Dedrm Kindle

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I’ve been a big reader since I was a kid, all kinds of books from many sources. I was an early Kindle adopter, but as Android tablets came out I found them better for reading:

  • Configurable: you can set a wider variety of fonts, sizes, margins, colors, layouts.
  • Open: you can install any number of reading apps for every eBook format available. You’re not locked into any single book ecosystem.
  • Graphics: books with pictures, diagrams, etc. are much better on a tablet. Even a large eInk reader lacks color and renders slower.

I have a Kindle Paperwhite 4 (10th gen, 2018) and I recently got some epub books that are in a series. I have converted them to the azw3 format for Kindle using Calibre and edited the metadata to group the books into the same series. However, when I finished the first book in the series, I didn't get the next in series option (see below). The DeDRM plugin handles books that use Amazon DRM, Adobe Digital Editions DRM (version 1), Barnes & Noble DRM, and some historical formats. The Obok plugin handles Kobo DRM. Users with calibre 5.x or later should use release 7.2.0 or later of the tools. Users with calibe 4.x or earlier should use release 6.8.x of the tools. To install, download the DeDRM zip file. Do NOT extract it. In Calibre, click on Preferences, scroll down and click on Plugins in the Advanced section, Click on the “Load plugin from file” button on the bottom right of the Plugins screen. Find and select your DeDRM zip file. Select 'DeDRM' under the 'File type plugins' list and click the 'Customize plugin' button. In the 'Customize' window that opens, click the 'eInk Kindle ebooks' button, then click the + button to add your Kindle's serial number. (On my basic wi-fi Kindle this is listed under Settings - Device Info.). Stripping the DRM: ch33s3w0rm/kindlededrm. This is a Python script which strips the DRM from an encrypted Kindle book. The encryption in a given file is tied to your device, so you’ll need your Kindle’s serial number to perform the decryption. It runs in Python 2, no dependencies required.

Due to the variety of books I read, no single ecosystem would do the job. Plus, I take a principled opposition to any company that tries to lock customers into its ecosystem. When I buy a book I don’t believe I’ve bought it to read on a particular device, in a particular format, to access whenever some corporation thinks I should be able to. I’ve bought the right to read it on any device, in any format, whenever I want to, forever. Just like a real book. Indeed, eBooks often cost as much as real books even though the marginal cost of the next eBook sold is zero. And, I run native Linux on all my computers.

Kindle

All of this all led me to start using Calibre to manage my eBooks. Calibre is simply great – it meets all these needs and more. It’s a great organizer, supports all devices, all formats, can convert between them, and has many plugins with an active open source development community.

Without owning a Kindle, how does one buy books from Amazon, store them on your own computer and read them on any device in any format? Here’s how:

Even though I run Linux, I have a VM running Windows. I don’t use it for much, only those few apps that I can run natively on Linux or in a browser. Unfortunately, Amazon Kindle is one of those. In this VM I have the Kindle for PC app registered to my Amazon account.

I’ll assume you already have Calibre running and you’ve installed Apprentice Alf’s DeDRM plug-in.

Next, do a one-time configuration step: capture the Kindle key from your Windows PC and copy it to Calibre so it can DeDRM Kindle books.

  • On Windows
    • Install Python 2.7 and Pycrypto 2.6 for Python 2.7.
    • Unzip the Calibre DeDRM plug-in ZIP file
    • In this zip, find the file kindlekey.py.
      • This zip file has several directories and files in it. In DeDRM_6.6.0, this file is here: DeDRM_Windows_ApplicationDeDRM_AppDeDRM_liblib
    • Open a command prompt and run this file: kindlekey.py
    • You’ll see something like this:
      • Using Library AlfCrypto DLL/DYLIB/SO
        searching for kinfoFiles in C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataLocal
        Found K4PC 1.9+ kinf2011 file: C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataLocalAmazonKindlestorage.kinf2011
        Decrypted key file using IDString ‘406xxxxxxx’ and UserName ’63xxxxxx’
    • It creates a new file: kindlekey1.k4i
    • Copy this file to a directory your Linux Calibre app can see
  • On Linux
    • Run Calibre
    • Click Configure, Plugins, File type plugins, DeDRM
    • Click Customize plugin
    • Click Kindle for Mac/PC ebooks
    • Click Import Existing Keyfiles
    • In the file dialog that pops up, pick your kindlekey1.k4i file

Dedrm Kindle For Mac

You’re done: Calibre DeDRM is configured to be able to DeDRM ebooks you drop on it, so long as they come from your Kindle for PC reader.

