Success, Kindle books to PRS-500

sith33 · 03-18-2009, 11:35 PM

I've seen a few folks allude to it, but I figured I'd mention some success.

I know specifics of DRM-circumvention are verboten, and it's not a particularly userfriendly process, but it's definitely doable. Involves an iphone/ipod touch, kindle app for said device, iphone backup extractor, some handy python scripts, calibre and some patience.

I love my reader, and wouldn't trade it for a Kindle, but I love Amazon's lower prices and wider selection, so this really made me happy.

Ervserver · 03-19-2009, 01:20 AM

sounds like a lot of work

InlawBiker · 03-19-2009, 01:48 AM

This is excellent. I can't wait to see Amazon prosecute people for buying stuff from them.

HarryT · 03-19-2009, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InlawBiker

This is excellent. I can't wait to see Amazon prosecute people for buying stuff from them.

It's not the "buying stuff from them" that's the problem. It's what you do with it afterwards that counts. If you break the law, you should be prosecuted. Full stop.

ozan · 03-19-2009, 06:40 AM

If one's user name is "sith", than it's no surprise that he/she works against the force and balance. This is natural

sith33 · 03-19-2009, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ervserver

sounds like a lot of work

Yeah, definitely is. But there have been a few books recently that I've had to buy in dead-tree because they weren't available on Connect, but were in the kindle store. Now there's another option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you break the law, you should be prosecuted. Full stop.

Meh. History is full of bad laws that were only changed because people routinely broke them. The spirit of 17.1201 is to prevent wholesale piracy. I'm buying a book from a store and reading it. That won't weight too heavily on my conscience.

Now excuse me, I need to get back to selling interest only, adjustable rate subprime mortgages to unemployed teenagers. You know, legal stuff.

smurphy · 03-19-2009, 09:09 AM

once you have the right scripts, it's easy.
Have to state though, that on a Linux system, and having a little bit of Command-Line experience makes things way easyer... I even wrote a script to automate the process on all files in a directory when I buy a bulk of books at a time.

Works nice - and on a 2GHz Dual Core CPU, it's even quite fast

HistoryWes · 03-19-2009, 05:17 PM

I would really like to see Amazon offer multiple formats. I don't think they are serving themselve or the ebook industry by limiting their selection to kindle format.

RickyMaveety · 03-19-2009, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's not the "buying stuff from them" that's the problem. It's what you do with it afterwards that counts. If you break the law, you should be prosecuted. Full stop.

However, Harry .... keep in mind that whether or not someone is breaking the law sort of depends on which country they are in. It also makes a difference as to whether the government is going to take the time and resources to prosecute them.

If someone is purchasing digital books from Amazon and then choosing to read them on a device that is something other than an iPhone or a Kindle, and they are not distributing the books to others but are undertaking the DRM mangling totally for their own personal use, why would the government want to spend several thousand dollars prosecuting that individual?? It would be the perfect example of the "victimless crime."

ahintz · 03-19-2009, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

However, Harry .... keep in mind that whether or not someone is breaking the law sort of depends on which country they are in. It also makes a difference as to whether the government is going to take the time and resources to prosecute them.

If someone is purchasing digital books from Amazon and then choosing to read them on a device that is something other than an iPhone or a Kindle, and they are not distributing the books to others but are undertaking the DRM mangling totally for their own personal use, why would the government want to spend several thousand dollars prosecuting that individual?? It would be the perfect example of the "victimless crime."

And that is why someone doing that will probably never be prosecuted, because the content owners will not want to see the DMCA invalidated by the courts, like with Fair Use and video. While I'm not volunteering (

), it would be nice to see these issues settled by the courts sooner rather then later.

JSWolf · 03-23-2009, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's not the "buying stuff from them" that's the problem. It's what you do with it afterwards that counts. If you break the law, you should be prosecuted. Full stop.

