Remember that old Kindle sitting in the drawer of your bedside table, under the bed or down the side of the sofa? Patiently waiting for the next sun-filled jaunt where it will spend hours in your grasp beside the pool before, upon your return, being tossed aside as reality returns at full speed. Well that old, unloved, uncherished Kindle needs an update or it could be rendered useless.

Amazon has told owners of any pre-2012 Kindle they’ll need to update the device before March 22 or face being locked out of the Kindle Store and unable to sync with the cloud. That means no new books to read.

The update affects pre-2012 devices (Mark Lennihan/AP)

Amazon says if you do not update your Kindle before March 22, you’ll receive this warning when you try to access internet services:

“Your Kindle is unable to connect at this time. Please make sure you are within wireless range and try again. If the problem persists, please restart your Kindle from the Menu in Settings and try again.”

Kindle’s automatically update when connected to WiFi so if you regularly use it, yours should be running the latest version. However if, as described as above, it is kept in hiding for most of the year, then it will need an update or you could find yourself having to make conversation with the couple next door on that next poolside holiday.

Failing to implement the update will stop you from downloading new books (Reed Saxon/AP)

Not to panic if you miss the March 22 deadline, the update can be performed manually after this date with instructions on Amazon’s website.

The emergency update is for the original Kindle Paperwhite (2012) and every Kindle before it. This includes:

Kindle 1st Generation (2007)

Kindle 2nd Generation (2009)

Kindle DX 2nd Generation (2009)

Kindle Keyboard 3rd Generation (2010)

Kindle 4th Generation (2011)

Kindle 5th Generation (2012)

Kindle Touch 4th Generation (2011)

Kindle Paperwhite 5th Generation (2012