DRM workaround: Kindle for Android

[ownedbycats]

I'm still curious as to why Bluestacks continues works. Has anybody tried the exact same Android version as their hard device?

I thought of a slow rollout, but I feel like it's been long enough for Amazon to cut off everyone by now.

[patrik]

I can confirm that while it stopped working for me on an old Samsung S7, it does work with Bluestack!

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I'm still curious as to why Bluestacks continues works. Has anybody tried the exact same Android version as their hard device?

I thought of a slow rollout, but I feel like it's been long enough for Amazon to cut off everyone by now.

I suspect the delay is related to why the Android app does not download KFX format when updated to a newer version on BlueStacks.

Newer versions of the Kindle for Android app test the graphics capabilities of the device on which it is running (called a sniff test internally) and if the test fails KFX becomes unsupported on that device. The same mechanism is used in the Kindle for PC and Mac apps. I assume that Amazon discovered early on that there were so many devices incapable of supporting KFX that they made a fallback mode instead of just having the app fail to work on those devices.

I don't know what telemetry the app sends back to Amazon but I suspect it is enough to know that forcing an update to the app running on BlueStacks would be pointless since the user already has the DRM key from the older version and the upgraded version still won't use KFX with more secure DRM.

They are probably still working on a solution to that. Perhaps they will do away with the no-KFX fallback and will now have to face the customer support consequences of doing that.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I'm still curious as to why Bluestacks continues works. Has anybody tried the exact same Android version as their hard device?

I thought of a slow rollout, but I feel like it's been long enough for Amazon to cut off everyone by now.

I tested that version of K4A on an old Nexus 7 and it downloaded azw3 that could be transferred to a PC. Getting the key was a bit of a pain.

Sadly, I don't know what numbers to put in the countdown timer for this workaround to be eliminated.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I tested that version of K4A on an old Nexus 7 and it downloaded azw3 that could be transferred to a PC. Getting the key was a bit of a pain.

Sadly, I don't know what numbers to put in the countdown timer for this workaround to be eliminated.

Maybe the device is old enough that it doesn't force an update, even though it is downloading KFX in a newer K4A if you install it yourself.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Maybe the device is old enough that it doesn't force an update, even though it is downloading KFX in a newer K4A if you install it yourself.

Current Android version on it is Marshmallow 6.01 which was the last official release. I've played with unofficial updates up to Android 9 and there are reports that Android 12L has been ported to run on both the WiFi only and the Wifi/cellular models as part of LineageOS 19.1. It's the Nexus 7 2013 so a just a bit dated.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Current Android version on it is Marshmallow 6.01 which was the last official release. I've played with unofficial updates up to Android 9 and there are reports that Android 12L has been ported to run on both the WiFi only and the Wifi/cellular models as part of LineageOS 19.1. It's the Nexus 7 2013 so a just a bit dated.

And Marshmalllow is enough (probably 5.0) to run K4A 8.51, which does support KFX, and will download KFX on jhowell's Nexus 7.

[Allen20]

I download some kindle books by BlueStacks but I can't find the path of the books. Where can I find *.PRC files? I couldn't find this path "/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files/"

Can someone explain to me the exact path, please? I install BlueStacks in drive C

[ownedbycats]

Open the file manager in Bluestacks, not on your computer. I think it's accessible via settings.

[RustyHill]

This is Bluestack Tweaker and it's file manager

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by RustyHill

This is Bluestack Tweaker and it's file manager

Cool. Thank you! Is there a way to get it to remove empty files? Right now, I'm doing it one by one and it's tedious.

[RustyHill]

"Remove empty files"?

Empty directories perhaps? Not clear what you mean - sorry!

and I assume remove them from the Kindle instance running on Bluestacks?

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by RustyHill

"Remove empty files"?

Empty directories perhaps? Not clear what you mean - sorry!

and I assume remove them from the Kindle instance running on Bluestacks?

Each book has its own folder under sdcard/android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files. I want to remove all empty folders. I'm doing it one by one right now. Do you know of a more streamlined way to do that?

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

Each book has its own folder under sdcard/android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files. I want to remove all empty folders. I'm doing it one by one right now. Do you know of a more streamlined way to do that?

The easiest is to copy the whole files folder to your computer, then search under that folder for all *.prc files, then select all and copy into a new books folder. Then delete the original files folder. You should not move and delete files on Bluestacks, let the Kindle app do that, so it doesn't get confused.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

The easiest is to copy the whole files folder to your computer, then search under that folder for all *.prc files, then select all and copy into a new books folder. Then delete the original files folder. You should not move and delete files on Bluestacks, let the Kindle app do that, so it doesn't get confused.

The Kindle app doesn't delete empty folders. I blew away all the empties and it still seems to work fine. It just took longer than my patience wanted to tolerate. I'll report if things start going haywire.