4 ms·
I don't know what state it's in (haven't used it in years), but do apprenticealf's DeDRM tools, which has been forked to nodrm/DeDRM_tools, still handle kindle
by harshreality 1y ago
I don't know what state it's in (haven't used it in years), but do apprenticealf's DeDRM tools, which has been forked to nodrm/DeDRM_tools, still handle kindle PC app downloads? Tinkering with old versions of the PC app might work even if the current version doesn't, and there's a registry hack to disable kfx downloading and get azw3 instead, which worked at some point... it's outlined in apprenticealf's DeDRM repo, at the wiki link provided at the top of the repo's README, in the short section saying it's no longer maintained.
That would provide a closer-to-original version of the ebook, rather than just a visually similar one.
That any of this is necessary at all is absurd. Hats off to anyone with the patience to bypass Amazon's DRM rather than giving up on the Amazon ebook ecosystem entirely.
- ashton314 1y agoThe thing that killed the download -> crack DRM workflow is that Amazon removed the "download and transfer via USB" option. I haven't bought an ebook from Amazon since. The only viable option would be to buy the book and then pirate a de-DRM'd copy.
- nekusar 1y agoWhy buy an ebook then? Just buy the physical if you want, and pirate it. Dont pay for your own hope that you can pick the lock of your own paid for jail cell.
- wffurr 1y agoThen I have a physical book to deal with.
- supportengineer 1y agoThe horror!
- Hackbraten 1y agoMany people live in small apartments. The footprint of a single physical book may be negligible but five hundred books can become a logistical nightmare.
- mikkupikku 1y agoJust leave it laying around somewhere. It makes you look erudite.
- wffurr 1y agoOr like I have a hoarding problem. In the old days, we used to cart boxes of books down to the used book store in exchange for credit, and then load back up with more reading to bring home.
- mikkupikku 1y agoI mostly meant that suggestion as a joke, but to be real I can't imagine reading so many books that you run out of room for enough bookshelves. I have several boxes of books and it's a huge pain when moving to a new apartment, but otherwise I just get more shelves when I need more. I don't think having a lot of full bookshelves would ever be perceived by others as a hoarder scenario if the apartment is kept clean and neat. But I do think that being seen to own many books will generally give people a better impression of you, so I was sort of serious with that joke.
- wffurr 1y ago>> to be real I can't imagine reading so many books that you run out of room for enough bookshelves I don't have anywhere close to enough bookshelf space for the number of books I've read over the years. I moved my book boxes many times before I gave up on most of them. Now I don't even have space to put them all out. 88 square meters for a family of four with toys etc. doesn't go very far.
- marcosdumay 1y agoDonate it to a library so other people can know about it.
- Seattle3503 1y agoGiving the physical book away kinda defeats the spirit of buy + pirate.
- marcosdumay 1y agoYou are still buying a copy, that I imagine is the practical effect you want. You don't keep proof, though, and probably isn't allowed to keep a backup after you give the book away. But most countries laws don't care about any of this (and it's not a backup).
- Seattle3503 1y agoIf you pirate then re-sell the book to a friend and they do the same, only one copy ever gets bought but everyone gets access forever. Whereas of everyone buys new, keeps the book, and pirates, the author isn't going to see much negative impact. Hanging on to the "proof" is important. Otherwise all you really prove is that you paid money to touch a physical copy.
- toomuchtodo 1y agohttps://help.archive.org/help/how-do-i-make-a-physical-donation-to-the-internet-archive/ https://help.archive.org/help/how-do-i-make-a-physical-donat... https://apps.apple.com/app/id1668658774 https://apps.apple.com/app/id1668658774 can be used to verify if they require a physical copy. (usps bound printed matter is usually least expensive when shipping books)
- array_key_first 1y agoYou might just give it to the public library. Or, you might find the author online and see if they have some sort of donation mechanism set up. It's very common these days for a lot of professionals, but some authors are old school.
- AshleyGrant 1y agoThat's what they said they would do. They would buy the physical book and then pirate an ebook copy that's been de-DRMed.
- latexr 1y agoMight as well send the author the money directly, instead of spending it all on publishers and middlemen that you’re specifically trying to avoid. When you do, include a note on how their chosen method of sale is most hostile to legitimate consumers and recommend some DRM-free book stores.