But, what is being done is fair use. And as of now, nobody has gone to court to see which the law would honor fair use or DMCA. So until then, it's a gray area and I don't see this changing until it does go to court. I'm on the side of fair use because the DMCA takes away fair use and a lot of other cases for different digital media has had fair use be the winner.

volwrath · 03-23-2009, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's not the "buying stuff from them" that's the problem. It's what you do with it afterwards that counts. If you break the law, you should be prosecuted. Full stop.

i dont think the US prisons can hold anymore of these DMCA violators.

spec2 · 03-24-2009, 12:58 PM

The reality people probably wouldn't bother tinkering with trying to decrypt Kindle books if publishers treated all eReaders equally. It costs them not a penny more to sell a Kindle Book than it does a Sony LRX or other format book. Yet Kindle books that are $9.99 on Amazon are almost twice that price at other ebook stores.

Now you could say Amazon has better pricing power, but we are talking about digital bits here not physical inventory that has to be manufactured using raw materials. There really is no rationale reason why there is such a price disparity. I love my 505, but honestly I just can't bring myself to pay $18 for an LRX book.

AnemicOak · 03-24-2009, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spec2

The reality people probably wouldn't bother tinkering with trying to decrypt Kindle books if publishers treated all eReaders equally. It costs them not a penny more to sell a Kindle Book than it does a Sony LRX or other format book. Yet Kindle books that are $9.99 on Amazon are almost twice that price at other ebook stores.

Now you could say Amazon has better pricing power, but we are talking about digital bits here not physical inventory that has to be manufactured using raw materials. There really is no rationale reason why there is such a price disparity. I love my 505, but honestly I just can't bring myself to pay $18 for an LRX book.

Except Amazon is undercutting everyone else by subsidizing book prices to get to that $9.99 point in many cases.

JSWolf · 03-24-2009, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Except Amazon is undercutting everyone else by subsidizing book prices to get to that $9.99 point in many cases.

Actually, we don't know this. Nobody has any hard facts to back it up. Maybe Amazon has managed to get the publishers to drop prices just for them. We just don't know.

03-18-2009, 11:35 PM	#1
sith33 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 118 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Sony Reader	Success, Kindle books to PRS-500 I've seen a few folks allude to it, but I figured I'd mention some success. I know specifics of DRM-circumvention are verboten, and it's not a particularly userfriendly process, but it's definitely doable. Involves an iphone/ipod touch, kindle app for said device, iphone backup extractor, some handy python scripts, calibre and some patience. I love my reader, and wouldn't trade it for a Kindle, but I love Amazon's lower prices and wider selection, so this really made me happy.

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03-19-2009, 01:20 AM	#2
Ervserver Wizard Posts: 2,624 Karma: 1008294 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Iowa, USA Device: Nook Simple Touch	sounds like a lot of work

03-19-2009, 01:48 AM	#3
InlawBiker Connoisseur Posts: 94 Karma: 544 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Seattle WA Device: Kindle 1.0	This is excellent. I can't wait to see Amazon prosecute people for buying stuff from them.

03-19-2009, 06:40 AM	#5
ozan Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 14 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Los Angeles CA Device: SONY PRS-505	If one's user name is "sith", than it's no surprise that he/she works against the force and balance. This is natural

03-19-2009, 09:09 AM	#7
smurphy Connoisseur Posts: 92 Karma: 272 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: PRS-505	once you have the right scripts, it's easy. Have to state though, that on a Linux system, and having a little bit of Command-Line experience makes things way easyer... I even wrote a script to automate the process on all files in a directory when I buy a bulk of books at a time. Works nice - and on a 2GHz Dual Core CPU, it's even quite fast

03-19-2009, 05:17 PM	#8
HistoryWes Teacher/Novelist Posts: 632 Karma: 2274466 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Nevada Device: Nook STR, iPad	I would really like to see Amazon offer multiple formats. I don't think they are serving themselve or the ebook industry by limiting their selection to kindle format.

03-24-2009, 12:58 PM	#13
spec2 Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 330 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: PRS-505	The reality people probably wouldn't bother tinkering with trying to decrypt Kindle books if publishers treated all eReaders equally. It costs them not a penny more to sell a Kindle Book than it does a Sony LRX or other format book. Yet Kindle books that are $9.99 on Amazon are almost twice that price at other ebook stores. Now you could say Amazon has better pricing power, but we are talking about digital bits here not physical inventory that has to be manufactured using raw materials. There really is no rationale reason why there is such a price disparity. I love my 505, but honestly I just can't bring myself to pay $18 for an LRX book.

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