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

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Pameliasue

... I now get an error code every time I close/quit K4Mac. "Kindle quit unexpectedly." It has a long list under the Problem Details which is total Greek to me.

Unfortunately, that is a result of using chmod -x to get KF8/AZW3 on 1.26.x (and 1.25.x).

Running chmod +x (to reverse the chmod -x command) makes the error go away, but then you end up with KFX that Alf can't handle.

So it's a choice between getting Alf-friendly KF8/AZW3 and crashing every time you quit, or sticking with 1.23.1 and Mojave or earlier.

I don't know if there are any long-term bad effects from crashing every time you quit. I agree it's unsettling.

[Pameliasue]

Thank you for the quick reply odamizu! Glad to know it wasn't just my issue but common to other Mac users.

I went ahead and reverted back to K4Mac 1.23.1
I prefer to have everything working smoothly.

[smersh]

just wondering if anyone has actually tried to log out of K4Mac and signed in with a different account. I have two accounts with books I've purchased and I want to grab the books from that second account

Is there some alternate way for me to get those books from my other account, so I can transfer them to my Paperwhite?

[Cuddles]

I have used Calibre for the past year and have had no problems, until today. I purchased a new e-book for Kindle for PC. All previous books would download just fine, except this book. I was chatting with Amazon Support for a couple hours to ensure it wasn't an issue on their end. I was using Kindle for PC version 1.21. I uninstalled and reinstalled several different versions. The only version that would allow my book to download is version 1.25 and higher. As we know Calibre along with all the plugins does not support this new DRM and .azw format. Is there a work around to this?

Thank you.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by smersh

just wondering if anyone has actually tried to log out of K4Mac and signed in with a different account. I have two accounts with books I've purchased and I want to grab the books from that second account

If you are on Mojave or earlier, it should be okay. If you run into trouble, do a clean install. But don't do it if you're on Catalina!

Is there some alternate way for me to get those books from my other account, so I can transfer them to my Paperwhite?

You can create a new user account on your Mac and install K4Mac and Alf's Tools on the second user account. That will keep both Kindle accounts totally separate.

Or, if you have an eink Kindle, use Method 3 ("Manage Your Content and Devices" > "Download & transfer via USB")

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Cuddles

The only version that would allow my book to download is version 1.25 and higher. As we know Calibre along with all the plugins does not support this new DRM and .azw format. Is there a work around to this?

Thank you.

No. Not yet.

[smersh]

Originally Posted by odamizu

If you are on Mojave or earlier, it should be okay. If you run into trouble, do a clean install. But don't do it if you're on Catalina!

Do we know this for sure? Or is this a precautionary warning (which I totally accept)? Just wondering if this is a definite known.

You can create a new user account on your Mac and install K4Mac and Alf's Tools on the second user account. That will keep both Kindle accounts totally separate.

Too late to do since I'm on Catalina already, though

Or, if you have an eink Kindle, use Method 3 ("Manage Your Content and Devices" > "Download & transfer via USB")

on that second account, it won't let me download the book without adding a device to it. How do I solve that? Is creating a second user account with a second K4Mac the only way to create another device?

Thanks for the assist!

[killahakan424]

I had the same issue yesterday. I managed to log in after I unchecked every boxes in the options and set the proxy setting to No proxy

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by smersh

Do we know this for sure? Or is this a precautionary warning (which I totally accept)? Just wondering if this is a definite known.

Can't really go into specifics on this forum, but there are a few factors involved in getting Alf and 1.26.1 to work together successfully. I haven't heard of anyone trying what you're thinking of doing, so at this point it's all theoretical.

If you were still on Mojave, borking things isn't a problem because you could go back to 1.23.1 and start over. But since you're already on Catalina, that's not an option.

I'd be interested in seeing if you can switch accounts and still have it work in Catalina. I do think it's possible if you take certain steps. If you're willing to risk it, open an issue on Apprentice Harper's GitHub and I will provide more details. But just to be clear, there are no guarantees and you could bork things permanently.

on that second account, it won't let me download the book without adding a device to it. How do I solve that?

That's true. You would need to register an eink device to the second account to get it to work.

You should be able to de-register your Paperwhite, re-register it with the second account, then download all your books. Once you've gotten everything you need, you can de-register your Paperwhite and re-register it with the original account. Just be aware that if you do that you'll have to set up your Paperwhite as if it were new again.

[smersh]

Originally Posted by odamizu

I'd be interested in seeing if you can switch accounts and still have it work in Catalina. I do think it's possible if you take certain steps. If you're willing to risk it, open an issue on Apprentice Harper's GitHub and I will provide more details. But just to be clear, there are no guarantees and you could bork things permanently.

I'm gonna wait it out a little. Maybe I'll be a bit more brave when I really want those books

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by Cuddles

..... Is there a work around to this?

I am not sure if the following will work or not, not tried it with your scenario.

But go to Manage Your Content & Devices in your web browser.
Then choose, Download & Transfer via USB in the options for the ebook in question.

Not sure what file type you will get, but it might not be KFX.

Then place the file in your My Kindle Content folder and start Kindle For PC, and see what happens. If not a KFX file, it may or may not get converted to one, and it may or may not be a bad one.

This process presumes you haven't upgraded to version 1.25 or higher.

If you had an actual portable ereader device, this could be an easier solution.

[lkmiller]

@Timboli

Pretty sure that if a book cannot be download with K4PC 1.24 or earlier, there is no option for "download & transfer via USB" for that particular book. If there is though, you would need to pick an E-ink Kindle for the device. Then there would be no reason to put that in the K4PC My Kindle Content folder.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

@Timboli

Pretty sure that if a book cannot be download with K4PC 1.24 or earlier, there is no option for "download & transfer via USB" for that particular book. If there is though, you would need to pick an E-ink Kindle for the device. Then there would be no reason to put that in the K4PC My Kindle Content folder.

To be honest, I am not entirely sure about either situation.
For the second one though, I have this recollection, from a good while ago, that an ebook file placed inside the My Kindle Content folder, did eventually get picked up by the program. It is however, an old memory two or more years old, and it might just be me mis-remembering the result. It could also be a feature not available in newer K4PC versions.

It could be worth a shot though, with nothing to lose really.

Going back to your first issue, that could mean that ebook might not work on older Kindle devices, and that I am skeptical about ... but you could be right. In any case, it seems weird to provide that option but disallow a specific ebook, especially as the ebook still has to get acceptance online via Amazon anyway, whether on K4PC or a Kindle device or App.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Cuddles

The only version that would allow my book to download is version 1.25 and higher.

I know that there are some textbooks that require Kindle for PC/Mac 1.26.

I am not aware of any books that download in version 1.25, but not 1.23. Would you mind sharing information about this book? I would like to look into this further.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Going back to your first issue, that could mean that ebook might not work on older Kindle devices, and that I am skeptical about ... but you could be right. In any case, it seems weird to provide that option but disallow a specific ebook, especially as the ebook still has to get acceptance online via Amazon anyway, whether on K4PC or a Kindle device or App.

Haven't seen it myself. Thankfully, my books have all still been available in AZW3/KF8. But I have seen others say they didn't have the "download & transfer via USB" option on KFX only books.

As for the other situation, I've only seen that work with a book that was already DRM-free. But then again, I probably never tried it with one that still had DRM.