Amazon Sued Over Cracked Kindles

[cheerio]

The irony is beautiful: To protect your Kindle, don't buy protection.

I love the irony

[starryskyz]

I feel vindicated

http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,4613.0/topicseen.html

When I received the cover back in Feb had brought up the hinge being support being weak and could cause damage to the Kindle, someone on this board called me a troll, and thought I was working for Oberon.

HAH!

[Pawz4me]

As you can see from this recent KindleBoards poll, cracking is apparently not all that common.  Or at least not amongst KindleBoarders --

Link to poll

[intinst]

1 in 110, pretty low odds.

[ReconDelta]

I am the new owner of a DX and the Amazon cover.   I read about this cracked case issue previously and was slightly concerned.   After inspecting the case and the cover, I can see how this cracking could occur...if you're a caveman.  

To cause a crack the user would have to first open the case from the back and apply a fair amount of force.   Since opening the case from the back would require substantially more force than opening from the front not only would the user have to ignore the obvious visual feedback, but also a tactile feedback required by the greater force.

Now I could see if a child had the case and opened it from the back, causing a crack, but any adult should easily be able to know both visually and tactilely they are opening the case incorrectly in order to prevent the case from cracking.  

A fix would be to Velcro the cover to the rear of the case.   Perhaps this should be done by Amazon as a simple fix, mail every customer who bought the case a .05 cent piece of Velcro with instructions.   Perhaps President Obama could get involved and invite everyone over for a beer after he calls Jeff stupid for not initially including Velcro.

In the end this is another example of why there are instructions to NOT drink bleach on every bottle.    Maybe I’m getting old, but this nanny state environment and class action lawsuit happy society is really irking me.   Recommend everyone read Glenn Beck’s newest book it may be our last wakeup call.  

Now watch me go and crack my case by opening it the wrong way, oh the irony.

[MarthaT]

1 in 110, pretty low odds.

pretty good odds id say

[karlm]

Another example of how the court's time is wasted. Get a life, loser.

My thoughts exactly. And a big lol at the $5M. I hope the whole "class" gets bitchslapped lol. I mean, conme on

[danfan]

As long as you don't let the Kindle swing forward on the hinges, it should be fine.  That is what causes the stress that causes the cracks.  There are, however, alternative covers that don't allow the Kindle to swing out, like the M-Edge GO! Jacket, which is the same price as the amazon cover and comes in a variety of colors:

My M-Edge prodigy hinge swings open and my Kindle dangles. I know it has the elastic straps AND the Prodigy has a front strap to keep it closed, but the elastic straps don't always hold it in at all (in fact, hardly ever) - the Kindle swings and it's the hinge that holds it in place.

Is this what's happening with the Amazon case & causing cracks? If so, then I might be adding velcro to the inside back cover of my M-Edge.

[Selcien]

Selcien. I agree... I bought a Patagonia becuse I don't want to risk damaging my DX either. The point I was making is that Amazon has responded and will replace damaged kindles... If I had one of the offending cases and I liked it, and I didn't think it would damage my kindle but the risk was there I'd keep it. If they didn't replace damaged kindles  I would throw the case out. But with this response its not unreasonable to keep using the dodgy case since Amazon will replace it.

I personally wouldn't want to use it as I think worrying over dropping the Kindle, or having something hit it hard is enough to worry over, don't need to worry about the cover damaging it as well.

With that said, I do want to make it clear that I like that Amazon is taking responsibility for the cracked Kindles, it's a drastic improvement over forcing people to pay out $200 or more to get a replacement, but I do hope that they will fix the cover. Of course, I have no idea why I should care at all as I'm quite thoroughly fixated on the Oberon covers (I'm planning to get at least four for my DX, currently have one with a second one on order). *shrug*

[carlobee]

Wow. 5 Mill is a lot! 

[Hopeful76]

I just hope they don't get rid of hinged covers because of this.  That's the type of cover I prefer and I would like it to remain available. 

I own two covers with hinges and have never opened my Kindle backwards (in 2 months of daily use) because both covers have the brand of the cover on the front cover so I know which side to open.  Because of this, my Kindle has not cracked.  I also take the Kindle out of it's cover regularly because sometimes when reading, I want it to be lighter, like when I read in bed.  I'm always really gentle with it when I take it on and off the hinges because it's too expensive in my opinion to roughly snap the hinges on and off.

I guess I'll just stay away from any cover brands where you can't tell the front of the cover from the back, so I won't have to worry about this being a problem.