We’re witnessing a critical moment for Amazon Kindles

To say that Amazon has had a rough year with the Kindle would be an understatement. Between sunsetting older e-reader models, making it harder to download purchased Kindle books, and introducing a series of changes that gave power users plenty to complain about, Amazon’s Kindle ecosystem was clearly going through a rough patch. It’s gotten to a point where plenty of users have started looking at Kobo or one of the many Android-powered e-readers instead.

These alternatives offer many of the extras that Kindle fans have been asking for for years – physical buttons, support for more formats, and better customization. Basically, they offer more control over the device you paid for.