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I suppose most people have seen this: theverge.com/news/612898/amazo…

Follow-up question: Anyone out there with hands-on experience for de-DRM-ing downloaded books on MacOS? There seem to be a few tools out there, all a little on the sketchy side. I could do this on Linux if the tools are better there.


Amazon’s killing a feature that let you download and backup Kindle books

Amazon is removing a Kindle feature that allows purchased books to be downloaded to a computer for backup or transfer via USB.
Andrew Liszewski (The Verge)
in reply to Tim Bray

Jessamyn
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Jessamyn
• •
My usual advice is "Google Apprentice Alf" and I've had good luck with the results and use Calibre to get books on to my jailbroken Kindle.
in reply to Tim Bray

Jan Wildeboer 😷
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Jan Wildeboer 😷
• •
What works for me (MacOS 15.3): Calibre, current version, github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools deDRM plugin, add Kindle serial number in plugin configuration. Restart Calibre, import the awz(3) files downloaded from Amazon with the "Download & transfer via USB" option. I have imported and converted my 210 eBooks that way successfully.

GitHub - noDRM/DeDRM_tools: DeDRM tools for ebooks

DeDRM tools for ebooks. Contribute to noDRM/DeDRM_tools development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
This entry was edited (6 days ago)
in reply to Tim Bray

Paul van Buuren 🍉
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Paul van Buuren 🍉
• •

Calibre and several plugins for it are your friends.

I recently downloaded the books I bought through the Kobo store and removed DRM from it.

epubor.com/calibre-kobo-drm-re…

Remove DRM from Kobo with Calibre Kobo DRM Removal Obok_plugin

How to remove kobo drm? How to remove drm from kobo with Calibre ObokPlugin for free? How to remove drm from kobo plus ebooks?
Epubor.com
in reply to Tim Bray

Don Whiteside
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Don Whiteside
• •

The de-DRMing is a hint fiddly to initially set up but pretty rock solid once you do it and as simple as drag and drop. I found the process of actually downloading the files in quantity to be the really hard part. There’s a bit of python on GitHub that works well enough, though you either need to read Chinese or make liberal use of google translate.

I did it not long ago for my 2000+ kindle books. Look in some of my recent past toots to a link to a write up I did of the process

in reply to Tim Bray

1P1sces 🇪🇺
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1P1sces 🇪🇺
• •
The Calibre-cum-deDRM process won’t work for Kindle-DRM later than Jan/Feb 2024.
in reply to 1P1sces 🇪🇺

Tim Bray
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Tim Bray
• •
@1P1sces Is there an alternative that does work?
@1P1sces 🇪🇺
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Opiniated Charles
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Opiniated Charles
• •
@1P1sces have not seen found something that works on the new Amazon DRM format
So I switched to Kobo
@1P1sces 🇪🇺
in reply to Tim Bray

1P1sces 🇪🇺
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1P1sces 🇪🇺
• •
@1P1sces AFAIK, there isn‘t anything practical. There was some workaround involving an Android SDK to run the Android Kindle App. I gave this a try, but had to cancel when the installations gobbled up most of the free space on my M1 MB Air. It’s simply not worth the effort for me. But do consult the Mobiread forum mentioned elsewhere for the Android recipe.
@1P1sces 🇪🇺
in reply to Tim Bray

crater🐮n
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crater🐮n
• •
I've only de-DRM kepub books, for which I found a Calibre add-on.
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John Pettigrew
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John Pettigrew
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I saw this article referenced in another thread as a way to get your Kindle ebooks into EPUBs. cloudwards.net/remove-drm-from…

How to Remove DRM From Kindle Books [DRM-free books 2025 ]

If you want to open Kindle AZW files in other software, you’ll need to know how to remove DRM from Kindle books.
Aleksandar Kochovski (Cloudwards)
in reply to Tim Bray

Tim Bray
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Tim Bray
• •
Haha, so I installed Calibre, installed the DeDRM plugin, and as soon as I click on "Customize plugin", Calibre insta-crashes. This is sketchy territory.

Tim Bray reshared this.

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Jan Wildeboer 😷
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Jan Wildeboer 😷
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You installed the outdated 7.2.1 version of the plugin. I did the same. Crashed. But the 10.0.3 version I linked to in my reply to your post works. github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools

GitHub - noDRM/DeDRM_tools: DeDRM tools for ebooks

DeDRM tools for ebooks. Contribute to noDRM/DeDRM_tools development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
This entry was edited (6 days ago)
in reply to Tim Bray

beto issues 吴松皓;
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beto issues 吴松皓;
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never managed to properly use Calibre, most of the time it was just a OPDS catalog.
in reply to Tim Bray

Jay
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Jay
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Keep going! It's not sketchy, I've been doing this with Calibre on a Mac for many many years.
in reply to Tim Bray

Nathan Schneider
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Nathan Schneider
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My bigger challenge is that there is no Adobe Digital Editions for Linux, and I refuse to use Kindle, so buying ebooks (except from a handful of publishers that do no-DRM) is off the table.
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