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

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by adrianf

... Could you put me in direct contact with Laura?

Unfortunately, I don't have direct contact with Laura, but I believe she is here on MobileRead as lkmiller.

For a long while I used jhowell's Method One in macOS 10.14.6
Reverting to macOS-Kindle version 1.17.1 has helped me download books bought from Amazon, and I had no further problems. Now I use Calibre 4.16.0

I bought, however, a few day ago, a new MacBookPro and, as part of the greater liberties Apple grants now to its users, I cannot downgrade the macOS anymore.

In macOS AppStore, the reviews for the latest version 1.28 of Kindle for Mac say that Amazon does its best to make its macOS application really useless.

Is the action list below still the correct on for me?

(1) Quit macOS-Kindle
(2) Write command
chmod -x /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test
or
sudo chmod -x /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test
in Terminal
(3) Totally empty the folder:
~/Library/Application Support/Kindle/My Kindle Content
(I have many hundreds of books, and I do not know which format each of them has)
(4) Open macAppStore and download version 1.28
(5) Overwrite the Kindle version 1.17.1
(6) Start Kindle 1.28
(7) Download again all books in Kindle 1.28 with
File → Download

As this is a new MacBook Pro with Catalina that never had an earlier macOS installed, it may not be possible to get everything working.

However, are you saying you have transferred Kindle for Mac 1.17.1 and Calibre 3.x from your old Mac to your new one then upgraded to Calibre 4.16.0? And Kindle for Mac 1.17.1 and Calibre 3.x were working together successfully on your old Mac?

If the answer to both questions are yes, then there's a chance this will work. Do NOT delete anything in your Kindle or Calibre folders. This is very important. Leave your pre-existing Kindle and Calibre installations intact. Then try this ...

[SNIP]

ETA: See post #773 below

[lkmiller]

Yes, I am Laura from Alf's blog. Odamizu knows more about the Mac side of things than I do though.

Eventually legitimate comments will get rescued from spam and moderation queues. You can also email apprenticealf.blog@gmail.com.

[adrianf]

Dear Odamizu,

Already a while ago I took very much to heart your advice
[QUOTE=odamizu;3819708]If you are updating to macOS Catalina, it is best to establish a working setup with 1.25+ BEFORE updating to Catalina.
/QUOTE]
so I am still using my old MacBookPro running macOS 10.14.6

I want to start the migration only when all the preliminary preparations are in place. This might be good news: you assumed, that the migration to the new MacBookPro (+Catalina) has already happened. This is, (I presume, happily) not the case.

I have used Kindle for Mac 1.17.1 for a long time now, (thanks to Laura's guidance), together with always the latest Calibre, so for quite some time Calibre 4. All works perfectly fine in my old macOS 10.14.6 computer.

Thank you for recommending me not to delete any Kindle or Calibre folders in the old computer.

Should I already start with the migration from the old Mojave computer to the new Catalina computer, assuming that Kindle 1.17.1 will not update automatically anyway?
Should I then merely run

sudo chmod -x /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test

in the new Catalina MacBookPro, and only after that update to the latest Kindle for Mac 1.28 ?
Would that be all?

Will I have do to in the future the same as I have done in the past, to add books into Calibre? That is:

1. Buy in an Amazon website any books for macOS-Kindle;
2. Open macOS-Kindle; (now, version 1.28)
3. File → Download in macOS-Kindle all new books, one-by-one;
4. Quit macOS-Kindle;
5. Open Calibre;
6. Add all new books (if they have not been already synchronised into it)

Many thanks for your help until now.

[odamizu]

Hi adrianf,

I want to make sure I understand correctly:

• You have an old Mac running Mojave with Kindle 1.17.1 and Calibre 4. This setup is working successfully.
  
• You have a new Mac running Catalina.
  
• You want to migrate your data from your old Mojave Mac to your new Catalina Mac.

Is this correct? Once I understand correctly, I will suggest steps to take.

Also, does your new Catalina Mac currently have Kindle or Calibre installed?

[adrianf]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Hi adrianf,

I want to make sure I understand correctly:

• You have an old Mac running Mojave with Kindle 1.17.1 and Calibre 4. This setup is working successfully.
  
• You have a new Mac running Catalina.
  
• You want to migrate your data from your old Mojave Mac to your new Catalina Mac.

Is this correct? Once I understand correctly, I will suggest steps to take.

Also, does your new Catalina Mac currently have Kindle or Calibre installed?

Dear Odamizu, all the 3 points in your list describe perfectly my situation. The new Catalina MacBookPro has merely been put to charge from the mains, but I have not started it yet at all. It still is in the pristine situation Apple sent it to me.
Thank you for asking, so that we avoid as much misunderstandings as possible.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by odamizu

I want to make sure I understand correctly:

• You have an old Mac running Mojave with Kindle 1.17.1 and Calibre 4. This setup is working successfully.
  
• You have a new Mac running Catalina.
  
• You want to migrate your data from your old Mojave Mac to your new Catalina Mac.

Is this correct? Once I understand correctly, I will suggest steps to take.

