Calibre running, DRM question

DebbyS · 10-01-2011, 10:29 PM

I downloaded and installed Calibre. It went well. I visited "My Digital Editions" on my C drive and loaded all the books I had bought... but Calibre told me they were all protected by DRM. I had read in this forum somewhere that trying this would tell me whether or not my books (and I do me my books since I bought 'em) had DRM or not. That was true, Calibre did exactly that.

Being prepared by reading Alf, I applied the plug in tools available, read the instructions I had printed out, and was then able to use Calibre to open all these books and they looked great! I checked the directory I had made for that library (on a different drive than "My Digital Editions" just in case so there would be no conflict) and upon comparing, the Calibre library directory of the books showed that the books are somewhat smaller than the same MDE directory books.

If I am correct, the smaller file indicates that the DRM was removed (or nulled or crushed or something) from these (my) books. My question is...

If I back these smaller files up somewhere safe (like a CD) and some time in the coming years want to read them with new technology like a computer and/or ereader that can still read epub (but also washes dishes and tucks me into bed at night and costs under $100)... can this new set of technology read these ebooks that Calibre has... improved/freed up? Is there now no DRM problem?

It seems like the answer is that my books are truly mine now and I don't have to worry much about reading them in the future and I can give way the paper books they replaced... but I want to be 100% sure

wallcraft · 10-01-2011, 10:35 PM

If you can view the ebook using Calibre's built in reader, they are definitely DRM-free and will be that way forever.

unboggling · 10-01-2011, 11:57 PM

Congratulations on your successful calibre installation and DRM endeavors.

Another way to know if they still have DRM is to try to convert them to a different format. Calibre can convert from any of many formats to any of many formats, but if a book has DRM the conversion attempt will generate an error message. If the book doesn't have DRM, or any serious format problems, it is converted. So if it converts, you know it doesn't have DRM. For example, if you convert from a PDF format to MOBI format. Or from EPUB format to MOBI. Or from PDF to EPUB.

taustin · 10-02-2011, 04:11 AM

You can also rename (a copy of) the .epub part of the file name to .zip (because that's what it is), and double click it to open it up and browse the files inside. They will mostly be .html files, and if you double click on them they should open up (and be perfectly readable) in your default web browser.

While .epub may, eventually, fall out of common use, it is extremely unlikely they will ever be unreadable. Especially since you can read them in Notepad, if need be.

DoctorOhh · 10-02-2011, 07:20 AM

Both of the following suggestions (by unboggling and by taustin) have merit but wallcraft's suggestion of using calibre's viewer gives you a nice error specifically saying the book is infected with DRM, see attached. Alternatively you can quickly check an entire library of ePubs using the Quality Check plugin, see attached.

Quote:

Originally Posted by unboggling

Another way to know if they still have DRM is to try to convert them to a different format.

Converting the file will give you an error and is a way to tell if the book is infected with DRM.

Quote:

Originally Posted by taustin

You can also rename (a copy of) the .epub part of the file name to .zip (because that's what it is), and double click it to open it up and browse the files inside.

I'm sure unzipping it can tell you if it is infected with DRM, but renaming it to zip isn't needed there is a Tweak Epub (see attached) feature built into calibre that will let you explode the book and allow you to examine the contents.

DebbyS · 10-02-2011, 01:25 PM

Thank you all for all the extremely helpful information, advice and tips! I love it when a plan comes together -- and when I can pass along my paper books to others, but still have them when I want to read them again!

10-01-2011, 10:29 PM	#1
DebbyS Zealot Posts: 115 Karma: 1472692 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Albuquerque, NM Device: Jetbook Lite; Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0)	Calibre running, DRM question I downloaded and installed Calibre. It went well. I visited "My Digital Editions" on my C drive and loaded all the books I had bought... but Calibre told me they were all protected by DRM. I had read in this forum somewhere that trying this would tell me whether or not my books (and I do me my books since I bought 'em) had DRM or not. That was true, Calibre did exactly that. Being prepared by reading Alf, I applied the plug in tools available, read the instructions I had printed out, and was then able to use Calibre to open all these books and they looked great! I checked the directory I had made for that library (on a different drive than "My Digital Editions" just in case so there would be no conflict) and upon comparing, the Calibre library directory of the books showed that the books are somewhat smaller than the same MDE directory books. If I am correct, the smaller file indicates that the DRM was removed (or nulled or crushed or something) from these (my) books. My question is... If I back these smaller files up somewhere safe (like a CD) and some time in the coming years want to read them with new technology like a computer and/or ereader that can still read epub (but also washes dishes and tucks me into bed at night and costs under $100)... can this new set of technology read these ebooks that Calibre has... improved/freed up? Is there now no DRM problem? It seems like the answer is that my books are truly mine now and I don't have to worry much about reading them in the future and I can give way the paper books they replaced... but I want to be 100% sure

10-01-2011, 11:57 PM	#3
unboggling Wizard Posts: 1,065 Karma: 858115 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kobo Clara, Kindle Paperwhite 10	Congratulations on your successful calibre installation and DRM endeavors. Another way to know if they still have DRM is to try to convert them to a different format. Calibre can convert from any of many formats to any of many formats, but if a book has DRM the conversion attempt will generate an error message. If the book doesn't have DRM, or any serious format problems, it is converted. So if it converts, you know it doesn't have DRM. For example, if you convert from a PDF format to MOBI format. Or from EPUB format to MOBI. Or from PDF to EPUB. Last edited by unboggling; 10-01-2011 at 11:59 PM.

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10-01-2011, 10:35 PM	#2
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,977 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	If you can view the ebook using Calibre's built in reader, they are definitely DRM-free and will be that way forever.

10-02-2011, 04:11 AM	#4
taustin Wizard Posts: 1,358 Karma: 5766642 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Nook	You can also rename (a copy of) the .epub part of the file name to .zip (because that's what it is), and double click it to open it up and browse the files inside. They will mostly be .html files, and if you double click on them they should open up (and be perfectly readable) in your default web browser. While .epub may, eventually, fall out of common use, it is extremely unlikely they will ever be unreadable. Especially since you can read them in Notepad, if need be.

10-02-2011, 01:25 PM	#6
DebbyS Zealot Posts: 115 Karma: 1472692 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Albuquerque, NM Device: Jetbook Lite; Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0)	Thank you all for all the extremely helpful information, advice and tips! I love it when a plan comes together -- and when I can pass along my paper books to others, but still have them when I want to read them again!

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