[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by lizzybeth05

First, I was under the impression that the Kindle only supported Unsecured Mobi books, at least without using other tools as a ‘work around’(is this true)?

Yes, only DRM-free or KindleFIXed MOBIs are supported. The KindleFIX tool can allow some DRMed MOBIs to work (primarily lending library ebooks now) and mobidedrm can strip the DRM entirely.

Originally Posted by lizzybeth05

Second, I know that Igorsk has developed a few programs which allow Kindle users to purchase mobi DRM books and then alter them so that they can be loaded onto the Kindle.

I have a few questions regarding these programs:

1. Does anyone know if they will work with the Kindle 2?
2. The alterations performed on the file (that allow it to be loaded on to the Kindle), is the process basically removing the DRM? If so, isn’t that considered illegal?
3. By loading these files onto the Kindle (which I’m guessing is not an ‘authorized’ use of the kindle) would it void the warrenty? Or get you in trouble in anyway with Amazon, or are you violating any kind of copyrights?

So far it seems to work on the K2, but no one has one yet to check for sure. Some have argued that KindleFIX violates Amazon's terms of service, but it is entirely legal from an ebook copyright point of view. You are buying the ebook from an agent of the copyright holder and that agent has accepted the Kindle PID - in other words the copyright holder has authorized reading the ebook on one particular Kindle. As evidence of its legality, this is the only DRMed ebook tool that has its own wiki page here and is downloadable from a static and publically available web site. Lots of K1 owners are using KindleFIX on lending library ebooks and Amazon has not done anything to prevent this.

Originally Posted by lizzybeth05

First, where can I get these free tools which are used to make these conversions and where can I get information on how to use them? Do these tools still work for secured .lit files?

Second, when the files are converted, are there any problems with the formatting? [INDENT]For example: if you copy text from a PDF file and paste them in Word the letters will copy over but a lot of the formatting is lost or altered. There are typically extra line breaks and sometimes extra spaces between letters of the same word. Is this kind of thing a problem with the conversions from microsoft reader format to mobi format?

The easiest tool to use is Calibre (which has its own forum here). MobiPocket Creator can also convert exploded LIT (OEB) to MOBI. The reason this works so well is that LIT and MOBI are both based on OEB 1.0, so the conversion is between very similar formats. LIT to ePub (OEB 2.0) also works well.

All conversion tools work on DRM-free ebooks. To strip the LIT DRM use "ConvertLIT GUI". Note that this is generally thought to be illegal in the US (although there are no controlling cases), but ConvertLIT has been available for years without MicroSoft doing anythng about it and stripping DRM from ebooks you bought for your own use hurts no one.