Dealing with Kindle for PC/Mac 1.19 and KFX in calibre

[justloveebooks]

Originally Posted by davidfor

No, it is the recent "NoDRM" repository that has been taken down. The previous developers "DeDRM tools" are still up.

Correct, just checked, but how long until they stop working due to being outdated. Also I followed the link from here, so that is where new people look.
Currently I am switching from an old Mac mini (still running some 32bit-Apps) to a new iMac-24 M1 and does not look good, even for Kindle:
Kindle for Mac 1.2xx copied from old mac does not run, new one is 1.33, but cannot be modified for NoKFX. Downloaded books, wether AZW or KFX cannot be DeDRMed.
Working for me:
download from Amazon for transfer to USB
copying from older Kindle
or the still working old mac mini, but that is slowly dying...
at least EPub DeDRM from Adobe Digital Edtitions is still working for now, even with ADE 4.0 (which is supposed to be not working for some books with newer DRM?).
Well, we will wait and see...

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by justloveebooks

Correct, just checked, but how long until they stop working due to being outdated. Also I followed the link from here, so that is where new people look.

No idea. But, someone will probably take it up. The issue for NoDRM seems to be that they added some things related to library books that DeDRM does not do.

[Jacques Q.]

Hello to all.
Sorry for jumping into this and adding my two cents without being in the least technically proficient, but all I know is that after having done quite a lot of research on how to handle these issues, I've been using both KFX Input (version 1.31.0) and DeDRM (version 6.8.0) with Calibre (version 4.23) and have never had any problem for over a year : apparently the KFX Input extension strips any incoming ebook of its KFX characteristics the second it is added to Calibre and turns it into a "plain" AZW3 that is then easily stripped of any DRM and converted to Mobi or EPub or such.
One useful precision : I download e-books not on any Kindle device, but on "Kindle for PC" (version 1.19, no later version will work ; and by all means block any automatic update of Kindle for PC !) ; only then do I transfer what I want to a Kindle.
Then again :
1/ since, as I said, I am not technically proficient, it may just be that, by sheer chance, none of the books I downloaded were actually in KFX, and thus what I think is the action the KFX Input extension is not ; but considering the number of e-books I deal with (around 25.000) it seems statistically rather unlikely ;
2/ it is, as far as I know, still impossible to use DeDRM with any version of Calibre numbered 5 or above (no big issue as long as version 4.23.0 works fine).
The only books that will not be converted at all are the ones in the weird (and rare) AZW4 format (chiefly textbooks and quite a bit like PDF-lookalikes, apparently).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Jacques Q.

Hello to all. Sorry for jumping into this and adding my two cents without being in the least technically proficient, but all I know is that after having done quite a lot of research on how to handle these issues, I've been using both KFX Input (version 1.31.0) and DeDRM (version 6.8.0) with Calibre (version 4.23) and have never had any problem for over a year : apparently the KFX Input extension strips any incoming ebook of its KFX characteristics the second it is added to Calibre and turns it into a "plain" AZW that is then easily stripped of any DRM and converted to Mobi or EPub or such.
Then again :
1/ since, as I said, I am not technocally proficient, it may just be that, by sheer chance, none of the books I downloaded were actually in KFX, and thus what I think is the action the KFX Inpurt extension is not ; but considering the number of e-books I deal with (around 25.000) it seems statistically rather unlikely ;
2/ it is, a far as I know, still impossible to use DeDRM with any version of Calibre numbered 5 or above (no big issue as long as version 4.23.0 works fine).
The only books that will not be converted at all are the ones in the weird (and rare) AZW4 format (chiefly textbooks and quite a bit like PDF-lookalikes, apparently).

1. Sorry to break your bubble but neither the KFX Input plugin or the DeDRM plugin will remove DRM from KFX books downloaded with newer than K4PC/Mac 1.24(?).
   
2. DeDRM version 7.21 from Apprentice Harper or 10.0.2 from nodrm's fork of 7.21 will remove DRM in calibre 5.xx.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Jacques Q.

2/ it is, as far as I know, still impossible to use DeDRM with any version of Calibre numbered 5 or above (no big issue as long as version 4.23.0 works fine).

Eh? It's been possible for a loooong while now. I don't even remember for how long. A year, at least.

