Did find a manual of sorts on the Kindle -- Apps > Help & Feedback > User Guide. Wanted to know more about Music, but "Loading. Please wait..." - never did.... The other topics appeared. If I had a photogenic memory, putting a manual on an electronic device would be great. I need a printed page right next to the thing I'm trying to learn how to use! LOL I had previously looked at several links shown in the search engine for "Kindle Fire HD Owner's Manual" and other similiar wording. Found several places that wanted to sell the manual. No thanks. Just looked again and found the manual in PDF format by the nice people/person at Manual Buddy. Printed that out, but decided I'd still like to know more. (Guess there's no pleasing some people. :) ) Went shopping at (what's becoming my home away from home) Amazon and bought 2 paperbacks: My Kindle Fire HD by Jim Cheshire and Kindle Fire HD: The Missing Manual by Peter Meyers. There! If I can't learn more with bigger print and colorful pictures -- well, there's no hope for me. Ha Thanks all for your help. (Books aside, I've bookmarked the links you've given me, and I know I'll be visiting them.)

For those looking for a "router" for sharing data over cell services, there are additional alternatives to using a USB dongle with a portable router: - A "mobile hotspot", a combined cellular "modem" and router in one small package. Offered by the major carriers. Cost- wise, it's like having another phone, you pay to buy the device and have a (usually 2 year)contract with monthly access and data usage charges. - Most smart phones can operate as a mobile hotspot. Also called "tethering". The advantage with this is that there's nothing additional to buy and (at least with some carriers) no contract is necessary. You can turn it off and on as you wish, and apply usage to the phone plan you already have. The disadvantage is if you're not plugged in, the steady stream of cell data and wifi usage will eat through your battery life. I don't know if a tethered connection can be encrypted. It's convenient for occasional use, with my carrier, it's $ 20 per month prorated for the days it's turned on, so it's like 70 cents per day.

I have currently 4 tablets, one that is strictly an ereader, I got each of us one, very inexpensive. My husband loves it and uses his daily, I really don't use that one anymore but it will be his backup. I got the first pandigital novel 7 inch tablet which was a great tablet but it is outdated as far as the version of android on it goes, that one I passed down to a family member. I also have a 7 inch Sylvania that was also inexpensive which I used a lot and still do on occasion, that one will not be updated either but is fine for my husband to use to read the kindle books on and play solitaire and check email or Google something which is about the extent of his use. The one I use daily is my Vizio Vtab 1008 tablet it is still being updated and it will get the latest version of android ics in the near future, Vizio mentioned that recently when showing the new 10 inch tablet they are releasing soon. I love my tech toys but I don't spend a lot of money on them. The Vizio is the most expensive one and I got it as a refurbished unit for a very good price, luckily it was perfect. The laptop is a gift I got for my husband, I rarely use it, I do the updates on it. I do have an Acer netbook that I did use quite a bit, and still do when I travel, I prefer the keyboard. For daily use my desktop is custom made has 2 hard drives one with Linux one with windows. I use Mepis Linux pretty much exclusively for daily use. I do have a couple of other towers but they are backup. Luckily my husband supports my addict.... Um I mean hobbies lol. He has been urging me to get the nexus already! I am resisting so far. I guess it is my one vice. It could be worse lol

mudlady- You're sort of comparing apples to oranges. A Kindle Fire OS is much simpler and more limited in function than a PC's OS. You should simply buy the newest Kindle Fire and not worry. I suspect the device will fail physically before you have to worry about the OS being a problem. Amazon wants the Kindle Fire to work well for years to come: they don't want to alienate their ebook-buying customer base by introducing incompatibilities with new models. Finally, in all fairness to Microsoft, their ending of support for XP was no secret. They did maintain it for 12 years and warned people years before about the fact that support would be ending, and they even had three successor systems in release before they did end XP support. I have an old tablet that came with the latest OS available at the time -- XP -- and it's still functional. Just because support ended for that OS doesn't mean the software quits working. The best strategy is to buy current technology with the most current OS and use it. You may want something new in 10 years, but I don't think there is cause for alarm that an HDX 7 will suddenly turn into a lemon.