After I buy a book on Amazon, I deliver it to my Kindle for PC device.

  • In Windows:
    • Open Kindle for PC, refresh your library. The book should appear.
    • Double-click it to download it.
    • After the book opens, close it and the Kindle for PC app.
    • Open folder UsersUSERNAMEDocumentsMy Kindle Content
    • Your book will be one of these folders named B…._EBOK
    • Sort by date to put the most recent files on top
    • Open the folder and you’ll see an azw file having the same filename as the folder.
    • Copy this azw file to a directory that your Linux Calibre can see.
  • In Linux
    • Run Calibre and drag/drop the azw file on it.
    • Calibre will strip the DRMs and add it to your library

Dedrm Kindle Unlimited

You now own the book. It’s stored on your own hard drive, you can read it on your PC, convert it to any format you want, copy it to any device or app you want to use to read it.

I started off reading eBooks from the Amazon Kindle store. As time has progressed, I’ve found myself using my physical Kindle less and less. Partly because I forget to charge it, and partly because I can never get the lighting in my favorite reading locations quite right. And at night? Forget about it.

Cisco anyconnect for windows 10. So I’ve converted all of my Kindle purchases to ePubs for use in iBooks. I could use the Kindle app for iOS but I’ve found iBooks to be faster at syncing read position, and it feels a lot more natural to use.

Since I went through the effort of converting all of my Kindle documents, I figured I’d write a mini guide to getting it done. I’m specifically focusing on the Mac since that’s all I know; other users will have to venture elsewhere.

Setting up Calibre

Dedrm Kindle Pc

Calibre is a Java application which is an eBook management suite. It’s a bit ugly but it does what it says and works well. Since the Kindle’s eBooks are encrypted, we need to install a decryption plugin to do the heavy lifting there.

Dedrm Kindle Book

  1. Download and install Calibre.
  2. Download and decompress the DeDRM archive.
  3. Open Calibre’s preferences (⌘,).
  4. Go to “Plugins”.
  5. Click “Load plugin from file”.
  6. Choose the K4MobileDeDRM plugin’s zip file (zip within the main zip; don’t extract).

The encryption used on Kindle books is fairly basic. The decryption key is a product of the serial number for your device, so it’s not difficult to determine.​

Stormzy twitter. Getting eBooks

The DeDRM scripts work by understanding Kindle for Mac’s settings files, so to get the eBooks we need use the application. There are scripts to do conversions directly from Kindle hardware’s eBooks, but it’s more effort.

  1. Download Kindle for Mac.
  2. Register it with your account.
  3. Download all of your eBooks (open them from the “Archived Items”).

Converting eBooks

Kindle eBooks are in the MobiPocket format. However, iBooks requires ePub, so we need to both decrypt and convert the files. At this point, we’ve got all we need, so we can use Calibre to do the conversion. Archive utility mac password.

Dedrm Kindle

Calibre Dedrm Kindle For Pc

  1. Navigate to ~/Library/Application Support/Kindle/My Kindle Content/
  2. Drag all of the .azw files into the Calibre window.
  3. Select the books in the Calibre window which you wish to export.
  4. Click the “Convert books” toolbar item.
  5. Choose “ePub” as the output format in the top-right of the convert window.
  6. Go to the “Page Setup” item in the left list, and configure the conversion as so:
    1. Select “Kindle” as the input profile.
    2. Select “iPad” as the output profile.
  7. Hit the “OK” button to begin the conversion. It may take a while.

If you have any issues at the decryption step, you should delete your~/Library/Application Support/Kindle folder and start again.

Enjoy

You can now “Save to disk” from the toolbar item to save the books which you’ve converted, and import them into iTunes for use in iBooks. Calibre is powerful enough to do many other formats if you want to use other devices as well.

Dedrm Kindle For Mac Keys

Remember, don’t post any of the unencrypted documents anywhere. Just because the DRM is gone doesn’t mean you’re legally authorized to do so. They’re for your personal use only.