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

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by GordonGekko

I mistakenly updated to Kindle for Mac 1.21 and now I can't use Calibre, is the 1.17 version still available? The link on page 1 for 1.17 is not working, another link available?

Amazon has blocked downloads of the Kindle for PC/Mac 1.17 files. I have updated the first post with alternate instructions on how they may be obtained.

Originally Posted by GordonGekko

Do I simply uninstall Kindle for Mac 1.21 and delete the folder?

Also I assume once I upgrade from Yosemite to High Sierra 1.17 won't work anymore anyway?

And if I stick with Yosemite for now, could I uninstall 1.21 and go into a time machine backup to install 1.17?

See the first post for instructions on installing K4Mac 1.17. A Mac expert will have to answer the other questions.

[odamizu]

This is so odd. I updated to K4Mac 1.21.0 to experiment, and I'm still getting AZW3 straight out of the box without having to do anything special (i.e., no Terminal sudo chmod).

I've confirmed twice that I really have 1.21.0 installed. I've deleted all my downloaded books. I've made sure the books I'm re-downloading say "Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled". And yet, I am still getting AZW3 (Alf confirms this).

Also, I'm on OS X El Capitan, if that sheds any light on things.

Not complaining, just curious why this is happening

[GordonGekko]

Originally Posted by odamizu

This is so odd. I updated to K4Mac 1.21.0 to experiment, and I'm still getting AZW3 straight out of the box without having to do anything special (i.e., no Terminal sudo chmod).

I've confirmed twice that I really have 1.21.0 installed. I've deleted all my downloaded books. I've made sure the books I'm re-downloading say "Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled". And yet, I am still getting AZW3 (Alf confirms this).

Also, I'm on OS X El Capitan, if that sheds any light on things.

Not complaining, just curious why this is happening

Thanks if you can figure out a setting you have enabled or perhaps list your full settings there could possibly be a way we can all enable AZW3

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by odamizu

This is so odd. I updated to K4Mac 1.21.0 to experiment, and I'm still getting AZW3 straight out of the box without having to do anything special (i.e., no Terminal sudo chmod).

Could you check the permissions on /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test using ls -l?

Perhaps that file was not updated and kept its permissions from the prior version.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Could you check the permissions on /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test using ls -l?

Perhaps that file was not updated and kept its permissions from the prior version.

I'm always a little in over my head when it comes to Terminal, so not sure I did this right. Does this help? And can you tell me what it means?

MacBook-Pro:~ O$ ls -l /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test
-rwxrwxr-x@ 1 O  admin  71936 Oct 10 13:39 /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test

Also, I updated from 1.17 to 1.21, so there shouldn't have been any prior settings related to KFX to retain.

Originally Posted by GordonGekko

Thanks if you can figure out a setting you have enabled or perhaps list your full settings there could possibly be a way we can all enable AZW3

Yes, that's why I posted. However, K4Mac preferences are pretty basic, and there's nothing that suggests it would block KFX. But for the sake of completeness, this is what I have:

General:
- Registration
- Content Folder: Home > Library > Application Support > Kindle > My Kindle Content
- Dictionary: Live dictionary preview: checked

Annotations:
- Annotations Backup: unchecked
- Popular Hightlights: unchecked

Updates: Automatically update: unchecked

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by odamizu

I'm always a little in over my head when it comes to Terminal, so not sure I did this right. Does this help? And can you tell me what it means?

That file has execute permission, as it should. Something else must be preventing KFX from being used.

[aldairsax]

Thank you, I've disable the kfx format in the CMD and now is everything working!

[Madeupagin]

As some of us know, after the most recent update, earlier this week, the program is even worse. ARRGH. I had a hard time finding a place to download the older version (because I was stupid and updated and I really, really knew better). oldversion.com did not have it. But with the correct name of the program, I was able to find it here:

http://www.filehorse.com/download-ki...7308/download/

Some of the other places that came up in my search did not have the correct version, the above did.

Hope this helps other idiots such as myself!

