Tilting at Kindle's DRM Windmill

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.

tym · 10-08-2025, 07:23 PM

I dont think Kindle would have near the issue with pirates and or drm if they would of just made the effort to change there reading software to be more inline with software like moon reader pro. Honestly, most the reason I remove drm is to read it in moon reader pro. I can Auto Scroll, I can change the colors for the text and the back ground to anything I want. Granted, kindle finally allows for text to speech.

I just bought two books from amazon day or two ago, found out removing drm is almost impossible again, so I wont be buying any more books from amazon til that drm can be fixed.

Im lucky, I am a ebook hoarder. I dont think I could read 20 percent of what I have not got to read yet in whats left of my life. Im 62 years old. The first thing I do with books I buy, is remove the drm. So now I wait, when thats fixed I will consider buying more. Until then, NOPE.

Its like ebooks, and now streaming is pushing us to pirate. They just keep making it harder to let us watch our shows at a reasonable price, lets us read our books in a way that we want.

DiapDealer · 10-08-2025, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tym

Im lucky, I am a ebook hoarder.

I'm lucky too. I don't buy ebooks until I'm ready to start reading them. Makes DRM pretty much irrelevant for me.

Nobody's "pushing" anyone to pirate. Pirating is a choice born out of a perceived sense of entitlement.

DNSB · 10-09-2025, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevePoling

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.

For what it may be worth, the 3 Kaleido 3 eInk ereaders I've tested all require use of the frontlight even in daylight to make the display look comparable to a B&W eInk display. The reMarkable Paper Pro uses a Gallery 3 display which looks a lot better but at best, the display refresh rate is on the slow side (350ms for B&W, 500ms for fast colour, 1000ms for standard colour and 1500ms for best colour).

pdurrant · 10-09-2025, 02:48 AM

While I have E Ink Kindles so it is still possible for me to remove the DRM from Kindle ebooks, I have almost entirely switched to buying from Kobo. Since they do price-matching in the UK, it's actually been cheaper than buying from Amazon.

JBaby · 10-09-2025, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Nobody's "pushing" anyone to pirate. Pirating is a choice born out of a perceived sense of entitlement.

I get so much pushback on r/Kindle when I say this to people who send modmail complaining about their piracy post/comment getting removed.

petro1 · 10-15-2025, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevePoling

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.

In my experience, they don't bother to decolorize the covers anymore.

vermontcathy · Yesterday, 12:31 PM

You can get the color covers if you have a K3 (Kindle Keyboard). It doesn't accept KFX ebook files, so AZW3 files are sent, and for whatever reason, they are color covers (and interior items). I'm not sure how late you can go and still get color... I'll have to test it out on my K4, but I think it works on K4&5.

I happen to have some K3s for sale - PM me if you're interested.

vermontcathy · Yesterday, 12:33 PM

Oh, and it's now not possible to pull ebooks from the Colorsoft into Calibre and have the DRM removed. But It does work on kindles that are older.

JSWolf · Yesterday, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vermontcathy

You can get the color covers if you have a K3 (Kindle Keyboard). It doesn't accept KFX ebook files, so AZW3 files are sent, and for whatever reason, they are color covers (and interior items). I'm not sure how late you can go and still get color... I'll have to test it out on my K4, but I think it works on K4&5.

I happen to have some K3s for sale - PM me if you're interested.

When I download with my Kindle Touch I get color covers but not high enough resolution that I want for my Kobo Libra 2.

Pajamaman · Yesterday, 03:05 PM

Pirates are gonna pirate. Amazon KFX DRM will only punish readers who buy books from Amazon. It will make no difference to pirates; just annoy legitimate buyers who, yer know, want a copy of the book they paid for.

I only see DRM making a difference if it is so widespread and effective that pirates can't pirate.

Quoth · Yesterday, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

I only see DRM making a difference if it is so widespread and effective that pirates can't pirate.

Impossible.

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.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Short Fiction Aumonier, Stacy: The Golden Windmill and other stories (1921), v1	Pulpmeister	ePub Books	0	12-21-2018 07:32 AM
Free (Kindle) The World-Tilting Gospel by Dan Phillips	arcadata	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	2	09-26-2016 01:35 PM
Tilting the Vox	Andril	Kobo Tablets	2	11-01-2011 12:10 PM
Don Quixote . . 64 bit is my windmill. . .	ktwo	Introduce Yourself	3	02-04-2009 12:37 PM

10-08-2025, 07:23 PM	#2
tym Connoisseur Posts: 77 Karma: 37732 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: nook touch	I dont think Kindle would have near the issue with pirates and or drm if they would of just made the effort to change there reading software to be more inline with software like moon reader pro. Honestly, most the reason I remove drm is to read it in moon reader pro. I can Auto Scroll, I can change the colors for the text and the back ground to anything I want. Granted, kindle finally allows for text to speech. I just bought two books from amazon day or two ago, found out removing drm is almost impossible again, so I wont be buying any more books from amazon til that drm can be fixed. Im lucky, I am a ebook hoarder. I dont think I could read 20 percent of what I have not got to read yet in whats left of my life. Im 62 years old. The first thing I do with books I buy, is remove the drm. So now I wait, when thats fixed I will consider buying more. Until then, NOPE. Its like ebooks, and now streaming is pushing us to pirate. They just keep making it harder to let us watch our shows at a reasonable price, lets us read our books in a way that we want.

10-09-2025, 02:48 AM	#5
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 74,410 Karma: 318076944 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	While I have E Ink Kindles so it is still possible for me to remove the DRM from Kindle ebooks, I have almost entirely switched to buying from Kobo. Since they do price-matching in the UK, it's actually been cheaper than buying from Amazon.

Yesterday, 12:31 PM	#8
vermontcathy Zealot Posts: 115 Karma: 536510 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: vermont Device: Colorsoft, K3, K4, Oasis	You can get the color covers if you have a K3 (Kindle Keyboard). It doesn't accept KFX ebook files, so AZW3 files are sent, and for whatever reason, they are color covers (and interior items). I'm not sure how late you can go and still get color... I'll have to test it out on my K4, but I think it works on K4&5. I happen to have some K3s for sale - PM me if you're interested.

Yesterday, 12:33 PM	#9
vermontcathy Zealot Posts: 115 Karma: 536510 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: vermont Device: Colorsoft, K3, K4, Oasis	Oh, and it's now not possible to pull ebooks from the Colorsoft into Calibre and have the DRM removed. But It does work on kindles that are older.

Yesterday, 03:05 PM	#11
Pajamaman Wizard Posts: 2,874 Karma: 10700629 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Canada Device: Onyx Nova	Pirates are gonna pirate. Amazon KFX DRM will only punish readers who buy books from Amazon. It will make no difference to pirates; just annoy legitimate buyers who, yer know, want a copy of the book they paid for. I only see DRM making a difference if it is so widespread and effective that pirates can't pirate.