Amazon Removes Key Feature for Many Kindle Users: All You Need to Know

Amazon is removing a key feature from Kindle, its widely popular e-reader. According to Tech Radar, those using the older devices won't be able to purchase books from Kindle Store. The company had announced this change back in May, and it is being implemented now. The affected Kindle devices are the fourth- and fifth-generation models, which were released in 2011 and 2012, the outlet further said. It added that this change won't make the devices redundant as books can be sent to these readers after buying it from website or other devices.

Tech Radar said users can find out about their Kindle model number in the device's settings menu, under Device Info. The emails, PDFs and the other files can also be sent to these older models, and the process works perfectly.

Though the exact reason for Amazon's decision is not known, but Good e-Reader has speculated that the discontinuation could be in place due to a Transport Layer Security (TLS) incompatibility. The older devices have support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 protocols that include various flaws. Due to hardware limitations, the dated e-readers are not supporting newer TLS versions.

In June, Amazon had said that it will stop supplying retailers in China with its Kindle e-readers and shut its Kindle e-bookstore in the country next year, in a pullback by a US tech firm from the restrictive Chinese market.

The Kindle China e-bookstore will stop selling ebooks from June 30 next year, the company had said on its official WeChat account, though customers will be able to continue downloading any purchased books for a year beyond that.