Also, does your new Catalina Mac currently have Kindle or Calibre installed?

Originally Posted by adrianf

Dear Odamizu, all the 3 points in your list describe perfectly my situation. The new Catalina MacBookPro has merely been put to charge from the mains, but I have not started it yet at all. It still is in the pristine situation Apple sent it to me.
Thank you for asking, so that we avoid as much misunderstandings as possible.

Okay, no guarantees here, especially since you are migrating from one Mac to another. Not sure migration will work. But here's what I suggest:

On your old Mojave Mac:

Upgrade from 1.17.1 to 1.23.1

• Download Kindle for Mac 1.23.1 from Amazon and install it over 1.17.1 (i.e., copy it into your Applications Folder, overwriting 1.17.1).
• Launch 1.23.1 and double-check that you're still registered and your books are still there. They should be. If so, try importing a few books into Calibre to confirm that everything is still working as desired. Once you've confirmed everything is working, the next step is to block new downloads from coming as KFX so you get KF8 instead.
• Quit 1.23.1
• Open Terminal window and input:
  

  chmod -x /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test

• Launch 1.23.1 and download a new book.
• Go to ~/Library/Application Support/Kindle/My Kindle Content and look for the new book you just downloaded (you can tell from the timestamp). Is it accompanied by a voucher file, azw.res, azw.md? If yes, it is KFX; if no, it is KF8.
• If it's KF8, it should work with Calibre. Import it into Calibre to confirm everything is working as desired. Test this with a few books to make sure it's working before proceeding to the next section.
• If it's KFX, quit 1.23.1, open Terminal window again and input:
  

  sudo chmod -x /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test

• Launch 1.23.1 and download a new book. Hopefully, this time it will be KF8. Import it into Calibre and make sure everything is working as desired. Test this with a few books to make sure it's working before proceeding.

Still on your old Mojave Mac:

Upgrade from 1.23.1 to 1.26.1 or higher

Note: I have only tested 1.26.1 and did a very quick test on 1.27.0, which worked. I think I've seen reports that 1.28 works as well, but I have not tested it.

• Once you have 1.23.1 working successfully with Calibre, upgrade from 1.23.1 either by letting Kindle for Mac auto-update to 1.28 or by downloading 1.26.1 from Amazon and copying it into your Applications Folder, overwriting 1.23.1
• Open Terminal window and input:
  

  chmod -x /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test

• Launch 1.26.1+ and download books using right-click on mouse and selecting "Download" or menu bar "File > Download". Do NOT open the book with double-click. (While you could double-click books on earlier versions of Kindle for Mac, doing so on 1.26.1+ will cause problems. For 1.26.1+, you need to right-click on mouse and select "Download" or use menu bar "File > Download".)
• If you get KF8, import it into Calibre and make sure everything is working as desired.
• If you're getting KFX, quit 1.26.1+, open Terminal window, and try again adding sudo before chmod:
  

  sudo chmod -x /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test

• IMPORTANT: Make sure you have a working setup of 1.26.1+ and Calibre before moving on to the next section. If it's not working, roll back to 1.23.1 and try again.

Now to your new Catalina Mac:

Migrate 1.26.1+ from old Mojave Mac to new Catalina Mac

Once you have 1.26.1+ working successfully with Calibre on your old Mojave Mac, you are ready to migrate everything from your old Mojave Mac to your new Catalina Mac. Be sure to transfer everything, including your entire ~/Library/Application Support/Kindle folder and your entire ~Library/Preferences/calibre folder.

Hopefully this will work, but I am only hypothesizing as I've never tried it or known anyone who did.

Note: Once you have migrated to Catalina, and assuming it still works, be very cautious about making any changes to Kindle for Mac, including de-registering or updating to a new version. If the working relationship between Kindle and Calibre break on Catalina, it may not be possible to fix it. For this reason, you may want to try updating to 1.28 while on Mojave to see if it works. If 1.28 does not work on Mojave, you can roll back to 1.23.1 and try again with 1.26.1 or 1.27. However, if 1.28 does not work on Catalina, you cannot roll back to 1.23.1 and try again.

Please report back if the migration is successful. Good luck!

P.S. to Moderators: I hope this is not too much detail for MobileRead. I focused on upgrading Kindle for Mac without providing detail on the tools. If it's still too much, I apologize. Please delete and I will switch to PM.

[Kristen A]

Catalina will not run the older version of Kindle. Any workarounds yet? Cannot disable KFX on the version of Kindle for Catalina ... suggestions very much appreciated!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Kristen A

Catalina will not run the older version of Kindle. Any workarounds yet? Cannot disable KFX on the version of Kindle for Catalina ... suggestions very much appreciated!

Buy a second-hand Kindle 3 or later.

[adrianf]

Many thanks, dear Odamizu, for your thorough guidance.

I have installed the macOS-Kindle version 1.23.1 you recommeded me, and all worked fine, both in the Kindle app, and in Calibre.

