Amazon and DRM changes

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by tomsem

This.

Just a computer, a script to automate screen captures, make PDF and OCR.

For extra credit, OCR the images, export to text and clean up the formatting with another script.

Of course no one bothers with this, as long as there are easier methods.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by tomsem

This.

Just a computer, a script to automate screen captures, make PDF and OCR.

For extra credit, OCR the images, export to text and clean up the formatting with another script.

http://blog.archive.org/2011/08/17/s...aille-playboy/

(Don't worry, safe for work!)

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Of course no one bothers with this, as long as there are easier methods.

And quality also matters, at least for some of us. A screenshot and OCR system is going to produce poorly formatted ebooks with typos.

A similar issue occurs between Amazon formats. For reflowable books KF8 (azw3) format most closely matches the original format that the publisher provided to Amazon. KFX is highly processed and not nearly as good in that respect. And MOBI is even worse.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Big Publishers will only sell to amazon, or demand same quality DRM.

I doubt that publishers are driving these changes. I think it is Amazon trying to enforce lock in to their ecosystem by making it hard to take books out to read on other platforms.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by GeorgK

I'm used to buy my ebooks at Amazon. I transform them (stripping off drm by Calibre plugin) and collect them on my PC (Windows 10). From there I download the books to my ebook reader (Kobo Aura H2O).
Worked fine for years.
Today the 'Kindle for PC' App refused to download a purchased ebook unless I update the Kindle App. After I did the download worked but Calibre could no longer import the file.
Can anybody tell me what to do?

Regards
Georg

Buy a Kindle, register it to your account, and use Download and transfer to USB to download your purchased eBooks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Kindle for PC 1.17 uses AZW

AZW is a generic file extension. It is not a file format. 1.17 downloads Mobi or KF8. Both eBook formats download with .azw as the file extension.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

AZW is a generic file extension. It is not a file format. 1.17 downloads Mobi or KF8. Both eBook formats download with .azw as the file extension.

yes, I know. I didn't feel it was necessary to explain in this case.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Of course no one bothers with this, as long as there are easier methods.

I've done it manually for a few things that aren't ebooks and imagine myself capable to script it, but have to learn Keyboard Maestro first.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I doubt that publishers are driving these changes. I think it is Amazon trying to enforce lock in to their ecosystem by making it hard to take books out to read on other platforms.

I think that by screwing with the Kindle app, Amazon is hoping more people buy a Kindle.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think that by screwing with the Kindle app, Amazon is hoping more people buy a Kindle.

do they profit there? I was under the vague impression that they took a bit of loss on the hardware.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

do they profit there? I was under the vague impression that they took a bit of loss on the hardware.

It's probably not about profit, but about locking people in. They don't want us to read their books on any other device but theirs.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It's probably not about profit, but about locking people in. They don't want us to read their books on any other device but theirs.

Hence why I am not buying any more Kindle books. Take that, Bezos!

[John F]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It's probably not about profit, but about locking people in. They don't want us to read their books on any other device but theirs.

I tend to doubt this is the reason. I would guess they want to sell ebooks. Looking at one site, Amazon has 5% global tablet market share. They don't sell phones anymore. What percent of ebooks are read on ereaders, I would guess it is relatively small.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by John F

I tend to doubt this is the reason. I would guess they want to sell ebooks. Looking at one site, Amazon has 5% global tablet market share. They don't sell phones anymore. What percent of ebooks are read on ereaders, I would guess it is relatively small.

I do have a thought here: Kindles and Kindle app maybe be used to collect information for advertising. This can't be done if:

a) the book is taken out of the ecosystem entirely;
b) the Kindle is permanently offline.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Something I hadn't thought of till now: A month or two ago, a relatively major shadow library got their domains seized after it went viral on TikTok and caught the attention of the Authors Guild and then the FBI (good job, TikTok users). I half-wonder if Amazon might be responding to this.

To play Devil's Advocate for a moment: KU was a major - possibly even majority - contributor to drm-free distribution of ebooks. They were bound to find the USB loophole and do something about it sometime. I'm just surprised it took them this long.