# How Long Do Your Kindle Ereaders Last?



## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

How long do your kindle ereaders last? Mine seem to start going strange after about 2 years. Is that normal?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I've not had a Kindle go bad....

How do you carry them when you take them out into the wild?

Betsy


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

In a backpack, but I try to look after them. I read about 3 hours a day.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Mine are all still corking along so far as I know (gave away K1, donated PW, traded Voyage to Amazon). The only older one I still have myself is a Kindle Keyboard, and it works fine.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

They could be getting jostled too much in the backpack.  What kind of problems are you having?

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Or, they could be getting too full.  How many books do you keep on them?

Betsy


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

With the keyboard one I had years ago the battery died. With the paper white I bought about 2 years ago, it's getting slow. When I go to my library it takes several seconds, and when I scroll through the pages of the library, it takes about 10 seconds per page.

I have maybe 400+ books on it. Do you think that might be the problem?


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## KimberlyinMN (Dec 30, 2009)

I've only had one go bad right before 3 years. It wouldn't take a charge. Thankfully I had bought a 3-year Square Trade warranty so I was able to get a full refund. Other than that, my Kindles have all worked fine.


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## KimberlyinMN (Dec 30, 2009)

I'd suggest doing a full reset to see if that fixes the slow down. Then only put some of your books on it? Or maybe it's having a problem indexing one of the last books you put on it? (So try removing the last 2-5 books to see if that speeds things up before trying a full reset!!)



NedMarcus said:


> With the keyboard one I had years ago the battery died. With the paper white I bought about 2 years ago, it's getting slow. When I go to my library it takes several seconds, and when I scroll through the pages of the library, it takes about 10 seconds per page.
> 
> I have maybe 400+ books on it. Do you think that might be the problem?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

NedMarcus said:


> With the keyboard one I had years ago the battery died. With the paper white I bought about 2 years ago, it's getting slow. When I go to my library it takes several seconds, and when I scroll through the pages of the library, it takes about 10 seconds per page.
> 
> I have maybe 400+ books on it. Do you think that might be the problem?


What Kimberly said. You may find doing a reset refreshes the speed.

Betsy


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## Tuttle (Jun 10, 2010)

I got my k2 in May 2009, between then and December 2014 I needed to replace the battery once because it wouldn't hold a charge for a reasonable length of time. It was still working fine in 2014, but I wanted to upgrade to the voyage anyways and got it for Christmas that year . I've had my voyage since they became available and have had no issues with it,


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll try the reset (once I've worked out how to do that  ).


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

NedMarcus said:


> Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll try the reset (once I've worked out how to do that ).


You want to do a RESTART first, and see if that works: menu/settings/menu/restart.

This'll clear out any stray bits and bytes. It is definitely the case that the more books you have, or the more collections/things in collections, the slower the response will be. Fortunately, while it affects selecting and otherwise manipulating books or collections, it doesn't affect it at all when actually reading.

If the restart doesn't work, there is an option to reset to factory conditions. This will basically remove everything from your device and deregister it. You'll have to re-enter wifi credentials etc. and basically set the device up again from scratch.


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

K2 works but it seems slow to me. K3 since the Fall of 2010 works like a champ and my K5 still going strong since 2011. My first Paperwhite died after five years. Voyage, Oasis 6" still going strong.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Maybe Amazon subcontracts to Apple for their devices. Hahahaha


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## rallykid (Oct 3, 2017)

Got the wife a Kindle Keyboard as soon as they launched in August 2010 and it is still going strong. She ended up buying one for me a month later and it has gotten a LOT of use as I am an avid reader. Mine got replaced a couple of months ago only for the fact that I needed something lighted and wanted something smaller for backpacking and motorcycle camping trips. When you are trying to pack a weeks worth of gear, clothes, food, tent, sleeping bag, mattress and all of the associated camping gear onto an R series Yamaha Sportbike then every millimeter of storage space counts. The battery is getting a little weak in my keyboard as it has been used so much but hers still has the same battery life as new. I may pick her up a Paperwhite and pass the keyboard versions along to the kids at some point. The oldest is 7 and starting to pick up my love for reading and the 5 year old is showing the same desire for books.


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## Pierrep99 (Jan 28, 2011)

Mine lasts until Amazon releases a new model...


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I've never had one just fail on me with no explanation. I have had ones two different times that started acting funny but they were under warranty and Amazon replaced them without arguing much. My brother still regularly uses a DX model that was purchased in 2009. That's the oldest kindle on my account, not because others stopped working, but because I got new ones and either sold them back to amazon or sold or gave them to someone else off my account.


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

HappyGuy said:


> Maybe Amazon subcontracts to Apple for their devices. Hahahaha


That would explain it


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Pierrep99 said:


> Mine lasts until Amazon releases a new model...


