Mobidedrm - How the heck do you use it??

[reeder]

I PM'd several people who seemed to know, but they didn't so somebody who knows how please tell me how.
I installed ActivePython 2.5.2.2 and have all the Mobidedrm scripts in text files. Now how the hell do I actually go about using this crap to get the damn DRM off my Mobipocket book? This stuff don't come with instructions clear enough for a layman to follow through.
And for those who will jump up and down about copyright, I bought this ebook as I couldn't find it in any easier format to rip to LRF.
All I need this MobideDRM thing to do is get rid of the DRM so I can convert it myself.

So someone please just give some clear info.

[wallcraft]

In answer to the general question of how to get a python script working, the first thing is that it should have extension .py. Then see How to make Igor's script work and/or The Idiot's Guide to running Igorsk's Python Scripts. Igor's kindlefix.py is a bit simpler than the typical format shifting scripts (fewer arguments), but any well written script is likely to give you an informative usage statement if called with no arguments. Sometimes arguments need to be in quotes, and the Windows cmd shell will complete a filename if you type a few characters and hit <tab> (and it will add quotes if necessary). If the shell gives you the wrong filename the command line can be edited with arrow keys and backspace.

[reeder]

Thanks for the response, I will try that. But I really need to convert a .prc file to anything else (html, .lit, .lrf) with ultimate purpose of ultimately converting into .LRF for the sony reader. But what I am confused about is the scripts I have for Mobidedrm are in text format with all the commands in there. Will this still be able to work?

Sorry if my tone in the initial post is flippy, but this is the most frustrating thing especially since the ebook I got is worthless to me if I can't convert it.

[wallcraft]

Python scripts are text files containing Python source code, which is run using the Python interpreter (the .py extension is one way for Windows to detect that the script should be run using the Python interpreter). Once you have a DRM-free MOBI file, then mobi2lrf (another Python script, part of calibre, which was formally known as libprs500) is one way to convert it. See Question about libprs500 and DRM-PRC files.... If you have calibre installed, mobi2lrf (not mobi2lrf.py) will be in your "path" and can be run from a command window in any directory.

[reeder]

Eureka!!!
Extremely big THANK YOU to you, Wallcraft!!! I am repping you and give you karma if I can. And I publicly state here that you have been the most helpful person to my situation in this whole forum with all your great resource links that explained how to do this extremely frustrating (for newbies) process step by step so even I could understand.
You just made a worthless purchase usable to me as I can now read my purchase on my Reader (the format from the conversion has made the text have some misspellings and spacing issues here and there, but that's normal the course with ebooks, isn't it?). Once again, big thank you to you, Mr. Wallcraft!!!

[Tam Magnus]

Nice to see that someone else remembers the old Murray teleprinter code :-)

[GatorDeb]

Ok I have mobidedrm and I ran it like this:

mobidedrm infile.prc outfile.prc PID

I tried the Kindle's PID (for the heck of it since the Mobipocket PID didn't work) and I also tried Mobipocket's PC PID. I then took that file and used it on processText's Amber Palm Converter, and the resulting files are scrambled. I used a perl script and it says it has Huff compression or something like that. Which leads me to believe it's not DRMing. Help? Thanks!

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by GatorDeb

I used a perl script and it says it has Huff compression or something like that.

There are two levels of compression that can be used in MOBI ebooks. All (or almost all) DRM-free MOBI's use the standard compression, but some DRMed MOBIs use the high compression. Some programs won't read high compression MOBIs, even when their DRM has been stripped off.

If you want to "explode" a DRM-free MOBI (e.g. the result of mobidedrm), I recommend the python command mobi2oeb which comes with Calibre. If you have Calibre installed, then you should be able to invoke mobi2oeb from the command line. Its primary advantage is that it handles both compression levels. An "OEB" ebook is HTML, images, and a .opf file (just as you get from exploding a LIT ebook using ConvertLIT). Unless the MOBI is already in its own directory, you should give mobi2oeb a directory name (e.g. Author_Title) to hold the output:

mobi2oeb -o Author_Title Author_Title.mobi

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by GatorDeb

Ok I have mobidedrm and I ran it like this:

mobidedrm infile.prc outfile.prc PID

I tried the Kindle's PID (for the heck of it since the Mobipocket PID didn't work) and I also tried Mobipocket's PC PID. I then took that file and used it on processText's Amber Palm Converter, and the resulting files are scrambled. I used a perl script and it says it has Huff compression or something like that. Which leads me to believe it's not DRMing. Help? Thanks!

are your files stored in the C: directory?

I had to move everything into that directory because originally mine was in the My Documents and for some reason it wouldn't work. Um also, I'm not sure if you checked this but in the command prompt you also need to be at C:

in XP my command prompt had me starting at My Documents and I had to move down a few directories.

[GatorDeb]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

There are two levels of compression that can be used in MOBI ebooks. All (or almost all) DRM-free MOBI's use the standard compression, but some DRMed MOBIs use the high compression. Some programs won't read high compression MOBIs, even when their DRM has been stripped off.

If you want to "explode" a DRM-free MOBI (e.g. the result of mobidedrm), I recommend the python command mobi2oeb which comes with Calibre. If you have Calibre installed, then you should be able to invoke mobi2oeb from the command line. Its primary advantage is that it handles both compression levels. An "OEB" ebook is HTML, images, and a .opf file (just as you get from exploding a LIT ebook using ConvertLIT). Unless the MOBI is already in its own directory, you should give mobi2oeb a directory name (e.g. Author_Title) to hold the output:

mobi2oeb -o Author_Title Author_Title.mobi

IT WORKED BEAUTIFULLY!!! THANKS!!!! I already had Calibre installed so I just ran the command and now I have the book in HTML format !!! Thanks again!!

[GatorDeb]

Well, now that I think about it, after stripping drm there really isn't a need to convert, is there? The Kindle will read them just like that?

I converted five without a problem but two gave me this error message:

Line 24 something about getsizeoftrailingdata entried and index out of range.

What could be going on with those?

Thanks again!

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by GatorDeb

Well, now that I think about it, after stripping drm there really isn't a need to convert, is there? The Kindle will read them just like that?

Yes. The Kindle can read DRM-free MOBIs with either kind of compression.

[wallcraft]

There were originally two version of mobidedrm and sometimes only one of the two works. There is a 4th version that is supposed to work on all files, see New Patches to MobiDeDRM 0.02.

[GatorDeb]

Thanks, they both converted! I was only able to make 3 of the four changes:

if size <= 0:

My script didn't have that, so I couldn't make the first change. Still it worked!

My script was .02.

[pdurrant]

The first change is to add two lines (one of which is the if size <= 0 line) after the line bitpos, result = 0,0

So it's not surprising you couldn't find if size <= 0 in the script.

Do make the change - otherwise there are some Mobipocket fies it won't work with.

Paul

Originally Posted by GatorDeb

Thanks, they both converted! I was only able to make 3 of the four changes:

if size <= 0:

My script didn't have that, so I couldn't make the first change. Still it worked!

My script was .02.