Will K2PC 1.19 and KFX alter your ebook purchasing habits?

[jhowell]

I am surprised that it took this long for KFX to appear in Kindle for PC. I suspect that it was held up waiting for the accessibility software to be developed to support it. I think it likely that 1.19 will be made available by default for new downloads within the next few weeks and that support for all of the previous versions will be withdrawn within a year.

So the K4PC loophole is closing and I think owners of PW1 or older Kindles are safe. For me the burning question is whether or not Amazon is going to change "Download & transfer via USB" for newer Kindles so that it delivers KFX format.

It has been pointed out that KFX format requires multiple files per book and so would not be suited to download & transfer. But it would be easy for Amazon to just zip these files into an archive and have the kindle unzip them upon receipt. In fact I saw signs that Amazon was working on that type of functionality over a year ago.

Changing "Download & transfer via USB" to deliver KFX would have advantages for Amazon. Customers would then have the same reading experience (enhanced typesetting, page flip, etc.) as they do when books are sent to the devices directly. The current system results in an inconsistent user experience that must cause support headaches for them.

Why hasn't it been changed already? One problem with making this change is that they would need to track what level of support for KFX is in the firmware on the device being targeted.

KFX isn't a static format. It was designed so that new features could be added over time. Each KFX book has a list of "content features" that it relies on and only firmware supporting those features can display the book correctly. If the KFX version of a book uses features that a device doesn't support then KF8 is delivered instead. (One reason why KF8 isn't going away anytime soon.)

One new feature that Amazon has already deployed, but I don't remember being mentioned by anyone else, is the ability to "upgrade" books in the background. This allows books on a device originally delivered in KF8 format to be replaced with the KFX equivalent when the device is online. Thus books can be migrated to KFX after a device is updated with newer firmware.

Perhaps they consider this migration feature to be enough of a solution and will keep "Download & transfer via USB" using KF8 as it does now.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up with a way to generate a PID for a Fire if the other methods for de-DRM weren't already out there and easier, but maybe it's not technically possible?

Amazon has gotten smarter about protecting their DRM keys over time. As with Android devices, you would need to root your Fire tablet in order to even have a chance at doing this.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by jhowell

One new feature that Amazon has already deployed, but I don't remember being mentioned by anyone else, is the ability to "upgrade" books in the background. This allows books on a device originally delivered in KF8 format to be replaced with the KFX equivalent when the device is online. Thus books can be migrated to KFX after a device is updated with newer firmware.

I hadn't heard of this. Is this is a "feature" where you're asked if you want to upgrade the book or is it done automatically without asking?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I hadn't heard of this. Is this is a "feature" where you're asked if you want to upgrade the book or is it done automatically without asking?

Automatic, no user interaction.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Automatic, no user interaction.

One presumes the book's positions stay unchanged through this process, so that user notes aren't destroyed...

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by NullNix

One presumes the book's positions stay unchanged through this process, so that user notes aren't destroyed...

Yes. The KFX format has the same internal position numbers as the equivalent KF8 format. They also handle the case where a book has been updated by the publisher since you purchased it. Whatever version of the book is associated with your account, you will get a KFX that corresponds to it.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I don't know enough about the details of the K1, K2 and DX hardware to be sure, but I suspect that since they were never updated to support KF8 that updating them to support KFX wouldn't be feasible.

64MB, 32MB and 128MB system RAM respectively. As I previously noted, this is a problem for raster KF8/AZW3 books. This almost certainly contributed to Amazon's hard requirement of 256MB for AZW3 support.

K1 has 256MB storage which isn't enough for version 2 of the Kindle OS never mind anything more recent. K2 has 2GB and DX has 4GB but the OS partitions are too small for recent versions of the OS and the KFX support libraries. While they could be repartitioned, doing so on the fly is begging for bricking.

Arguments can also be made for the older, slower processors being a hindrance to rendering raster books and to supporting the more complex features that KF8 and KFX provide.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Or issue a software update for those older devices. Wonder if there's anything hardware wise that would prevent them from adding KFX (& AZW3 for that matter) support to K1's, K2's, etc.

Perhaps it is more likely that Amazon will update USB transfer to support KFX.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Perhaps it is more likely that Amazon will update USB transfer to support KFX.

Probably

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You do not have to continually log into ADE. Once you are logged in and have the key, removing the DRM is as easy as adding the ePub to your Calibre library. It's no more difficult than removing the DRM from Mobi or KF8 eBooks from Amazon.

Tell that to my ADE installation. Which continually forgot about me (when I bought 2 books within one week, I had to again create a new account as it had logged me out of the first and promptly forgot about me).

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Social DRM? I've only heard that term applied to the older credit card based B&N DRM. They switched to anti-social DRM two years ago. Even though that was figured out, it has become increasingly dicey to get your hands on the actual file for disinfection.

I suppose water marking might be called social DRM.

Social DRM is watermarking, yes. You will download the epub directly, without using ADE (haven't had that installed for years now), which will contain your information. No need to disinfect anything.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I hadn't heard of this. Is this is a "feature" where you're asked if you want to upgrade the book or is it done automatically without asking?

Originally Posted by jhowell

Automatic, no user interaction.

This also happens when books get updated from mobi to azw3. But it is a setting you can toggle on or off on the settings tab of the Manage Your Content and Devices page.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Tell that to my ADE installation. Which continually forgot about me (when I bought 2 books within one week, I had to again create a new account as it had logged me out of the first and promptly forgot about me).

ADE is sooo buggy. I've had it forget my authorization occasionally. I had to de-authorize it even though it supposedly wasn't authorized. Then re-activate it. I deal with it because I buy mostly from Kobo. And I find it slightly less annoying than Kobo's own software and its kepubs. (Although I'm glad this provides a second method for liberating them.)

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Social DRM is watermarking, yes. You will download the epub directly, without using ADE (haven't had that installed for years now), which will contain your information. No need to disinfect anything.

Ok, like the Pottermore books. Which for non-pirates is just like no DRM. What other stores do this?

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Ok, like the Pottermore books. Which for non-pirates is just like no DRM. What other stores do this?

Kobo. That's where I now buy my ebooks (beside Amazon). But only if they have social DRM.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Kobo. That's where I now buy my ebooks (beside Amazon). But only if they have social DRM.

Ok, so it just depends on the publisher. Does Kobo actually label anything as having "social DRM" or are they listed as DRM-free under download options?

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Amazon has gotten smarter about protecting their DRM keys over time. As with Android devices, you would need to root your Fire tablet in order to even have a chance at doing this.

It was possible to get keys from Kindle for Android without root, but then Amazon stopped allowing the creation of a backup file.