- deregister it from your account (so no one can order books for it on your dime), and
- ask that use of the device be blocked. (If the Kindle is returned to you later, you can reregister it by contacting Amazon with your original account info.)

Unfortunately, I do not believe that at this time Amazon will do anything more to help you recover a stolen kindle. However, if enough people learn to take the above steps when their device is lost or stolen, it should reduce the blackmarket.

Also, consider having your email or phone number scribed on the device, so that if someone finds it, they can get in touch with you.

(btw, Kindles actually are trackable via cellular triangulation, but Amazon only does that in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, who as far as I know only do it in the context of a larger criminal investigation. So for the typical joe-on-the-street, this remains a moot point).

Cheaper option

By LifeStar on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 3:15pm.

I hope the owner knows that it would probably be wiser to get oneself a new Kindle than to pay for the reward money, unless the reward money is below $60. The currently wifi model of the Kindle costs about $139 bucks; with 3G it's $189; either case, I'd just deregister it in the meantime and use the kindle app for the pc/mac for a week. If it doesn't come back by then, cut your losses and get a new one.

But what about the Kindle's contents?

By Ron Newman on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 5:00pm.

All of the e-books on that Kindle are probably worth a lot more to the owner (maybe even monetarily).

Kindle Books

By anon on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 8:34pm.

Are attached to the account, so if you get a new one you can get back whatever you had.

Amazon maintains a copy on

By anon on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 8:43pm.

Amazon maintains a copy on its servers of any e-books you purchased thru Amazon; so once you register your new Kindle under the same account as your prior Kindle then you can reload your previously purchased books onto the new Kindle at no charge... if you've got alot of books it can take awhile.

But what about e-books not bought through Amazon?

By Ron Newman on Wed, 02/16/2011 - 7:52am.

Does Amazon know about them as well?

No Amazon only archives

By anon on Wed, 02/16/2011 - 10:41am.

No Amazon only archives e-books acquired (for free or paid for) thru Amazon.

For books acquired outside of Amazon things are more complicated.
For instance, people acquiring books via Google or Gutenburg would have those books loaded to their laptop... then attach their Kindle to a usb port and use a book management tool like Calibre to convert/copy the book to the Kindle.

New crimes

By MovingForwardorbackward on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 3:20pm.

So if it is was kidnapped it would be Kindlenapped? If it met an unnatural end this might prompt laws against Kindlecide? But if the Kindle is in Newton and is engaged in public displays of solitary affection it might be arrested for lewd and lascivious Kindlelation.

Not bright

By JohnAKeith on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 3:24pm.

Okay, I'll bite, what's the headline joke?

Yiddish

By anon on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 6:17pm.

oh mein bubeleh is the usual - o my dear one - loosely translated

Excuse my Yiddishkeit

By adamg on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 7:16pm.

Kindeleh (or kindelah) is an affectionate way of saying "child." Your bubbe (ach, there I go again) might call you her kindelah, when she's not calling your her shayna maydeleh (if you're a girl) or pishakacker (if you're a boy, as opposed to her husband, the alter kacker).

A good name for a Jewish cruise ship, Harry Golden once wrote, would be the S.S. Mein Kindt (because back in the day, Jewish parents were always telling their children to "ess, ess!" i.e., "eat, eat!")

In other exciting reward

By bb on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 8:20pm.

In other exciting reward news, there's a "LOST AN EARRING?" sign in Coolidge Corner where said missing earring is actually attached to the sign. Suppose that strategy wouldn't work quite as well with the Kindle.

Oy, mein Kindle-eh!

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