 . That's the attitude.

Seriously though all my kindles still work and work fairly well. Even my K1 which I had since 2008. Now mind you, with the sd card in, it used to take a full 8 minutes to do a search when I had like 2000 books on it. But that was always that way.

I do think after a few years they might benefit from some cobweb cleaning. The search and index files get large. So if you can and are willing, a total factory reset might be in order. Often when calling customer service they want you to do that most often. Just beware that the books on it will have to be downloaded again.

I think though I only had to reset my first paperwhite like that. That one was a bother from the moment I got it. Never liked that thing. Then they got the cloud collections and it was over from there. I bought a different kindle then, the basic. Till I got the Voyage and then both Oasisess. Oassises? Oasis'?

I haven't killed a kindle yet.


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## ThomasDiehl (Aug 23, 2014)

I had to look it up. 5th generation Kindle bought in late 2012, still going strong.
No touchscreen, no light, just the way I want it.


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## Jodi O (Mar 3, 2010)

I still have a K3 that works, though it became impossibly slow navigating my large library. I have used my PW3 for 2 years now with about 1,000 books on it. It occasionally gets bogged down and appreciates a restart.


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## jobo132435 (Jan 9, 2018)

The answer to the question is it depends on usage, all the components are tested and guaranteed for so many cycles or hours of use, and once you exceed that, they will most likely soon lose efficiency or just stop working.

Think its fair to say that Amazon haven't used d the best quality components, certainly the battery, sound card/ speaker, screen and cpu are substandard when compared to high end devices.

The more you use them or the harder you use them the sooner they will reach the point of unreliability. If you use them mostly for low resource tasks like book reading, then you should get many years out of them, if you are constantly playing vids or music, then the screen will loose resolution, the cpu will lose efficiency and the sound card may pack up in not that long . 

Batteries are temperamental, they can quickly loose efficiency and not give the required voltage, though still maintaining a charge, that will slow everything down. It's much better for battery life if you avoid leaving them on charge for hours/ days and do not make a habit of running them to flat


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

I only use my kindle for reading—nothing else. Looks like I've had bad luck with them.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

All of my e-ink kindles are still functional. I charge the old ones occasionally just to make sure. My oldest one - the original kindle will be 10 this year.
I am amazed at the changes in the screen technology over that time.


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

So it's only me


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I have been noticing that my Voyage battery was needing to be charged too often.  Then I turned on Airplane mode.  I think the reader goes out to Goodreads, etc if you have Airplane turned off which uses up a charge.  It is much better now - altho I decided to trade it in for the new Oasis.


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## jobo132435 (Jan 9, 2018)

bordercollielady said:


> I have been noticing that my Voyage battery was needing to be charged too often. Then I turned on Airplane mode. I think the reader goes out to Goodreads, etc if you have Airplane turned off which uses up a charge. It is much better now - altho I decided to trade it in for the new Oasis.


I think the batteries are a bit underspected for them to be honest, but then they are for the vast majority of devices, they keep making them smaller and lighter and cheaper and something has to give.

Your right about airplane mode, it will make a notable. Difference to battery life, but every thing you have turned on runs down the battery, even having auto rotate enabled bites in to battery life. Particularly you have to watch the number of apps running in the back ground, which seems t be most of them, even the kindle installed apps are buzzing away taking charge, for no good reason, even more so if you have a,selection of self installed apps, and more so again if these are side loaded or google apps. If you let it get out of control the thing can go flat in a couple of hours with out use


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## Fogeydc (Oct 24, 2017)

jobo132435 said:


> I think the batteries are a bit underspected for them to be honest, but then they are for the vast majority of devices, they keep making them smaller and lighter and cheaper and something has to give.
> 
> Your right about airplane mode, it will make a notable. Difference to battery life, but every thing you have turned on runs down the battery, even having auto rotate enabled bites in to battery life. Particularly you have to watch the number of apps running in the back ground, which seems t be most of them, even the kindle installed apps are buzzing away taking charge, for no good reason, even more so if you have a,selection of self installed apps, and more so again if these are side loaded or google apps. If you let it get out of control the thing can go flat in a couple of hours with out use


What apps?
e-readers don't have any apps, unless you mean the older ones that had active content (games).


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

Fogeydc said:


> What apps?
> e-readers don't have any apps, unless you mean the older ones that had active content (games).


Maybe he is talking about using the Kindle app on a smartphone or tablet?


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## geezergas (Nov 8, 2014)

Bought my DX early on, still read @ 120 books a year, on the 2nd battery.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I agree with others that my problems were about the battery.. they stopped holding a charge.  I always wished that Amazon supported replaceable batteries.


