I received an email from Amazon, last month, announcing that the company will cease software support for older Kindles. This means that customers that own these early e-readers will no longer be able to download books through Amazon, rendering them useless. Or maybe not, as I found out…

I received a first or second generation Kindle as a gift over a decade ago and use it for borrowing library books. If you’ve never done this, check out options for borrowing ebooks from your local library via Overdrive or Libby (same company). This was all going swimmingly until I received that email from Amazon. Here’s what it said:

“Thank you for being a longtime Kindle customer. We’re glad our devices have served you well for as long as they have. Starting May 20, 2026 we are discontinuing support for Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier. Here’s what this means for you:

* You can continue to read books already downloaded on these devices, but you will not be able to purchase, borrow, or download additional books on them after that date.
* If you deregister or factory reset these devices, you will not be able to re-register or use these devices in any way.

Affected devices include Kindle 1st and 2nd Generation, Kindle DX and DX Graphite, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Kindle 5, and Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation.

To minimize any disruption, we’re offering a promotional code for 20% off select new Kindle devices…..”

As others have pointed out, Amazon could have done this in a much more friendly way. The company could have allowed old Kindles to be deregistered and donated to education nonprofits, nursing homes, etc.

The reset and re-registration lockout takes this from understandable maintenance into something that feels needlessly hostile to the customer. – Mark D Kelly.

Amazon’s message is essentially that these Kindles have had a good run and will now be rendered useless by the company. A discount on purchasing a new Kindle is provided, nudging customers to buy a new device.

Well guess what, Amazon? I won’t be buying a new Kindle!

When I started on this post, I thought I was going to be researching alternatives to Kindles. Then I found that there are options that allow us to continue using our old Kindles by completely bypassing Amazon. I won’t get into jailbreaking (removing software restrictions imposed by Amazon) but will focus on the much more simple option of sideloading books into your Kindle.

What is Sideloading?

Transferring book files to your Kindle via USB (rather than via Amazon.com) is technically known as sideloading.

Sideloading is the process of installing software or transferring files onto a device (like a smartphone, tablet, or e-reader) from sources other than the official, authorized app store.

I was unaware of this term, but I do already sideload music files onto my phone by connecting it to my laptop and then transferring the files by drag-and-drop. Similarly, you can transfer ebooks to your Kindle using a USB connection.

To simplify the process for loading books to your Kindle, I recommend using free software (Calibre) that will ensure the books (or newspapers, magazines, science papers, etc.) are in the right format for your Kindle. It’s also a great resource for finding free books in the first place.

Sideloading books or other documents to your Kindle via a USB connection, either by drag-and-drop (left) or using Calibre software (right).

How to get free books for your out-of-service Kindle

But if I want to sideload books onto my old Kindle where do I get these books in the first place?, I hear you ask.

Good question! Well copyright for a book will expire after some time – 95 years for most books published before 1978. So any book published before 1930 should now be in the public domain. Several nonprofits and volunteer-based organizations have scanned, proofread, and formatted many of these classics.

Project Gutenberg, founded by Michael Hart who invented ebooks in 1971, is the most well-known repository of free ebooks. Standard Ebooks, another good one, is funded purely by donations and relies on teams of volunteers to produce nicely-formatted classic books.

You can browse Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks, the Internet Archive, or other legit sites to find books of interest and download directly in the Kindle format (.mobi or .azw3). Then you can transfer them manually to your Kindle via USB cable (i.e., sideload!).

I would recommend using Calibre software to manage your ebook library and transfers to your Kindle. It’s free, open source, and by far the most recommended option for this job. Calibre will reformat files if they are not compatible with your Kindle, smoothing the process. It also allows you to change a book’s metadata and cover image, if desired.

Another nice feature of Calibre is that it allows you to search for ebooks from far and wide, including Project Gutenberg and standard booksellers. You can also download news from various sources and transfer to your Kindle, if you desire. The Calibre demo video explains all of these features.

I’m not sure yet whether there’s any way to make library loans work on old Kindle’s after Amazon’s cut-off date (May 20, 2026) but I’ll update this post if I find a way. The alternative is to use the Libby app to read borrowed books on your phone or laptop.

My plan is to go back to borrowing physical books for new releases and to use my old Kindle to read some classics. The Guardian just published a list of the 100 best novels of all time – around half of them, and almost the entire top 20, are now in the public domain.

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So, congratulations Amazon – you’ve given me an incentive to completely avoid your website! The only reason I still went there was to download library books to my Kindle.

When considering Amazon from an ethical perspective, think about what the company is doing right now. A whole collection of e-readers are being intentionally rendered into electronic waste in order to sell more products. This is different to a ten year old Android phone – most of these old Kindles still work perfectly. Mine does and still has an amazing battery life – I only have to charge it once a month!

Next time Amazon hits you with some PR copy announcing that the company is improving its environmental impact or reducing waste, remember what they just did.