This makes me so happy. It’s so fun to take these apart and clean them up!
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Excellent work. Where do you get them? What do you do with them once you have restored/refurbished them?
I find them at thrift stores, garage sales, and local marketplaces.
I hear you on those problems. Still, this Internet rando fully supports what you are doing. I applaud you keeping this perfectly functional tech out of a landfill or ekectronis recycler or whatever. I hope you can find the sector that you seek who will take and love these gagets.
Thank you!
Out of curiosity what would you think to charge for one that was refurbished and already installed with the custom firmware/side loaded stuff?
Cuz uhh… I’m exactly your target market, and I have 80k ebooks with zero need or desire for internet connection. My very old tablet is a shitty solution for ebooks cuz it’s laaaaaaaaagggggggyyyyyyyy and too bright and the battery lasts like no time at this point, but its not worth fixing because I rarely use it anyway.
Could I do it myself? Sure, I’ve repaired phones and laptops, and used to flash custom OS on my phones and stuff. But I don’t want to learn something new if I don’t have to, I’m tired and there are other projects that I have to do myself that require learning. I’d much rather pay someone who DOES want to.
You can find working ones pretty easily on eBay. They’re often listed for around $40 to $50, though you can sometimes find a good working one cheaper.
The Kindle 3 by default supports USB sideloading, so you don’t need to register it or connect it to Amazon.
First, download Calibre, a free, open-source program (highly regarded!) for organizing and converting ebooks. Charge the Kindle, connect it to your computer with a USB cable, and Calibre will detect it automatically.
Add your DRM-free ebooks to Calibre and convert them to MOBI, which the Kindle 3 reads well. Then select the books and click “Send to device.” That’s really all there is to it. It probably took me longer to explain than the process actually takes.
There are plenty of other e-readers, of course. Newer models support EPUB and offer more control over fonts, layouts, and other settings. I stick with the Kindle 3 because it’s easy to repair, and converting books to MOBI is simple. EPUB is the standard these days, but Calibre can convert your DRM-free books into whatever format your reader needs.
The hooha around Amazon is that they don’t allow you to buy an ebook from the, then download and transfer manually like they used to. But since you already have your ebooks, you don’t have to worry about that. I never get my books from Amazon, so never an issue for me either.
I’m like you, I just want to get a book, put it on my kindle, and read it. That’s it. All the newer models have so many bells and whistles. I don’t need any of that crap.
Where do you get your parts?
Garage sales, thrift stores, etc. If I need brand new screens or batteries, then Temu or Alibaba
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I may hit you up for one at some point when I’m less broke. I’ve been meaning to find a small ereader again.
Times are tough out there, for sure. Sometimes eBay has really good deals on them. Just make sure you get the ones that say “tested and working,” and check the seller’s feedback. If you keep an eye out, you can find really good cheap deals.
Nice work you are doing. Does this use similar skills as smartphone repair?
Thank you! I have never done smartphone repair. Maybe I should look into that.
Well… have fun !
Interesting.
I have an old kindle Paperwhite (gen 2 or 3). Is it difficult to replace the battery? It’s been lying around for a long time, so the battery doesn’t work very well anymore.
I have not changed the battery on one of those. I have heard that it’s pretty tricky though.