- WithinReason 1y agoHere is a breakdown of how much money the author gets (from Fabien Sanglard): https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/ https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/ When I upload the PDF on Amazon, a minimal price is automatically calculated. In the case of the DOOM, Amazon sets the minimal price at $51.35. There is a slider which authors can use in order to add their "share" on top of Amazon price. I have added $3.88 which Amazon also takes a cut on. The result is $1.59 royalty and $0.77 profit per book sold.
- prism56 1y agoThe hell...
- harshreality 1y agoIsn't he talking about the print copy?
- tpxl 1y agoPrint copy: 57% of the price Amazon: 40% of the price Author: 3% of the price (half of which goes to taxes)
- harshreality 1y agoHe doesn't have to get 3%. He could raise the price so he gets more. Color printed books are expensive, but I think he chose the premium color print option rather than the standard color print option. You can try it out: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/royalty-calculator https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/royalty-calculator { pages: 432, dimensions: 7.5"x9.25" } Roughly $18 for basic color and $36 for premium color (which probably also means heavier, higher quality paper). Amazon takes 40%. Barnes and Noble Press takes 45% for self-published books, and their printing costs are within a couple dollars. Compare to typical retailer+distributor costs of >50% while authors get <15%. The economics of retail print publishing and logistics don't seem to work out at higher author royalty rates. Authors who don't want to give up 40% of list price always have the option to handle printing, shipping, and accounting themselves, selling on ebay or from their own website.
- felixhammerl 1y agoFor those with an old Kindle, couldn't you download it onto the Kindle and then pull it off of there via USB?
- mikevm 1y ago[dead]
- acrophiliac 1y agoThat sounds simple, but wouldn't the ebook you "pulled off" the Kindle still be in Amazon's format with DRM? I don't think this solves the original problem.
- felixhammerl 1y agoThe first problem was to get the original file from somewhere in a usable format, then strip DRM in a later stage. Seems like step 1 was already made significantly harder now.
- smithza 1y agoI tried to do this recently but discovered that the DRM algorithm changed and I couldn't use the standard de-DRM tools.
- felixhammerl 1y agoThanks for the info!
- johanyc 1y agoare you using a relatively new kindle?
- bambax 1y agoMost of the books I read are from authors long dead (current one: Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, by Frank H. Knight, highly recommended). They don't need the money.
- Uvix 1y agoIt will handle downloads for older versions of the PC app, but the supported version won't download any books released after April 2025.
- Imustaskforhelp 1y agoThat's Erm not that bad actually, can you please explain more, I just want to give more attention to this since it definitely caught my attention in this thread.
- kristofferR 1y agoApparently this method bypasses that issue: https://techy-notes.com/blog/dedrm-v10-0-14-tutorial https://techy-notes.com/blog/dedrm-v10-0-14-tutorial
- digianarchist 1y agoAlso Libation for Audible books.
- mapontosevenths 1y agoI pay for a tool called epubor that strips DRM from kindle, kobo, Adobe, etc and converts it epub. It works with the current version if the app. It gets updates when it stops working. Feels jank to pay for the book AND pay to free it, but that's the world we live in.
- thunkle 1y agoI just paid for it, downloaded the kindle app, and dragged the .awz8 file and it says it doesn't support the format!
- mapontosevenths 1y agoI think you might be doing something wrong then? Maybe you have the wrong file? The Kindle For PC app should always give you azw files, not azw8 (even if it does use the newer format they're all just named azw). It should show up in the epubor app on the Kindle tab after you install the kindle app and used it to download your books. No need to drag and drop from the file system it's all right there in the app. It finds Kindle, Kobo, etc and lists them. EDIT - Make sure you leave the Kindle app running. I think it needs to be able to read the keys from memory or something.
- boredhedgehog 1y agoEpubor is merely plagiarism. They take open-source code and sell it without crediting the author. You can have all the functionality for free.
- mapontosevenths 1y agoI'm sure you're right, but I'm not sure I care. I mean obviously I would prefer they give credit where it's due, but even writing those tools in the first place is a felony in some countries. It's not like they're robbing someone of their livelihood and the value they add by putting Kobo, Kindle, Nook, and Adobe all in one place with a built-in format convertor is really high.