[screwballl]

You do not need an actual Kindle to purchase ebooks from Amazon. It may help to download and register "Kindle for PC" with them, even if you do not officially install it.

I have used DRM Tools Archive 2.3 (which includes unswindle) and it worked well for my testing on 2 books (the other 1000+ ebooks I have either did not have DRM, they were scanned and converted before companies started adding DRM to ebook files, many of them I did legally pay for or got legally free from various sources like Gutenburg Project).

Otherwise, yes if you want to buy a DRM book from Amazon for use on your device, that would be the steps to get it converted. Also realize that many books do not have any DRM at all so calibre can convert it directly without the need to use unswindle or DRM Tools.

From a legal perspective, the law conflicts itself and I seriously doubt there will be any resolution of this anytime soon.

The Fair Use Act states you have every right to use, change or convert whatever media (analog or digital) you legally acquired as long as it is only for your own personal use.

The DMCA states you have NO right to change or convert whatever media you legally acquired, only to use it in the exact form which you legally acquired it. They also added in a piece that states it is illegal to bypass any "copyright protection measures" such as DRM, which is why so many companies are using various types of what they call DRM.

This way if you bypass it, you are legally responsible whatever happens after that.