posting “analog horror” style posts of an “abandoned” Toronto where he suggests there might be scary creatures around (some videos show them). I realized that I, too, see the city at those odd hours and so in some ways I’m living in the same world as he is. So I made a video in the style of his:
Here’s what his look like:
If you like their posts, look over at their TikTok page where they tend to be more active.
