Amazon and DRM changes

[jonathan2022]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Please don't ever mention that program that stole code from DeDRM to make a profit. It's garbage and don't mention it and don't pay for it and don't use it.

sorry i didnt know was only trying to help

[issybird]

Originally Posted by jonathan2022

sorry i didnt know was only trying to help

No need to apologize. People don’t like epubor here, but there’s no reason you should have known that. It would have been better if you’d got a response that was less about squashing and more about informing.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by tomsem

The calibre plugin makes it appear that it will (there is an option to enter Fire serial number), and maybe it once worked, but no longer.

I don't know if that ever worked but it certainly does not now. The Kindle app on Fire tablets works like the other Kindle apps in that it uses a unique random factor generated when the app is registered with Amazon as part of the DRM key. The serial number alone is not sufficient to determine the key used to encrypt books.

I have been wondering for awhile why Amazon has not done the same thing with e-ink Kindles. That would certainly close up one of the gaping holes in their walled garden. My concern is that they may think it is unnecessary if they plan to block Kindle book downloads in the future anyway. Or perhaps they just don't care and Kindle owners will continue to get a free pass.

[Gardenman]

What is the earliest kindle that to buy to overcome this?

[Quoth]

Maybe a Kindle Keyboard 3, if those still register. It certainly is oldest that can get azw3/KF8.
Also some S/H Kindles will never register due to being blacklisted.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Or perhaps they just don't care and Kindle owners will continue to get a free pass.

They don't care and forcing someone to upgrade a free app isn't at all the same as obsoleting a physical device.

A 1949 record player with stylus/cartridge for microgroove and 33 rpm speed still plays new vinyl. Though curiously the retro-portable record players with 33, 45 & 78 can't play 78s properly unless you change the cartridge & stylus system. A 78 needs a fat round one.

A 1962 Philips compact cassette player (if belt not dozed) will still play.

I have one 1987 CD player, still plays new CDs and my 2002 DVD player still plays new DVDs.

Smashwords still sometimes has new books offering LRF for oldest Sony and pdb for oldest Palm/Symbian/WinCE PDA/phones. All the oldest Sony or other ereaders using epub still work.

The older kindles with WiFi or Mobile can't shop direct, but the very oldest 2007 model Kindle still works via Download for USB Transfer.

They got a load of bad publicity remotely removing ebooks. There is no bad publicity in obsoleting a free app that has a replacement free.

You can still replace the batteries.

So obsoleting an app and a physical Kindle are not the same category.

Mind, the MS Watches with radio data via FM are gone as is MS "Plays for Sure" media.

Amazon did kill off the ebooks they sold before the Kindle (maybe before they bought Mobipocket), but again, those were App only.

I may be misremembering a few details.

[Quoth]

Remember DRM is an illusion that only makes money for the company licencing it, or in case of Amazon, it makes them no money (years ago they did buy it in, but not since azw). My tech Guru says it's doomed. It's gone off Mp3 itunes?

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Remember DRM is an illusion that only makes money for the company licencing it,

Denuvo DRM cracks seem to be happening faster and faster. Denuvo is a very intrusive DRM that affects game performance.

[stumped]

Back when DVD was still a thing, nearly every commercial dvd started a fake FBI warning about jailing pirates, then continued with an unstoppable 2 minutes of anti copying oropaganda, lwith the catch phrase "you wouldn't steal a car would you", It showed a sad loner watching his download everyually fail, while honest people nearby were already enjoying their movie.

The commercial was so annoying it must have encouraged many people to buy drm stripping software which let them copy the dvd, minus the unskippable annoyances. I bought dvdfab, which served me well for many years.( Even though it was made in China and suffered having its website blacklisted ). I just now checked and dvdfab.cn is still alive and well.

Your long analogy lost me somewhere along the way,, I was waiting for the bit about how your record player could not play CDs even when you filipped them over to try playing the other side, but you never got there.

Amazon have completely killed off Amazon drive. All those promises about free lifetime cloud storage for your valuable family photos and home movies just evaporated. Does that count as obsoletiing a physical device?

dvd is now almost dead. Amazon still sell a few but blockbuster.videos is long gone. My obsoleted dvd player expired and got binned. Netflix rules.

As dvd was dying though, we went though many pointless rounds of Hollywood movies trying to made their commercial dvds uncopyable, and each new drm attempt was defeated.

If you are old enough, you may remember sony,'s attempt to stop music cdcopying my actually adding malware that silently damaged your pcs operating system ivy installing nasty malware., that also failed miserably.once exposed

More recently, as already mentioned, we had the denuvo drm damage, which allegedly killed SSD drives future lifespan with constant writes

Not sure what my point is, just enjoying rambling on...

Maybe its that hardening Drm is usually bad. And ultimately pointless

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Wo...7t_Steal_a_Car
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_B...ootkit_scandal
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/is-de...th-it.1427579/

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by shalym

I'm not sure that this is correct. I was able to register my new Kindle that I got for Christmas without having 2 factor authentication turned on...the process was no different than it was for the last few Kindles that I registered.

Shari

I was talking about old Kindles, based on my recent experiences. The newer ones will prompt for code if you are using 2 factor auth. With older ones you have to append to password.

It sounds like you do not have 2 factor turned on. You might consider doing it.

With new Kindles you can also do setup using the Kindle app for iOS or Android, no need to enter Amazon or WiFi credentials. Similar to setting up new iOS devices.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by stumped

dvd is now almost dead. Amazon still sell a few but blockbuster.videos is long gone. My obsoleted dvd player expired and got binned. Netflix rules.

Hey! I prefer DVDs, have a nice collection, and just bought a new DVD player - when my Philips decided to suck in my DVD of Die Hard (part of a box set!) and refused to give it back! (We took the device apart, removed the DVD, put it back together, and it still works...it's like a speaker thingy. I'll never put another DVD in it! But it plays sound from the TV)

Sorry!

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by stumped

Maybe its that hardening Drm is usually bad. And ultimately pointless

It impacts legit customers more than the pirates. Since Windows removed support for SecuROM (and rightfully so; it was a huge security hole) I've had to go to shady sites to acquire NoCD cracks to play the games I purchased!

I also have one game that I can never play again because the installer phones home to a website that no longer exists and won't let me proceed past that.

[ownedbycats]

I was googling around to see if any other sites had picked up on this. One did... by pretty much paraphrasing my first post.

[jonathan2022]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I was googling around to see if any other sites had picked up on this. One did... by pretty much paraphrasing my first post.

Would be nice if Denver cracking team helped with Amazon kfx drm.

[C-novice]

Hard truth for thought. . .

For those of us very, very, small minority who never and will never own a kindle of any sort and are reading addicts, can we see ourselves, stop purchasing ebooks from Amz?

Not for Amazon as it is clear it matters not to them but for our own principled sakes?

True. There are some authors we like but their books are exclusive to Amz. That said, perhaps we should get to them and publishers asking them to make their books available elsewhere for purchasing as well. If they do, fantastic! Happy reading to us all. If not, likely just strike them off the TBR list until Amz is not the only purchase option?

Easier said than done. . .