DRM workaround: Kindle for Android

[Sirtel]

@pypeke, what happens if you try to convert an epub marked by the blue star by the Quality Check plugin to another format?

[lkmiller]

Oh, yes, you are correct. If the DeDRM plugin was installed after the book was added, then the book can be read with calibre's viewer and converted. (The plugin checks for DRM before conversion as well as when you first import.) You won't be able to edit it though.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Oh, yes, you are correct. If the DeDRM plugin was installed after the book was added, then the book can be read with calibre's viewer and converted. (The plugin checks for DRM before conversion as well as when you first import.) You won't be able to edit it though.

Wow. That's new. And, IMO, a bad move. I'd prefer DRM removal to ONLY happen on import.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Oh, yes, you are correct. If the DeDRM plugin was installed after the book was added, then the book can be read with calibre's viewer and converted. (The plugin checks for DRM before conversion as well as when you first import.) You won't be able to edit it though.

Even conversion works with DRMed books now? I agree with pdurrant, this makes it very difficult to find out if DRM has been removed from the original files. The Quality Check plugin only works with epubs, so no help with Kindle formats there.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Oh, yes, you are correct. If the DeDRM plugin was installed after the book was added, then the book can be read with calibre's viewer and converted. (The plugin checks for DRM before conversion as well as when you first import.) You won't be able to edit it though.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Wow. That's new. And, IMO, a bad move. I'd prefer DRM removal to ONLY happen on import.

I agree with pdurrant and Sirtel. When did this change happen, i.e., what version DeDRM?

ETA: So what's the best/quickest/easiest way to confirm whether an ebook has no DRM so that it can be copied and moved outside of calibre? For epub, use Quality Check plugin? What about Kindle ebooks?

[pdurrant]

It looks like the change happened as a side-effect of allowing drm removal by the command-line ebook-convert:

https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools...8e403599145fe9

[lkmiller]

I'd also prefer it if the DeDRM plugin only did its thing on import. However, this is only an issue if you didn't have the plugin or it wasn't working when you first imported a book. And it's only really an issue if it still can't be read or converted. In other words, if the DRM can't be unlocked when trying to read or convert. If you really need to check an original file, disable DeDRM and then try opening it with calibre's ebook viewer. Then you can re-enable DeDRM and re-import the book if needed.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by pypeke

If I installed the Kindle app 2.4.0 70904, then downloaded my books after I had installed the plugins, how do I know that the DRM was removed?

Once the books are in Calibre, I can see they are listed in a file called "Calibre Library" by author's name. Do I still need to keep the downloads that are in the file labeled My Kindle Content? Thanks.

If a mobi or azw3 is encrypted, KindleUnpack will fail with the message:

__main__.unpackException: Book is encrypted

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It looks like the change happened as a side-effect of allowing drm removal by the command-line ebook-convert:

https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools...8e403599145fe9

Wow, I had no idea! This goes back FOUR YEARS! to September 2020!

Originally Posted by lkmiller

... If you really need to check an original file, disable DeDRM and then try opening it with calibre's ebook viewer. Then you can re-enable DeDRM and re-import the book if needed.

Thanks, I never noticed the enable/disable button. I was thinking I'd have to uninstall/re-install the plugin, which would be a pain.

Originally Posted by j.p.s

If a mobi or azw3 is encrypted, KindleUnpack will fail with the message:

__main__.unpackException: Book is encrypted

I don't even get as far as an error message. When I select KindleUnpack on a Kindle ebook with DRM, I get a little red lock and the option to unpack is grayed out. (I'm quite pleased with this, actually, as it makes for a quick-and-easy test to confirm if DRM was really removed from a Kindle ebook.)

[Sirtel]

I think the Count Pages plugin also fails with DRMed books - and it can be run with many books at once, so this should be another way to check for DRM.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I think the Count Pages plugin also fails with DRMed books - and it can be run with many books at once, so this should be another way to check for DRM.

Interesting. Thank you! This does indeed work to confirm whether or not a book has DRM, and it works on both epub and Kindle ebooks.

[sphilip]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

I believe I am using 64bit nougat? But then again the adb backup was too fiddly for me, so I ended up just copying the database file directly with a adb pull. It circumvents the whole backup hoopla and works in Bluestacks, since the adb shell has automatically root access.

The backup method, I believe, depends on the app to cooperate. And if the app doesn't allow backup, root access won't do it with the backup command. In the hires version backup won't work, but I think the database file can still be copied. But it was easier to write the instructions with upgrading the 4.16 version, which has multiple ways to get into calibre.

I'm having the same issues with Bluestacks (I tried installing on two different PCs to make sure there wasn't something device specific) and I attempted to do this, but it appears that Bluestacks blocks access to the data folder even if root is enabled.

Are you able to expand on how you did it?

adb pull /data/data/com.amazon.kindle/databases/map_data_storage.db

Results in a "permission denied" error for me.

[sphilip]

This reply on reddit from a Bluestacks mod seems to also imply they don't support using the adb backup command (they seem to be trying to promote their own backup app).

I'm not sure if that means they've since broken it, or if that mod is wrong.

Regarding installing 32-bit, that isn't possible with the Bluestacks installer. It will automatically choose the version, if your device is 64-bit, it will install the 64-bit version.

If you try to use the 32-bit offline installer, it simply won't start and tell you to download the other version.

[lkmiller]

Not sure what you mean about not being able to choose 32 or 64 bit for the Bluestacks instance. Switching to 32-bit Nougat is how I finally was able to get a backup.ab from Kindle for Android 4.16.0.75. Then I simply used the included file app to export my books to Windows. But that version isn't downloading new books anymore. I haven't attempted to update to a newer Android version since other easier methods are working.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by sphilip

I'm having the same issues with Bluestacks (I tried installing on two different PCs to make sure there wasn't something device specific) and I attempted to do this, but it appears that Bluestacks blocks access to the data folder even if root is enabled.

Are you able to expand on how you did it?

adb pull /data/data/com.amazon.kindle/databases/map_data_storage.db

Results in a "permission denied" error for me.

I did use that. Tried to replicate it today, and both Nougat64 instances (one for 4.16, the other 8.51) do not allow root access anymore. A simple

adb shell

would have given root access. Not anymore. Not sure what changed.

ETA: I mean there is two things that possibly changed on my end: My Windows updated, and I must have misclicked something, which ended up moving all my data somewhere else, which broke adb. When I fixed it it could have been a different version. More than likely Bluestacks changed. When they had easy root access and adb backup support, it was too easy to remove all the bloat advertisement.