Old Kindles require an urgent software update to stay connected

Amazon announced over the weekend that those using a number of older Kindle e-readers will need to download an urgent software update today in order to continue accessing books from the cloud and the Kindle Store itself. If you own a Kindle from before 2013, then this update is critical to keeping it connected to the internet.

Failing to update one of the affected Kindles by the end of today will result in the following error 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.”

If you end up with this message then don't worry too much as you can still install the update manually by going to the Fire&Kindle page, finding your specific model and following the instructions provided by Amazon.

Here is the full list of affected Kindles:

• Kindle 1st Gen (2007)
• Kindle 2nd Gen (2009)
• Kindle DX 2nd Gen (2009)
• Kindle Keyboard 3rd Gen (2010)
• Kindle 4th Gen (2011)
• Kindle Touch (2011)
• Kindle 5th Gen (2012)
• Kindle Paper White (2012)

KitGuru Says: Amazon didn't specify exactly why this update is needed but if you or someone you know has an older Kindle, then let them know otherwise they may lose access to the Kindle Store and Cloud. Doing the update manually shouldn't be too much of a problem if they do not update in time though. 

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