Lost: One poor, forlorn Kindle

I left my Kindle on a flight into SFO on Monday night, and unfortunately it doesn't appear that I'll be getting it back. After a two-hour delay to my flight, I think I was a bit brain-dead by the time we touched down, causing me to leave it sitting in my seat.

Feel free to contribute to the "Give a Blogger a Kindle" fund. Just hit "refresh" on this page 1,000,000 times today and my check from CNET should cover a new Kindle. :-)

Seriously, I'm really bummed. It was proving to be such an excellent device. I was going to be giving this one to my parents in Argentina to help keep my mom up-to-date on her books, but the thought of buying another one grates on me. I wish Amazon created a "self-destruct" feature in the device so that I could ensure whoever picked it up gets no enjoyment from it.

If you haven't bought one but have been considering it, I'd encourage you to give it a try. I was skeptical at first but quickly grew to love the device. It feels almost perfect in the hand and the screen is wonderful.

[seo2seo]

Theu could take a leaf out of gmail's book - allow you to log in to your account online, and close the link to the lost kindle - once you've done that, you'd be 'proving' that you no longer had access, and they should sell you another one at, say, 66% of the price.

Good Luck!

[The_Decider]

LOL No sympathy here.

Spend that much money just to read books you get whatever happens.

If you had misplaced a paperback it wouldn't be such a loss.

What is even more amusing is the issues you will have replacing any books you had stored thanks to DRM.

[Matt Asay]

Actually, it's pretty easy to replace the books - they just hold them in my account and were I to get a new Kindle they would automatically download to it.

But it's absolutely true that a paperback would have been cheap to lose. The only problem in this case is that the book I was reading - Sherlock Holmes - is quite big so that's why I brought the Kindle - to save space. Never again....

[zenoland]

Unregister the old Kindle in your Amazon account. This way no one can buy books from your account and all the books will disappear. When you get a new Kindle and register it, all your purchases will transfer to the new Kindle.

Check with lost/found department at the airline, it may just be waiting for you there.

[daverosenberg]

You are an idiot for trying to better yourself by reading at all...paperbacks are books too, The_Decider!

Matt--you should just get a lobotomy and make your life easier.

[lenedgerly]

Matt, this is a sad story that will probably help me from doing the same thing some time. I'm going to mention your post on the next issue of The Kindle Chronicles, my new weekly podcast all about the Kindle (listed in iTunes Directory and at http:www.TheKindleChronicles.com ) I may see if we can get a ChipIn! fund going to help you out. So if the airline returns it to you, please let me know!
Len Edgerly, Denver & Cambridge MA

[MoodyMonkeeMom]

Hey Matt, did you ever get your Kindle back? I just did the same thing! I feel like such an idiot, but not for buying the thing as some of the posters here think (they're just jealous) but for being careless. I think I took mine out of my bag at Atlanta Airport to did out my cell phone. I had been in Europe for 2 weeks and I wanted to call my kids to let them know we were back on American soil. Well, then we find out our gate had been changed and we only had minutes to get to the other concourse, so I got up and made a run for it, probably leaving the Kindle on the seat. Didn't realize it was gone until we got home in Tampa!!! I was so heart sick, had trouble sleeping and everything. I deregistered it right away. I made calls immediately to the airport and airline but am still waiting it out to see if it turns up. I was just wondering because the Kindle people tell me that they have helped 40 people out of 80 get there poor lost Kindle home.

[Lauren8204]

I'm so bummed, because I lost my Kindle DX yesterday as well! I'm not sure if I accidently left it at work or the gym on may way home or if someone took it, but no luck with the lost & found yet. I heard of another person who lost their kindle that created a text file of their contact information and sent it to their kindle so that if anyone found it they would know how to contact the owner. You can also register the kindle to a dummy credit card number rather than just deregistering it (since this would allow someone who took it to easily register it to themselves). Hope you find your kindle! It's so sad (and painful on the wallet) to lost them...

[JLadenburg]

Yes, it is true. Since each Kindle has a unique ID, Amazon could merely turn off the Kindle, making it useless to any theif. This would prompt theives to return them for a reward maybe. But, Amazon appears to encourage theives by refusing to do that. So, be prepared to have Amazon refuse to turn off a stolen Kindle even when they know a theif has it. They are apparently willing to accept the theifs money just for the greed. Would never had purchased one knowing this fact.