I installed directly the latest macOS-Kindle 1.28 from AppStore, and, again all worked fine both in macOS-Kindle and in Calibre. It goes without saying, that before opening any new installation of a macOS-Kindle I ran

sudo chmod -x /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test

What I dislike intensely in macOS-Kindle 1.28 is, the «improvement», whereby you cannot anymore disable the automatic updates to the latest version, so you are at the absolute mercy of Amazon, as to what version you use. There is no third tab in Preferences called «Updates» anymore.

So I installed the other version you sent me a link to, that is, version 1.26.1
Before starting this new installation I ran

sudo chmod -x /Applications/Kindle.app/Contents/MacOS/renderer-test

but a new e-book I downloaded with this Kindle version could not be opened in Calibre, being DRM-blocked.
The same version 1.26.1 (please see the attached files for the precise build), could not even quit normally, it announced that it quitted «unexpectedly». See also the Apple-dump attached.

My present two questions are:

• Do you know of any other build of version 1.26.1 (or maybe another later version) which would run both in Mojave and Catalina, and which I can set in its Preferences not to be updated automatically?
• Would that look like a long-term solution for migrating more than 400 e-books from the old Mojave MacBookPro to the new Catalina MacBookPro?
  I feel rather uneasy, and fear losing my e-books pretty soon, with some unfortunate update for macOS-Kindle and/or major macOS. Do you have any idea how to protect my e-books long-term?

Thank you, Odamizu, for your help, and, indirectly, thanks also to the present list moderators. What is PM? I would be happy to move my discussion with Odamizu to another place, if need be. Please let me know.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by adrianf

I have installed the macOS-Kindle version 1.23.1 you recommeded me, and all worked fine, both in the Kindle app, and in Calibre.

I installed directly the latest macOS-Kindle 1.28 from AppStore, and, again all worked fine both in macOS-Kindle and in Calibre ...

When you say you installed 1.28 and all worked fine, was this on Mojave or Catalina or both? I.e., are you still doing everything on Mojave or have you already tried migrating to Catalina?

... What I dislike intensely in macOS-Kindle 1.28 is, the «improvement», whereby you cannot anymore disable the automatic updates to the latest version, so you are at the absolute mercy of Amazon, as to what version you use. There is no third tab in Preferences called «Updates» anymore.

This is probably because you installed from the AppStore instead of updating from within the app as I recommended. When you install from the AppStore, there is no option within Kindle for Mac to turn off auto-updates because the app will not auto-update itself. Instead, updates come through the AppStore. If you obtain Kindle for Mac from the AppStore, which I do NOT recommend, go to your macOS System Prefs > AppStore and turn off auto-updates. If you do that, the AppStore should simply alert you when an update is available, giving you the choice to update or not as you prefer.

... So I installed the other version you sent me a link to, that is, version 1.26.1 ... but a new e-book I downloaded with this Kindle version could not be opened in Calibre, being DRM-blocked.

This is probably because you switched back and forth between Amazon downloaded versions and AppStore versions. This is a bad idea and increases the risk of things breaking.

Questions:

• Are you still working exclusively on Mojave or have you already migrated to Catalina?
• When you say you installed 1.28 and all worked fine, was this on Mojave or Catalina or both?
• Is it possible to restore your ~/Library/Application Support/Kindle folder and your entire ~Library/Preferences/calibre folder to what it was when you were still on 1.17.1, before you attempted upgrading?

Once I understand your situation, I can offer more suggestions.

The same version 1.26.1 (please see the attached files for the precise build), could not even quit normally, it announced that it quitted «unexpectedly».

As I wrote in this post, using chmod -x on 1.25+ will cause K4Mac to crash every time you close the app. This is an unfortunate side effect of disabling KFX to get KF8. It is unclear if this error has any bad effects. You therefore have to choose between getting KF8/AZW3 and crashing every time you quit, or sticking with 1.23.1 and Mojave or earlier.

[Gibbo]

The way I've overcome the problem was by installing Virtualbox to Mac/Catalina and creating a Windows 10 virtual machine and installing Kindle 1.17, extreme but it works.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Gibbo

The way I've overcome the problem was by installing Virtualbox to Mac/Catalina and creating a Windows 10 virtual machine and installing Kindle 1.17, extreme but it works.

Indeed. K4Mac is currently problematic and easily broken on Catalina. ADE 2 won't run at all on Catalina. VM offers a more reliable solution.

Though it looks like someone on Alf's GitHub has figured out the new Kindle key. If so, there is hope for K4Mac on Catalina.

[Chuckles]

One issue that creates difficulty regards installing an earlier version of Kindle is that earlier versions of Kindle for Mac are 32 bit versions of the software. If you are running Mac OS Catalina (v10.15.x), it is a 64 bit version of Mac OS. You can not run older 32 bit versions of Kindle software on Catalina.

Checkmate !

[darryl]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Though it looks like someone on Alf's GitHub has figured out the new Kindle key. If so, there is hope for K4Mac on Catalina.

That is great news. Do you have a link you can share?

[pdurrant]

There's a pull request at Alf's github. I haven't tried it yet (you'd need to get the new source and integrate it into the plugin).