(Oh, the cmd command did work, but I am a lazy bum and just don't want to go into folder after folder after folder. It DID work, just pasting into c:\windows\system 32 -- but as I said, I'm too lazy for that!)

Thanks! kovidgoyal

[Terisa de morgan]

I've installed K4PC at my W10, and I haven't touched test_renderer.exe (I came from 1.17). The books are downloading inside its own directory but with azw format. I can read them in calibre. And I'm not aware of having done anything special.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

I've installed K4PC at my W10, and I haven't touched test_renderer.exe (I came from 1.17). The books are downloading inside its own directory but with azw format. I can read them in calibre. And I'm not aware of having done anything special.

Glad I'm not the only one with magical KFX-blocking powers Just wish we could figure out what we're doing to make it happen, so we can share it with everyone else!

[seredie]

Thank you so much for this great post. I initially downloaded version 1.17 but Calibre could still not convert to epub. I forgot to delete the files in Kindle Content. After re-installing version 1.17 I finally could convert the books. Thanks again very very much

[Timboli]

My version of Kindle For PC was forcibly updated today when I downloaded two freebies from Amazon. One of those turned out to have a voucher file, and the other didn't. So I guess it is due to the ebook itself, and whatever its default is.

The situation was easily remedied by the rename, delete and download again method.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Timboli

My version of Kindle For PC was forcibly updated today when I downloaded two freebies from Amazon. One of those turned out to have a voucher file, and the other didn't. So I guess it is due to the ebook itself, and whatever its default is.

The situation was easily remedied by the rename, delete and download again method.

Are you saying that it updated even though you did not have the "Automatically install updates" box checked on the options page? It certainly should not do that!

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Are you saying that it updated even though you did not have the "Automatically install updates" box checked on the options page? It certainly should not do that!

That's what I thought.
So I was quite surprised when it updated on me.
I put it down to that one ebook that required the update, because there was certainly a checked checkbox afterward, when I well remember de-selecting it a long time back.

Or perhaps, when I did an update manually at some point, the setting was changed and I never realized it. Not that I can specifically recall doing an update that way. I have been getting ebooks in folders for a while though, so I may have. I do recall getting asked to update every time I started the program there for a while. Knowing me, I may have gotten tired of the query, and eventually just allowed it.

The only other thing I can think of, is that after double-clicking the Kindle app icon on my desktop, and seemingly getting no response, I double-clicked it again. At that point, it advised it was updating ... which it may have been doing all along (damn how I hate it when programmers don't give enough feedback in their programs). I seem to recall that happened to me once before too. So maybe a second default instance was started.

But who knows, perhaps I have wandered into another dimension ... or senility is finally catching up with me ... early onset or something. Personally i think the whole world's gone crazy ... but that's another story.

[jangell2]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Method 3 - Use an e-ink Kindle instead

If you have an e-ink Kindle device registered to your Amazon account you have the option of downloading books directly from Amazon instead of using Kindle for PC/Mac.

• From the Amazon website access "Account & Lists" -> "Manage Your Content and Devices".
• Find a book you want to import into calibre and press the "..." button in the "Actions" column for that book.
• In the menu that pops up choose "Download & transfer via USB". Then select the name of your registered kindle device in the drop down menu and press the "Download" button.
• Import the downloaded file into calibre as you would a file from Kindle for PC. You will need to select the proper folder containing the downloaded file. (This folder will be different from the "My Kindle Content" folder used by Kindle for PC.)
• Users of the DRM Tools should refer to Apprentice Alf's Blog for information on the configuration required to support books downloaded for an e-ink Kindle.

This method of getting books into Calibre doesn't always work for me. Some books download with no extension and Calibre doesn't recognize them. So I tried downloading via wifi using my PW3. When I look at the files for the book, using Finder, I find the extensions of apnx, azwsf, azw3f, azw3r, azw6. I also use the kindle interface to verify the books are there. However, Calibre doesn't recognize them.

So I can't get them into Calibre with the USB download or off of my PW3. Another way to do it?