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

bordercollielady said:


> I agree with others that my problems were about the battery.. they stopped holding a charge. I always wished that Amazon supported replaceable batteries.


+1


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## geezergas (Nov 8, 2014)

NedMarcus said:


> +1


 Google Kindle Batteries, pages of them. Changed the one in my DX in 1/2 a hour. U Tube directions. Easy


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

geezergas said:


> Google Kindle Batteries, pages of them. Changed the one in my DX in 1/2 a hour. U Tube directions. Easy


Thanks. I didn't know it was possible. It's too late for my last kindle, but if there's a next time I'll do that.


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## HLS (Feb 23, 2018)

I always upgrade. I never kept a kindle for more than 2 years


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

HLS said:


> I always upgrade. I never kept a kindle for more than 2 years


Me, too. Right now I have two Paperwhites. I tried a Voyage and gave it to a college student. Tried an Oasis 2 but when I was notified the protective cover wouldn't be available for two months I sent the Oasis 2 back. But, I've always moved to a new Kindle before the old one died.

One other comment. I'm a born klutz. If I wanted to replace a battery in my Paperwhite, I would probably take it to a cell phone repair shop. I know some people who have gone to a training program for repairing cell phones and they'd do great with Kindles, too. Me? I'm a klutz.


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## nomorekbboards (Jul 3, 2016)

I've had my Kindle for about 4 years now with absolutely no problems at all. I keep it in a padded case when I travel, and have it plugged into the wall whenever I'm not using it.


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## WDR (Jan 8, 2014)

I bought my Kindle PageWhite when they first came out. My Nook Simpletouch was the first sold in New England and is my oldest ebook reader. My Kobo was bought not long after the SimpleTouch.

Overall, the Kindle is still going strong but the battery life is beginning to fade. The Nook is losing its battery and doesn't last long enough to read one book. The Kobo seems to be doing well enough already, but it is also showing the battery is aging. The kobo is the one I usually take with me when I go camping, so it has seen more active service than the other two.

The functionality of each seems to be alright. The only issue I have as noted above is the batteries seem to be fading after about six years of use.


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

I just bought a replacement battery for my Kindle (1st generation), will arrive in a couple of days. It still works okay but for some reason cannot connect to Kindle Store. The only Kindle with a user-replaceable battery and SD slot. 

I am somewhat skeptical that the replacement battery will be in great health (do they even still manufacture them?) but am hoping it might somehow fix the connect to Amazon problem. Amazon promised free (3G) wireless for the life of the device. Well, it is still alive! Will they give me a free Oasis in compensation?


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

tsemple said:


> I just bought a replacement battery for my Kindle (1st generation), will arrive in a couple of days. It still works okay but for some reason cannot connect to Kindle Store. The only Kindle with a user-replaceable battery and SD slot.
> 
> I am somewhat skeptical that the replacement battery will be in great health (do they even still manufacture them?) but am hoping it might somehow fix the connect to Amazon problem. Amazon promised free (3G) wireless for the life of the device. Well, it is still alive! Will they give me a free Oasis in compensation?


Did you do the update last year(? maybe longer ago than that) that was required for the older devices to still connect? I had to pull all of mine out and update them. I guess now you'd have to download the file and do it manually.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200529680


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## Jamski (Mar 3, 2011)

My Kindle 3 finally suffered a terminal issue...the right button on the 5 way no longer functions. I had already replaced the screen and was prepared to change the battery as well, but to lost a directional...not good nor easily replaced. Found a Touch at a bargain price and snagged it. The 3 I will keep next to my bed for night time reading.


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## CaptnAndy (Dec 11, 2014)

I bought my first Kindle in 2012 to verify my first book looked correct. Wife took it over and used it till 2015, when the battery died. I bought a $37 replacement, watched all the U-Tubes on how to replace it, and broke the screen when I tried to open it up. I bought a new Kindle for less the cost to get the sreen replacement. That one is still going strong. Wife still reads from it & plays Kandy Crush while she watches TV.


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

I just got a new battery for my very old Kindle gen 1 (bought on eBay a few years ago for $20). Battery was $20 through an Amazon seller, and seems to be in good health (despite my concern that it might be past its shelf life). Note K1 has replaceable battery by design, as well as an SD slot (the last such Kindle). Now I just need to figure out why it doesn’t connect to Kindle Store. I’m hoping (without much justification) that the new battery will help (I have to travel to where there is cell coverage for Sprint). At any rate it is fun to pull it out and use it, and will be more fun now that it holds a charge.


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## John F (May 19, 2014)

My Paperwhite (2nd generation) is nearly 5 years old and as good as new. Having a good cover may be one reason why.


