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StevePoling · 10-08-2025, 04:13 PM

Earlier this year (2025) Amazon figured they'd change their ebook service to no longer allow me to download using USB the books I've bought from them. And they made ridiculous noises about only licensing the ebook instead of buying it.

(You may be aware of the argument that one ought not pirate an electronic copy of a book or tune b/c it is stealing. We should buy it instead. So, if Amazon won't let me have the books I paid for, I suppose that's stealing, too. Thus I decided to tilt at a windmill.)

Years back I discovered Calibre and found it to be an excellent tool for organizing my ebooks. At that time I had several ebooks from Project Gutenberg and also for my SONY eReader. It works well with my Kindle, too. And it has a handy DeDRM plug-in that lets me repair any content I buy from Amazon. Since I could no longer directly download content from Amazon, I sought a workaround.

The workaround I found was to buy a used Kindle Paperwhite, register that, and download content there. Then I ran Calibre with its DeDRM plug-in configured with the Kindle Paperwhite's serial number. With a USB cable between the Kindle and my laptop I managed to get DRM-free content on my laptop.

This worked, but only part way. The Kindle Paperwhite is a monochrome device. Amazon strips out color information from ebooks (e.g. covers) when sending to it.

This got me wondering whether Amazon would send color if I executed this workaround with a Kindle Colorsoft (a color eink device). Thus I sought to buy a used Kindle Colorsoft to run this experiment on. This morning I did just that.

This is what I did.
1) I selected a book I'd recently purchased. Downloaded it to my new
(to me) Kindle Colorsoft.
2) I dutifully noted the serial number of this Kindle and added it to
the list of Kindles in Calibre's DeDRM plugin.
3) I attached a USB cable between my laptop and Kindle Colorsoft.
4) I had Calibre show me the ebooks loaded on the attached device.
5) I selected an ebook with a colorful cover and downloaded it to Calibre.
6) I inspected the ebook in Calibre and was pleased to see its cover
was full color.

It should be noted that the Kindle Colorsoft is a very nice unit, but color e-ink display technology isn't quite there yet. The colors look a little washed out. You should use it in direct sunlight. If I wanted the Kindle Colorsoft for its color display, I'd be disappointed.

I'd like to thank everyone on this forum for providing the info I used to do what I described above.

10-08-2025, 04:13 PM	#1
StevePoling Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: SONY PRS-505	Tilting at Kindle's DRM Windmill Earlier this year (2025) Amazon figured they'd change their ebook service to no longer allow me to download using USB the books I've bought from them. And they made ridiculous noises about only licensing the ebook instead of buying it. (You may be aware of the argument that one ought not pirate an electronic copy of a book or tune b/c it is stealing. We should buy it instead. So, if Amazon won't let me have the books I paid for, I suppose that's stealing, too. Thus I decided to tilt at a windmill.) Years back I discovered Calibre and found it to be an excellent tool for organizing my ebooks. At that time I had several ebooks from Project Gutenberg and also for my SONY eReader. It works well with my Kindle, too. And it has a handy DeDRM plug-in that lets me repair any content I buy from Amazon. Since I could no longer directly download content from Amazon, I sought a workaround. The workaround I found was to buy a used Kindle Paperwhite, register that, and download content there. Then I ran Calibre with its DeDRM plug-in configured with the Kindle Paperwhite's serial number. With a USB cable between the Kindle and my laptop I managed to get DRM-free content on my laptop. This worked, but only part way. The Kindle Paperwhite is a monochrome device. Amazon strips out color information from ebooks (e.g. covers) when sending to it. This got me wondering whether Amazon would send color if I executed this workaround with a Kindle Colorsoft (a color eink device). Thus I sought to buy a used Kindle Colorsoft to run this experiment on. This morning I did just that. This is what I did. 1) I selected a book I'd recently purchased. Downloaded it to my new (to me) Kindle Colorsoft. 2) I dutifully noted the serial number of this Kindle and added it to the list of Kindles in Calibre's DeDRM plugin. 3) I attached a USB cable between my laptop and Kindle Colorsoft. 4) I had Calibre show me the ebooks loaded on the attached device. 5) I selected an ebook with a colorful cover and downloaded it to Calibre. 6) I inspected the ebook in Calibre and was pleased to see its cover was full color. It should be noted that the Kindle Colorsoft is a very nice unit, but color e-ink display technology isn't quite there yet. The colors look a little washed out. You should use it in direct sunlight. If I wanted the Kindle Colorsoft for its color display, I'd be disappointed. I'd like to thank everyone on this forum for providing the info I used to do what I described above.