Amazon and DRM changes

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by yoshi

I don't understand how BookFab operates without cracking DRM.

I'd like to know whether the risk described by jhowell still applies to BookFab users today.

> Amazon will know who is in violation of the their terms of service and they could decide to terminate accounts in order to send a clear message to others who might do the same.

That doesn't apply to the other currently working methods that I'm aware of. That only applied to the specific method BookFab used in the beginning and Amazon swiftly blocked.

But then, as I have no idea what method BookFab uses now, who knows.

[DNSB]

One friend of mine who purchased BookFab the first time around and tested it with a throwaway Amazon account downloaded the 1.2.04 version which claimed "1.2.0.4 2025-07-08 New: Kindle eBook import function is upgraded and now supports decrypting the latest version of Kindle eBooks to improve the reading experience". He has K4PC 2.7.1 (70978) installed so he decided to test BookFab again.

When he installed and opened this version, it once again wanted him to sign into his Amazon account which he did with the throwaway account. After doing this, he browsed to the folder where his downloaded Kindle ebooks were located, selected one of them and tried importing it. 15 minutes later, it had made it to "Analyzing your file 99%". This is on a Intel i9-14900K, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a NVMe PCI-4 SSD. Oddly at 99%, the CPU was idling at 1-2%, the SSD was showing 0% and the network connection was showing occasional bursts of up to 48Kbps send and/or receive activity. After 45 minutes at 99%, he killed the task.

Yesterday (2025-Jul-17), he tried 1.2.0.5 though it only claimed audio book improvements. Again, after an hour, Analyzing 99% was still sitting on the screen and he killed the task.

[ownedbycats]

Even if they did crack the DRM directly, Amazon's quick to deploy another one once they catch on. Within 24 hours of a DeDRM release, once.

[Lynx-lynx]

It's easy to boycott Amazon, all their products.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Even if they did crack the DRM directly, Amazon's quick to deploy another one once they catch on. Within 24 hours of a DeDRM release, once.

Yes, it is harder for Amazon to block the workarounds. Incredibly easy for them to change encryption.

[xyzzy_foo]

I've been away from here for a while, but when I tried it yesterday, the K4A method I developed still actually works.
While it's good news that BookFab Kindle Converter has been revived, I don't understand why it's causing such a fuss.

Amazon has effectively blocked KF8, but since they're still maintaining the old KFX DRM through K4A, BookFab isn't absolutely necessary yet.

[xyzzy_foo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

But then, as I have no idea what method BookFab uses now, who knows.

I believe the current BookFab Kindle Converter doesn't actually communicate with Amazon servers since it requires manually importing Kindle eBooks downloaded via K4PC 2.7.1 (70978).
While it certainly works, it's strange that importing "decrypted" KFX into calibre results in KFX-ZIP format. The EPUB obtained through BookFab works fine.

[xyzzy_foo]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Yesterday (2025-Jul-17), he tried 1.2.0.5 though it only claimed audio book improvements. Again, after an hour, Analyzing 99% was still sitting on the screen and he killed the task.

Please tell him to reinstall BookFab. Since BookFab works fine in my environment, I believe the issue is with his setup.


By the way, since BookFab's "decrypted" KFX files couldn't be properly imported into calibre, I used the Satsuoni K4PC method for the first time to dump the keys.
This allowed me to successfully import both the original K4PC-derived KFX and BookFab's "decrypted" KFX, though the file sizes appear completely identical.

Additionally, the file size matches what I obtained through my K4A method, suggesting identical image quality across all versions (the sample was a fixed-layout Kindle eBook published on July 3, 2025).

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

Amazon has effectively blocked KF8, but since they're still maintaining the old KFX DRM through K4A, BookFab isn't absolutely necessary yet.

BookFab isn't necessary at all (at least for Kindle books), as long as there are any free methods available. Which they presumably use themselves. So if all free methods get blocked, BookFab will probably be useless as well.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

Amazon has effectively blocked KF8, but since they're still maintaining the old KFX DRM through K4A, BookFab isn't absolutely necessary yet.

Not if you have a K3 to Pw1 inclusive (Ex DXG). They still get azw3/KF8 rather than KFX because KFX was never backported to them.

Also if you have any of those you don't need Bookfab. Bookfab might even get your account disabled/blocked.

[lkmiller]

While it certainly works, it's strange that importing "decrypted" KFX into calibre results in KFX-ZIP format.

I'd guess that is from the KFX Input plugin not knowing the kfx file is already decrypted.

Agree with others that BookFab is completely unnecessary.

[Waylander]

I'm trying to import some books I sent to my PW6 into Calibre, and they're showing up as KFX-ZIP files. KFX plugins are fully up to date, as is the dedrm plugin. What should I do? Apologies if this is the wrong place for this question.

Edit: I should say that sending to device from the My Content page, and then importing into Calibre works fine with my PW5, as the files show up as KFX. It's only with sending the books to my PW6 that importing them into Calibre that they show up as KFX-ZIP files.

[Sats]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

By the way, since BookFab's "decrypted" KFX files couldn't be properly imported into calibre, I used the Satsuoni K4PC method for the first time to dump the keys.
This allowed me to successfully import both the original K4PC-derived KFX and BookFab's "decrypted" KFX, though the file sizes appear completely identical.

Did you/could you try importing "decrypted" books without setting keyfile, perchance? I remember having trouble with some KFX files that came from Amazon without encryption, since DeDrm plugin searched for keys (which do not exist in decrypted books) and aborted when it could not find anything, so I disabled that check at some point in my version.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Waylander

I'm trying to import some books I sent to my PW6 into Calibre, and they're showing up as KFX-ZIP files. KFX plugins are fully up to date, as is the dedrm plugin. What should I do? Apologies if this is the wrong place for this question.

Edit: I should say that sending to device from the My Content page, and then importing into Calibre works fine with my PW5, as the files show up as KFX. It's only with sending the books to my PW6 that importing them into Calibre that they show up as KFX-ZIP files.

Did you enter the serial number of your PW6 in the plugin settings?

[Waylander]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Did you enter the serial number of your PW6 in the plugin settings?

Yes, all entered correctly.