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

Andra said:


> Did you do the update last year(? maybe longer ago than that) that was required for the older devices to still connect? I had to pull all of mine out and update them. I guess now you'd have to download the file and do it manually.
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200529680


Yes, I did the update; that is not the problem. It connects to the cellular network, strong signal, but won't load Kindle Store.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

tsemple said:


> Yes, I did the update; that is not the problem. It connects to the cellular network, strong signal, but won't load Kindle Store.


My K1 is a bit iffy at this point too with connecting to the store. Seems if I send stuff to it it works better than actually trying to pull it from the device itself. I don't really use it anymore, but I like to charge it up every month and turn it on just to see if it still can call home. I have not been able to get library books on it though via overdrive. But sending stuff to it from the computer works fine. Mine has all the updates, but something is not quite connecting all the way anymore.


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## jb1111 (Apr 6, 2018)

Kindle Fire, purchased in 2012 or 2013, still chugging. Not full f books yet, so it doesn't have memory issues. 

I don't keep the wi-fi on much to save on battery life. A full battery will sometimes last weeks if I am not using it much. Only turn wi-fi on when needed. 

It's only wigged on me 2-3 times, when it needed a reset. It still gets the job done.


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## Elk (Oct 4, 2010)

My 2010 K3 continues to work flawlessly and holds a charge well.  The Oberon case is also in perfect condition. 

As others have commented, it is easy to replace batteries in a GPS, cell phone, Kindles, etc. with the proper tool(s) and instructions.  I have replaced a number of batteries in such devices.


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

Just to note—my second kindle, which was going strange, seems to have recovered.


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## Glen Robins (May 21, 2018)

I've had my Kindle for nearly 3-1/2 years. Never had a problem. I keep about 15 books on there and only have a limited number of apps, most of which I could delete because I never use them. I spend probably about 2 hours a day reading. 
I'm inspired by RallyKid - he takes his on backpacking trips?!? I'm glad to hear there's a fellow backpacker here in the group. Do you have a special waterproof storage case? Or how to protect it from water? And how do you recharge it? Or does your battery hold out for the whole week by shutting down between uses? 
My problem is, I'm usually too tired from hiking all day to do much reading. Last trip, I was averaging 22 miles a day with lots of elevation gain, so I got about 5 minutes of reading done on my phone before falling asleep.


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## Shapeshifter (Dec 22, 2009)

I have three.

K2 - 2009 leather? cover with a strap that kept it closed.
I was overly careful, I took it most places. No glitches of any sort, still works.

KK - 2011-13 (will look later) Oberon leather cover.
It pretty much goes everywhere with me. I've dropped it, I don't know how many times, I am really really clumsy, and on all sorts of surfaces.
The only issue is that the bottom half of the screen goes completely black occasionally, that started happening after about a year or so, I've dropped it more after it started than before so I'm not really sure why.
It goes back to normal by putting it into sleep mode, occasionally it works just changing the page, rare that I've had to turn it off completely.

Oasis 7" - no cover yet, doesn't leave the house. I have dropped it a few times, onto carpet though, as it hardly leaves my bedroom either.


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## NedMarcus (Dec 29, 2017)

Glen Robins said:


> I've had my Kindle for nearly 3-1/2 years. Never had a problem. I keep about 15 books on there...


    15 books? How? I have about 500.


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## Elk (Oct 4, 2010)

It is challenging enough reading 15 books at a time.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

[off topic]
I've probably got a couple hundred books on any given kindle, and something around 3000 in my account. I am actively reading anywhere from 1 to 4 at a time -- usually not more than that.

For me, the great thing is that I CAN have all those books 'handy'. A month or so ago my sister in law was visiting and was kind of at loose ends. She'd mentioned she'd borrowed a couple books from the library to read and had finished one on the trip down and didn't care for the other one once she started it so she had nothing to read. That's not a problem I will ever have again.


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## Elk (Oct 4, 2010)

I, too, have hundreds of books on a given Kindle at any time.  Not out of necessity, only because it is easy. I suspect this is common. 

Five to ten would easily address my contemporary reading needs, including some in queue.


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## KimberlyinMN (Dec 30, 2009)

Elk said:


> It is challenging enough reading 15 books at a time.


That is about how many I keep on my Kindle too, maybe even less. For me, it just works with my "system" of organizing and/or organizing my books. Particularly books in a series.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

Pierrep99 said:


> Mine lasts until Amazon releases a new model...


What he said!


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

Mine last until I drop them. I've had my Kindle really slow down, but resetting it fixed it. I used to like to keep an awful lot of books in the Kindle - I think I had 90 pages of books on the Kindle Keyboard at one point. I don't keep as many anymore, and I'm more inclined to delete them from my device when I'm done. Not that I ever delete them from my account!


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