Amazon Kindle | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books

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Customers using an outdated software version on Kindle e-readers require an important software update by today (March 22, 2016) in order to continue to download Kindle books from the Cloud, access the Kindle Store, and use other Kindle services on their device.

According to Amazon, if you do not update your device by today, you will receive the following message on your device:

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 see this message on your device on or after March 22, you will need to manually install the latest software update for your device. Go to Fire & Kindle Software Updates for more details.

The update concerns all Kindle versions up to and including 5.6.1.1. You can see a full list of devices here.

How to Update Your Kindle E-Reader via Wi-Fi

If your Kindle e-reader does not have the latest software version, connect your device to Wi-Fi to receive the software update.

To update your Kindle once connected to Wi-Fi:

  1. From the Home screen of your Kindle, select Menu or tap the Menu icon, and then choose Sync and Check for Items.
  2. Plug your Kindle in, and leave your Kindle plugged in and connected to a Wi-Fi network overnight.
  3. While asleep, the software update will download and install automatically. Your device may restart multiple times during the update process.

You will get a final confirmation letter titled 03-2016 Successful Update on your device when the update is complete. You can find the letter on your device by viewing all items in your Kindle Library, and then sorting the items by Recent.

If you’re not sure if your device has the latest version, go to Determine Your Kindle E-Reader Software Version.

I apologize for the late warning, as I only found out about this today.

Update

Lisa Shambrook reports that she contacted Amazon and they said most Kindles have automatically updated as people have used them. If so, no further action is needed. Most articles say sync and update and wait for a letter confirming the update, but Amazon said no letter will arrive if the Kindle is already on the correct version.

Also, many of you are asking what happens in regards to the Kindle app. This particular update seems aimed at e-readers alone, but Annette Rochelle Aben reports that you can still use the link above to update your app, if you haven’t already done so. Here’s how:

  • To update  Kindle Cloud Reader, click here, then click on the link that reads: FIRE & KINDLE SOFTWARE UPDATES.
  • SCROLL DOWN to nearly the bottom of the page and find LINKS for KINDLE for PC, MAC, iPAD, ANDROID, iPhone and iPod touch, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry.  
  • Click on Kindle for PC and follow the prompts.  It took Annette less than 2 minutes before her computer was updated.