Dealing with Kindle ebooks in calibre

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by jhowell

That changed in DeDRM release 7.1.0 released in February 2021. It now runs both on import and on conversion.

Then it must be two plugins, a File Type plugin that runs when when a book is added, and a Conversion Input plugin that runs when a format file is Converted - afaik, a single plugin cannot do both.

Someone who has the plugin installed (not me) needs to look in their list of installed plugins and provide a definitive answer.

BR

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Then it must be two plugins, a File Type plugin that runs when when a book is added, and a Conversion Input plugin that runs when a format file is Converted - afaik, a single plugin cannot do both.

Someone who has the plugin installed (not me) needs to look in their list of installed plugins and provide a definitive answer.

BR

Nope, it's only listed under File Type plugins.

[Dal Bhat]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Nope, it's only listed under File Type plugins.

And it's 7.2.1.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Dal Bhat

And it's 7.2.1.

10.0.9 in my case.

[Rellwood]

Originally Posted by odamizu

That's really interesting. It was my understanding that if it imports as kfx-zip instead of KFX, it means DRM was not removed.

I wonder why it's showing as kfx-zip. What am I not understanding here?

I have that same thing happen. I have had DeDRM for about 12 years and every instance of a Kindle key update, it's in my list. Turns out that having all those keys when it updated to the newest verson caused my Kindle files imported directly from the Kindle or the Kindle for PC app to be kfx-zip. They are unlocked, but still kfx-zip.

It wasn't until I deleted all my old kindle for pc/mac keys and just had the one that's current running that I was getting .kfx only!

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Then it must be two plugins, a File Type plugin that runs when when a book is added, and a Conversion Input plugin that runs when a format file is Converted - afaik, a single plugin cannot do both.

File Type plugins can choose do their thing at several different places within calibre. The initialization function in DeDRM has:

    on_import               = True
    on_preprocess           = True

Where "preprocess" is the first step in conversion before the input plugin is invoked.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by jhowell

That changed in DeDRM release 7.1.0 released in February 2021. It now runs both on import and on conversion.

Oh! Now that you mention it, I have fuzzy memory of DeDRM now running on import, conversion and viewing. I will update the first post. Thx!

[mbovenka]

Amazon is tightening the noose even further: my K4PC 2.4.0 just updated itself overnight (to 2.6.something). This is with automatic updates disabled in the app and, more important, with the update block (the %LocalAppData%\Amazon\Kindle\updates file) in place. Reinstalling 2.4.0 over it worked for now, but I fear this hole is going to be plugged soon.

[tamhas]

OK, so I have upgraded Calibre to 7.26 and DeDRM 10.0.9. When I plug in the device, I see lots of files, some of which are not marked as being in the library. I have been having to do the match book to library thing to get them connected* and I guess i forgot in the last batch of updates. If I do the Customize Plugin thing for eInk, I see two serial numbers, neither of which is my Paperwhite. Since for ages I have been doing the updates with the soon to be missing USB transfer, I guess it didn't need the serial number of the Paperwhite, but now it will, so I should add it. As for the warning about the cover, if the books are going from Kindle to Calibre, I guess this is not an issue.

* I suppose this is a difference in format issue and should go away with files now originating on the Kindle.

[Sirtel]

Download & Transfer definitely required the serial number to remove the DRM (if the book had it - not all books have DRM). But you may have used another device as the target.

[OverflowingShelf]

I'm trying to understand the DRM status of a bunch of Kindle books I've purchased and imported to Calibre, and the behaviour of the ebook-viewer app.

Working with book files from Amazon's soon-to-be-deactivated download-and-transfer page, it seems to me that ebook-viewer can decrypt the DRM even outside the Calibre library app if I have the DeDRM plugin installed and active.

Clever, if this is what it's doing. I had assumed that ebook-viewer as a standalone app would need a book file that had already been decrypted. So it does leave me wondering if my hundreds of previously-downloaded books that I purchased are actually de-DRM'ed, or if they are simply decrypted on the fly when I run ebook-viewer.

Hope this makes sense? I'd like to verify that my hard drive is full of decrypted books that I can open on any of my own devices, rather than needing Calibre installed with the plugin and the Kindle key. I don't tend to keep hundreds of books in the Library, I organize them in file system folders. Is there any way, preferably on CLI, preferably Calibre-native, that I can explicitly list the DRM status of a large number of ebook files? I've not so far had a problem on other devices, but it would be annoying to find out later that I had a number of files that were not actually decrypted, if for some reason I had messed up with my local setup at any time.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

That changed in DeDRM release 7.1.0 released in February 2021. It now runs both on import and on conversion.

DeDRM also runs when you view an eBook. So you can view an eBook that has DRM without having to add it to your calibre library.

[OverflowingShelf]

Originally Posted by OverflowingShelf

I'm trying to understand the DRM status of a bunch of Kindle books I've purchased and imported to Calibre, and the behaviour of the ebook-viewer app.

Working with book files from Amazon's soon-to-be-deactivated download-and-transfer page, it seems to me that ebook-viewer can decrypt the DRM even outside the Calibre library app if I have the DeDRM plugin installed and active.

Clever, if this is what it's doing. I had assumed that ebook-viewer as a standalone app would need a book file that had already been decrypted. So it does leave me wondering if my hundreds of previously-downloaded books that I purchased are actually de-DRM'ed, or if they are simply decrypted on the fly when I run ebook-viewer.

Hope this makes sense? I'd like to verify that my hard drive is full of decrypted books that I can open on any of my own devices, rather than needing Calibre installed with the plugin and the Kindle key. I don't tend to keep hundreds of books in the Library, I organize them in file system folders. Is there any way, preferably on CLI, preferably Calibre-native, that I can explicitly list the DRM status of a large number of ebook files? I've not so far had a problem on other devices, but it would be annoying to find out later that I had a number of files that were not actually decrypted, if for some reason I had messed up with my local setup at any time.

Looks like the first part of my question has been confirmed.

Is there any easy way to check the DRM status of a bunch of files?

[theducks]

Quality check plugin has a DRM check for books IN the LIBRARY

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by theducks

Quality check plugin has a DRM check for books IN the LIBRARY

Can Quality Check check azw3 and kfx? I thought it only works on epubs.