[lkmiller]

No, KFX Input does not turn KFX into AZW3 automatically on import. I imagine you're still using Kindle for PC 1.17 which cannot download KFX format. And AZW4 should work too as long as it is purchased and not a rental.

[melltuga]

wait, rented (e.g. Kindle Unlimited) books don't work anymore? was that different at one point?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by melltuga

wait, rented (e.g. Kindle Unlimited) books don't work anymore? was that different at one point?

Detailed help with DRM removal isn't allowed.

Also, whether it worked or not, the Apprentices were clearly against anyone removing DRM from books they don't own.

Note that if you read a Kindle Unlimited ebook outside an Amazon app, the author doesn't get paid.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by melltuga

wait, rented (e.g. Kindle Unlimited) books don't work anymore? was that different at one point?

I was referring to textbook rentals.

But, yeah, regardless of whether you can, seriously not cool to do that with KU books.

[melltuga]

yup, sorry for this!
absolutely didn't mean to debate if this is okay or not, it's definitely not a cool thing to do.

Again, sorry!

[JSWolf]

The NoDRM DeDRM 10.0.2 version is still available. The change to the repository is that the Readium LCP DRM removal code has been removed. This allows the repository to remain.

https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools/releases

[Jacques Q.]

Originally Posted by DNSB

1. Sorry to break your bubble but neither the KFX Input plugin or the DeDRM plugin will remove DRM from KFX books downloaded with newer than K4PC/Mac 1.24(?).
   
2. DeDRM version 7.21 from Apprentice Harper or 10.0.2 from nodrm's fork of 7.21 will remove DRM in calibre 5.xx.

Well, thanks a lot for breaking my bubble, they're here to be broken.

So, being better informed now, I upgraded to both the newest Calibre and the newest DeDRM versions and kept KFX Input anyway, and I did retain Kindle for PC 1.17, that still seems to be KFX-proof (I guess all people having problems with KFX could try doing the same).
BUT I got a new problem : while I could create catalogs with the newer Calibre, they failed to be added to the e-books, and so there was no point doing it... Mr. Goyal nicely tried to give some advice, but it failed.
So I cowardly downgraded back to Calibre 4.23.
But now one question : should I also go back to the older version of DeDRM that used to work only up to Calibre 4.23, or will the now installed DeDRM 7.21 (fit for Calibre 5) also work with 4.23 ? One may say "you'll see when you try", but I'd rather avoid a problem than have to correct it...
Thanks a lot in advance for any advice on this.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Jacques Q.

Well, thanks a lot for breaking my bubble, they're here to be broken.

So, being better informed now, I upgraded to both the newest Calibre and the newest DeDRM versions and kept KFX Input anyway, and I did retain Kindle for PC 1.17, that still seems to be KFX-proof (I guess all people having problems with KFX could try doing the same).
BUT I got a new problem : while I could create catalogs with the newer Calibre, they failed to be added to the e-books, and so there was no point doing it... Mr. Goyal nicely tried to give some advice, but it failed.
So I cowardly downgraded back to Calibre 4.23.
But now one question : should I also go back to the older version of DeDRM that used to work only up to Calibre 4.23, or will the now installed DeDRM 7.21 (fit for Calibre 5) also work with 4.23 ? One may say "you'll see when you try", but I'd rather avoid a problem than have to correct it...
Thanks a lot in advance for any advice on this.

Detailed help with DRM removal is not permitted at MobileRead.

I suggest you ask for help in a discussion thread at NoDRM's github repository.
https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools/discussions

[Jacques Q.]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Detailed help with DRM removal is not permitted at MobileRead.

I suggest you ask for help in a discussion thread at NoDRM's github repository.
https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools/discussions

I will, thanks. Still it seems from looking at it a bit more closely that one older version goes for older versions of Calibre and reciprocally.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Jacques Q.

I will, thanks. Still it seems from looking at it a bit more closely that one older version goes for older versions of Calibre and reciprocally.

Calibre plugins can be version dependent. As calibre changes, the plugins need to be updated to support new features in calibre or changes in the libraries. Some plugins are coded to support a range of calibre versions, others only support since the last full version. So, yes, older versions of plugins may be needed with older versions of calibre.