Amazon Kindle

Basic Information
Release Year	2007
Product Type	E-readers, Publishing
In Production	Yes
Official Website	https://amazon.com/kindle

Amazon Kindle is a product line of e-readers made by Amazon.

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Amazon Kindle category.

While EPUB has been the widely adopted format for digital books,^[1] the Kindle e-readers do not support this format natively. That means that it is not possible to load these files directly to the e-reader (which is called sideloading), but have to be converted first to one of the proprietary formats the Kindle uses. Books directly purchased through Amazon come with DRM restrictions.

Around 2022 it was announced that there would be an option to read these files,^[2] which was not through native support but via their e-mail service or dedicated app for the Kindle. Both send the file to the Kindle Cloud Library, and process the file on Amazon servers to the proprietary format.

As for the sideloading itself, newer firmware versions of Kindle e-readers only work with MTP,^[3] which led to controversy among power users as it disrupted existing workflow, which is to be expected. Book management software like Calibre^[4] addresses this issue, and can do the conversion of file formats locally. The recent firmware updates have caused other issues, like faster battery drain than before and a slower user experience.^[5]

Kindle devices regularly receive bad scores in repair reviews.^[6][7] The baseline model has a replaceable battery, but provides no official replacement parts or repair instructions, and solders the power button and usb-c port to the motherboard.^[6][8] The paper-white model uses excessive amounts of adhesive for the battery and motherboard, which make it harder to replace the battery.^[7][8] Most of the components of the device, most importantly the e-ink screen, are not available to the general market. Any stock for e-ink displays for these devices can rarely be found, and they usually approach the cost of the device itself, making repair uneconomical.

Kindle devices run a Linux distribution, however the bootloader is locked down and users have had trouble accessing debug ports on newer hardware.^[9] Adding to this, Amazon relies on proprietary software and drivers which make it difficult to port a standard mainline Linux kernel onto their devices.^{[citation needed (30 Nov 2025)]}

Main article: Amazon Kindle removes download feature of purchased books

On 26 February 2025, Amazon removed the "download and transfer via USB" feature from their website. This means Amazon Kindle users are no longer able to download their purchased e-books from Amazon's website to their computers using the "download and transfer via USB" feature. A message describing this change appeared on the page for the download feature a few weeks before the feature was removed.

Main article: Amazon Kindle discontinues support for pre-2013 devices

On April 7, 2026, Amazon began emailing customers that, starting May 20, 2026, the Kindle Store would no longer support nine pre-2013 Kindle e-reader models and four Kindle Fire tablet models, ending the ability to purchase, borrow, or download new content on the affected hardware.^[11][12] Amazon's email warned that any affected device deregistered or factory-reset after the cutoff cannot be re-registered and cannot be used "in any way."^[11][12] Amazon's only on-record justification was that the affected models had been supported "for at least 14 years, some as long as 18 years" and that "technology has come a long way," with no specific technical reason cited; the company offered affected owners a 20% discount on select new Kindle devices plus an eBook credit, valid through June 20, 2026.^[11][13]

• Amazon alters the content of purchased ebooks