New version of DRM removal tools ("DeDRM")

[steven168]

is it stable?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by steven168

is it stable?

The only change is the addition of support for Amazon's KFX format. You may want to wait and see if any problems are discovered before installing it, especially if you have no interest in KFX.

[Katsunami]

Very cool.

Even though I intend to stick with ADE 2.0.1 and EPUB as my main format for as long as possible, with K4PC 1.17 and KF8 as a backup, it's nice to know that KFX's DRM has been broken.

The conversion plugin says that KF8 is superior for conversion (because the book is one file and the format is well known, I assume), but still, it's better than nothing if KF8 and/or EPUB ever ceases to be distributed. While I'm sure EPUB2 will be around for a long while to come, I can see Adobe, at some point, requiring ADE 4.x as the minimum software to download the books.

(Almost forgot... Kobo KEPUB's, un-DRM'ed, converted and then cleaned, can also be made into regular EPUB's.)

Thanks to everyone working at this stuff

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

The conversion plugin says that KF8 is superior for conversion (because the book is one file and the format is well known, I assume)

You don't necessarily need to convert KF8. They often have an embedded EPUB that can be extracted with kindleunpack.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

You don't necessarily need to convert KF8. They often have an embedded EPUB that can be extracted with kindleunpack.

In most cases a KF8 file is basically a repackaged EPUB, so if you want to get as close as possible to the original source file that the publisher sent to Amazon then using kindleunpack on a KF8 file is your best option. That will preserve the original HTML and CSS content of the book.

KFX is far more highly processed and its content bears little resemblance to the original file from the publisher. The KFX Input plugin attempts to decompile it back into an EPUB, but the result will never be an exact match to what the publisher sent to Amazon. It will be good enough for reading since all of the text and most of the formatting is preserved.

[darryl]

My thanks to everyone involved.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

You don't necessarily need to convert KF8. They often have an embedded EPUB that can be extracted with kindleunpack.

For the record: there is never an "embedded" epub in a KF8 book just waiting to be extracted. Kindleunpack is merely building an epub from the html, css and index data that is extracted from the binary Kindlebook. It strives to make as little alteration to the markup as possible, but it IS generating some of its own content. It HAS to. A binary Kindlebook has no internal file names, and links point to numeric offsets in the binary file. So Kindleunpack must generate file names, and link ids. Depending on the original source for conversion, the resulting epub from Kindleunpack might not even be valid.

I don't mean to be overly-dramatic, I just want to make sure people understand. There IS an embedded pdf file in an azw4 that Kindleunpack merely "extracts." The creation of an epub from a KF8 kindlebook is bit more involved than "releasing the epub trapped inside."

[JSWolf]

Always the resulting ePub won't pass epubcheck. But it's not difficult to fix with the Calibre editor.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Always the resulting ePub won't pass epubcheck. But it's not difficult to fix with the Calibre editor.

Or any epub editor, for that matter. And how many commercial epubs pass epubcheck with flying colors out of the box?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Or any epub editor, for that matter. And how many commercial epubs pass epubcheck with flying colors out of the box?

No idea. I usually make some changes to the ePub and validate before side loading. So even if there were errors from the publisher, I'll have fixed them.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

For the record: there is never an "embedded" epub in a KF8 book just waiting to be extracted. Kindleunpack is merely building an epub from the html, css and index data that is extracted from the binary Kindlebook. It strives to make as little alteration to the markup as possible, but it IS generating some of its own content. It HAS to. A binary Kindlebook has no internal file names, and links point to numeric offsets in the binary file. So Kindleunpack must generate file names, and link ids. Depending on the original source for conversion, the resulting epub from Kindleunpack might not even be valid.

I don't mean to be overly-dramatic, I just want to make sure people understand. There IS an embedded pdf file in an azw4 that Kindleunpack merely "extracts." The creation of an epub from a KF8 kindlebook is bit more involved than "releasing the epub trapped inside."

Thanks for the very helpful clarifications which are not dramatic at all.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Or any epub editor, for that matter. And how many commercial epubs pass epubcheck with flying colors out of the box?

Well... since the last few years, this has become quite good, to be honest. I've not bought too many books since 2014, but the fixes I had to do were often very minor compared to what I had to do before that time. Very often, the fixes are only my preferences, and not needed per se.

[Pajamaman]

Many thanks.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Well... since the last few years, this has become quite good, to be honest. I've not bought too many books since 2014, but the fixes I had to do were often very minor compared to what I had to do before that time. Very often, the fixes are only my preferences, and not needed per se.

You're lucky then. I can't remember the last epub I bought that didn't have at least one structural issue. I'm not talking about personal preferences, mind you. I'm talking about issues that the IDPF's EpubCheck flags as an "error" (not that chasing perfect spec compliance is a hang-up of mine, or anything).

But I digress. We can take this up elsewhere if need be.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

... "releasing the epub trapped inside."

Thanks for brightening my day. I needed this