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How to Save $30/$40 on the Kindle (& Not See the Ads)

Amazon just started telling everyone that they’re shipping the Kindle Touch a week early, and since my unit is due to arrive in 3 days or so I thought now would be a good time to share a trick I came across a few weeks back.

I was the first to post about how to buy your way out of seeing the ads on the kindle, but my competition turned up an even better method. It’s only been tested on the K4, not the Kindle Touch, but I would expect the trick to work the same on both ereaders.

He discovered a way to use the ad-supported K4 and never see the ads. I wish I had known about it before paying Amazon $30 (I’m cheap);  the trick takes a little bit of time but i think its a fair trade for the savings.

It turns out there’s a loophole in Amazon’s ad platform. The K4 and Kindle Touch will shows ads while asleep and on the home screen, but they won’t show ads while they’re turned off. That means if you take the time to shut off the Kindle, you can avoid seeing ads.

It only takes about 6 or seven seconds to turn off the Kindle, and you can turn it on again just as fast as if you were waking it up. Pretty cool, huh?

Now, I know it’s a little late to cancel the Kindle Touch you may have ordered and get the ad-supported model, but since I posted about how to buy your way out of the ads a while back, I figure most people are already getting the ad-supported model. I certainly am, and TBH that’s becuase I forgot to swap the order with the retail-priced model.

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Comments


Common Sense November 13, 2011 um 10:48 pm

I personally don’t get all the to-do about the ads, just like I didn’t get all of the complaints about the book-related screen savers. Who looks at their Kindle screen when it’s asleep?

Besides, some of the ads are great deals, like choosing a book for $1.

Sweetpea November 14, 2011 um 1:43 am

If the ads showed up during reading, I could understand the want to turn it off… But with the way it’s implemented now…

But this piece raised a question with me. Do you see the ads if you have wifi turned off? Or will it keep showing ancient ads?

fjtorres November 14, 2011 um 7:56 am

Word is, without WiFi it won’t refresh the screensaver or the banner so you just get the old ones.


Andrew January 13, 2012 um 3:37 pm

Not sure is this is correct for all but I was just able to turn off the annoying ad/screensavers by connecting my kindle to the computer, then going to amazon, to the 'manage your kindle' page via your account page, then on the left select manage your devices, then you should see your kindle (if you have registered it) then on the line where you see your kindle, about half way across you’ll see a option under 'special offers' to 'unsubcribe'

I unsubcribed and now I don’t get the offers, just the artsy fartsy screensavers

Ken February 3, 2012 um 10:09 pm

That works, BUT you will be charged to unsubscribe. The amount charged depends on which version of Kindle you own.


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