DRM workaround: Kindle for Android

[natebook]

I want to thank u guys for all the information. But holy smokes I give up. After trying a bunch of K4PC versions (older versions won't let me sign in, newer versions I always get KFX-ZIP):


And downloading Bluestacks, setting up the correct Android version, installing the APK, and then:


I don't have a Kindle device.

I just wanted to share this book with a couple of classmates because they can't afford it. But hey, I did try!!!!!!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by natebook

I want to thank u guys for all the information. But holy smokes I give up. After trying a bunch of K4PC versions (older versions won't let me sign in, newer versions I always get KFX-ZIP:
<removed useless image link>

And downloading Bluestacks, setting up the correct Android version, installing the APK, and then:
<removed useless image link>

I don't have a Kindle device.

I just wanted to share this book with a couple of classmates because they can't afford it. But hey, I did try!!!!!!

Up to your last sentence, I was willing to offer some help. Piracy is mala in se as far as MobileRead is concerned so I'm out of this thread.

[lkmiller]

If it is a textbook, it likely has DRM that cannot be removed.

[lkmiller]

@Ma'am-I-Am
So what extensions do the other files have with the same file name as that phl? ASIN_EBOK.?

[natebook]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Up to your last sentence, I was willing to offer some help. Piracy is mala in se as far as MobileRead is concerned so I'm out of this thread.

That's completely fair. It is a Pearson book that costs $100. But I do understand your point. I should've bought the book on Paperback just to share while in class.

Prices are crazy nowadays.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by natebook

That's completely fair. It is a Pearson book that costs $100. But I do understand your point. I should've bought the book on Paperback just to share while in class.

Amazon only makes textbooks published by Pearson available with unbroken KFX DRM on Kindle apps and devices. In cases where that is not possible Amazon will not deliver those books.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by natebook

That's completely fair. It is a Pearson book that costs $100. But I do understand your point. I should've bought the book on Paperback just to share while in class.

Prices are crazy nowadays.

Textbook prices have always been crazy. A small market and a limited lifetime are contributing factors.

[Quoth]

The small market is now no excuse with POD technology. Some are gouging because they can. Mandatory books for a course. I managed to get by only buying one expensive text book as a student.

But some places now mandate iPads or Chromebooks and then the textbooks can't be passed on to a sibling at school or resold at University.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

@Ma'am-I-Am
So what extensions do the other files have with the same file name as that phl? ASIN_EBOK.?

I've already dumped the files, but the filenames began with CR! and beginaction(?) and endaction(?) and the voucher. I assume the extensions were things like MD and RES.
I think I was trying to do the high res image workaround at one time and never finished, then got confused about what I'd done. Anyway, I've uninstalled and deleted everything except the original BS setup and K4PC 2.4.0. Big River now thinks I have 6 Androids.

[lkmiller]

Ok, yeah, that's kfx. If you're getting that, might as well stick with Kindle for PC or directly from your Kindle.

[JudahsShadow]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Ok, yeah, that's kfx. If you're getting that, might as well stick with Kindle for PC or directly from your Kindle.

I've run into a handful (less than half a dozen, but 3 since the download to transfer with usb was removed) of books that gave an error stating they were not compatible with K4PC (not that I need a newer version, just that they aren't compatible). If you bring them from an older kindle then the cover and any images in the book are going to be greyscale/black and white (one of the ones I had this issue with was a picture book, so I'm trying to get the bluestacks method working but am presently having issues with the drm stuff)

[lkmiller]

I think those are fixed layout azw3. It is annoying that Kindle for PC can't handle them. I guess they are rare enough that Amazon never bothered to add the function to k4pc.

[JudahsShadow]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

I think those are fixed layout azw3. It is annoying that Kindle for PC can't handle them. I guess they are rare enough that Amazon never bothered to add the function to k4pc.

That would make sense as 2 out of the 3 I pulled off the old kindle were imported as azw3. The last one was a kfx though. Perhaps it has a version of fixed layout as well.

[lkmiller]

Yes, there is fixed layout kfx. You can use the KFX Input plugin's "From KFX" toolbar action to convert them.

[rand_kindle_user]

Originally Posted by rand_kindle_user

Has anyone tried to use this method with Waydroid?

Since posting the comment above I have tried out installing KfA on Waydroid, and unfortunately I could not get it to work with version 4.16.0.75. Waydroid uses Android 11, which as the OP mentions it does not play well with KfA 4.16.0.75.

As I am daily driving Linux (and would rather avoid Bluestacks if I can help it) I have tried using an older device with Android 9 I had lying around (Samsung S4 mini, running an unofficial build of LineageOS 16, unrooted).

With KfA 4.16.0.75 I could back-up the key download all of the books I already had (all published before 2022) in azw3 format. I tried buying a newer ebook, specifically B0DLRZPYBC, released in late 2024, and that gave me an error about needing to update KfA.

I pushed KfA 8.51.1.0 via adb, as DSNB mentioned a couple of pages ago, and that let me download the aforementioned 2024 book, albeit in KFX. deDRM-ing it using the key from KfA 4.16.0.75 worked fine.

I am a bit bummed that the result is a KFX rather than azw3, but converting it to epub via the KFX-input context menu (rather than via Calibre's normal conversion menu) gives a result indistinguishable from how the KFX looks on my phone--though the formatting of the book is a fairly minimal one.