How does Amazon identify ebooks?

[SpiderMatt]

I'm wondering what Amazon uses to identify ebooks. I strip the DRM from all my books before putting them on the Kindle, so I have no DRMed ebooks on there. Also, I have deDRMed books from my previous Amazon account, which Amazon cancelled when it was hacked last year. I can highlight and post a passage from one of these deDRMed books I bought from Amazon but is not on my current account and still have Amazon find it and list the quote as from the correct book. However, other titles downloaded elsewhere only get "from a personal document" listed. Does anyone know what Amazon uses to identify their books? It's not the title and author metadata and it's nothing in the DRM (since I strip that). I think it would be cool if there were a way to put that information into ebook files I make with Calibre or something so Amazon will recognize them.

[alexxxm]

as a privacy nut (or "tin-foil hat" as some kind soul recently called me) I certainly second this: I can live with people noticing what I read while riding the tube, but I dont want any corporation to know about 3.5GB of books in my kindle: one book tells you something about me, a library is a very confident insight, which I dont want to share.

alessandro

[slm]

The natural question would be whether the Mobi data still contains the Amazon "ASIN"

[SpiderMatt]

Hmmm... Didn't know anything about the ASIN, but according to Wikipedia, for books it's the same as the 10-digit ISBN. Maybe I'll try putting in an ISBN number and see if that does anything.

[SpiderMatt]

Looks like the ASIN is not stored in the ISBN slot of Kindle books. Does anyone know how I might put that info into an ebook?

[wallcraft]

Commercial MOBI (and AZW) ebooks include metadata identifying the ebook store, for example (via mobi2mobi):

EXTH    item: 1 - drm_server_id - 9 - EBOOKBASE
EXTH    item: 2 - drm_commerce_id - 11 - AMAZON_1110
EXTH    item: 3 - drm_ebookbase_book_id - 6 - 251848
EXTH    item: 100 - Author - 15 - Moon, Elizabeth
EXTH    item: 113 - ASIN - 10 - B0030DHPAC

This isn't changed by mobidedrm.py, so it might be what Amazon it using to identify its ebooks.

If you run the ebook though Calibre (mobi to mobi), then this metadata will be removed.

[SpiderMatt]

But I want to know how to embed this data so that books I make look like books from Amazon. That way when I post a quote to Facebook, the proper book will show up instead of saying it's from "a personal document."

[nashira]

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

But I want to know how to embed this data so that books I make look like books from Amazon. That way when I post a quote to Facebook, the proper book will show up instead of saying it's from "a personal document."

I'm not sure you actually could, because I think it'd need a legit book id to assign to it. AKA, something only Amazon could do.

And it might make amazon a little suspicious if they happen to notice.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

Looks like the ASIN is not stored in the ISBN slot of Kindle books. Does anyone know how I might put that info into an ebook?

You can do it in Calibre. The ISBN tag is available for editing, along with Title, Author, etc.

As far as I can see, this works will DRM books as well. But whether the Kindle actually "sees" the edited ISBN, I don't know.

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by Mike L

You can do it in Calibre. The ISBN tag is available for editing, along with Title, Author, etc.

As far as I can see, this works will DRM books as well. But whether the Kindle actually "sees" the edited ISBN, I don't know.

No, Amazon doesn't use the tag data. I'm pretty certain they go off the ASIN.

Originally Posted by nashira

I'm not sure you actually could, because I think it'd need a legit book id to assign to it. AKA, something only Amazon could do.

And it might make amazon a little suspicious if they happen to notice.

I think as long as you get the ASIN in there, Amazon should recognize it as whatever the ASIN is. I think the only thing that would make Amazon suspicious is if Kindle highlights and quotes are coming from a non-kindle book ASIN. I don't really care about that, though. What's it matter if Amazon is suspicious. I'm not doing anything illegal and I'm pretty sure it's not against Amazon's terms and services. Like I said, all I'm interested in is getting the quotes I post to automatically show up as the correct book. It just looks better. Plus, it posts to Facebook with cover art.

[eboyhan]

When you look at the file names of Amazon eBooks, you will see the ASIN # embedded in the filename; also you will see it embedded in the title if you bring it over to Calibre. Finally, if you look at the collections.json file on the kindle, you will see how Amazon stores eBooks from their store in collections. It involves the title and the ASIN # at least. I haven't looked closely enough to see whether author is also included.

I don't know whether it would therefore be possible to fake Amazon out using Calibre or not. One must also take into account that a lot of information about books bought from Amazon is maintained in your account on the Amazon servers/archive. So even if all the metadata was correct, if it does not match the data held by Amazon in your account, it may not work correctly.

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by eboyhan

When you look at the file names of Amazon eBooks, you will see the ASIN # embedded in the filename; also you will see it embedded in the title if you bring it over to Calibre. Finally, if you look at the collections.json file on the kindle, you will see how Amazon stores eBooks from their store in collections. It involves the title and the ASIN # at least. I haven't looked closely enough to see whether author is also included.

I don't know whether it would therefore be possible to fake Amazon out using Calibre or not. One must also take into account that a lot of information about books bought from Amazon is maintained in your account on the Amazon servers/archive. So even if all the metadata was correct, if it does not match the data held by Amazon in your account, it may not work correctly.

Amazon is not matching up books with the library. As I already stated, I have deDRMed ebooks from Amazon that are no longer on my account because Amazon closed my original account when it was hacked last year. Amazon said they couldn't give me my ebooks back but they reimbursed me for all the books I bought. I still had the books backed up without DRM, of course, and I can post to FB from those books and have them display perfectly.

[thianliongpatpoh]

I know for a fact that you can add this specific amazon ASIN from mobi ebooks you purchased from fictionwise. MobideDrm has a command line interface allowing you to do that. It's been a while since I tinker with it, but what you should do is find the ASIN number of that title at Amazon site. Use that, and you're set.

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by thianliongpatpoh

I know for a fact that you can add this specific amazon ASIN from mobi ebooks you purchased from fictionwise. MobideDrm has a command line interface allowing you to do that. It's been a while since I tinker with it, but what you should do is find the ASIN number of that title at Amazon site. Use that, and you're set.

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to see if I can find that command and try it out.

Also, I noticed you had James Marsden listed under the Fool Moon audiobook. I couldn't believe that James Marsden did audiobooks, so I looked it up. It's actually James Marsters, who, in my opinion, makes it way more awesome.

[TonytheBookworm]

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to see if I can find that command and try it out.

Also, I noticed you had James Marsden listed under the Fool Moon audiobook. I couldn't believe that James Marsden did audiobooks, so I looked it up. It's actually James Marsters, who, in my opinion, makes it way more awesome.

If you figure this out please shoot me an email on here. Thanks!!!
I tried putting the asin in isbn field in calibre but that doesn't work. If you find a method that will work let me know cause I could really use this feature.