Dealing with Kindle ebooks in calibre

[Lief]

Every time I check this topic I'm so glad I stopped to bother buying from amazon a while ago.
Removing DRM from any other store that use Adobe DRM is still as easy as it was before and most of these stores (like Kobo) also explicitly say if an ebook is DRM-free or use Adobe DRM.
As the author of a small book (which I won't advertise here), I've made sure mine is available DRM-free on Amazon as well (although I'm pointing to the Itch version in the description as highly recommended, since I've included both versions there and, unlike Amazon, there's no risk that Amazon will change its mind... after all, until recently, DRM was also applied to DRM-free ebooks, and there was no way for authors who didn't want to use DRM to remove it).
It's a shame to lose authors who publish only on Amazon (even though there's always the option of a printed book, if the worst comes to the worst), and the very few times I find a book that only got an amazon version I always try to contact the author to suggest to publish also elsewhere. But Kobo and the other stores already have the vast majority of books and, in particular, all the digital manga I'm interested in (the main thing I buy nowadays since I already got a lot of books from humble bundle), so it's no big deal if I miss some books.
If I absolutely wanted a book only available on Amazon and there was no way to remove the DRM or buy a physical copy, I'm sure I wouldn't give up just like that... I'd rather copy it word for word, reconstructing the digital file from scratch. I hate buying something and not having a backup copy, which is my right as the buyer. I think the use of DRM itself is criminal, and I hope it's outlawed by the EU sooner or later. (Something is moving in the area of ​​video game preservation with the Stop Killing Games initiative; things don't necessarily have to stay this way forever even in the ebook world).
What amazes me most is that so many people are still so loyal to Amazon that they buy ebooks through their system, only to then find themselves unable to remove the DRM or to use really complicated ways to remove it.
If there's one positive thing that could come out of this story, it's that when so many people who now remove the DRM stop buying, book sales on Amazon will suffer (as small as the community of those who don't want DRM may be... it's big enough to keep stores like GoG afloat for video game sales, so I don't think it's as small as most people think, even if the ebook community is perhaps smaller than the videogames community), which will lead more authors to choose alternatives.

Still I have to be honest, even Kobo and other stores use too much DRM (in this case, of course, I'm talking about Adobe's, but any DRM should be eliminated).
Personally, I hate this mentality, even though Adobe DRM is easy to remove.
Lately, in fact, I've started buying digital books and manga much more often without DRM (for manga, this basically means waiting for the Humble Bundle)... I think supporting those who decide to go drm-free from the start can also help.

When I write to authors I usually also suggest drm-free to show respect to customers that pay for their product.
I also explain that adding drm will force me to remove it as I cannot use it in an old device like kindle 4 that still works fine.

Some authors does not answer, some say the original publisher is retarded and don't want to remove the drm (this is also the case for jap manga, the italian publisher asked them to remove the drm, they said no), some say they didn't know and removed it after I asked them. Nobody said I like drm and I want to keep it.
So in my limited experience most of them basically add drm because they don't know what it is and amazon suggest it or because some big publisher don't understand anything and ask for it to "go against piracy".

So try to ask, worst case scenario they will say no but at least they know people are asking for it.

[Quoth]

Outside of Amazon it's the publisher that decides on DRM, not the store.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Outside of Amazon it's the publisher that decides on DRM, not the store.

Kobo decides on the DRM for KePub.

[jacobh]

I have a Paperwhite 2 (6th gen) on 5.12.2.2 and a Voyage that I've never registered with Amazon (have always managed offline with Calibre).

I just tested removing DRM with the Paperwhite and it failed as per the feedback here around Amazon updating through the firmware exploit.

Are my only options at this point:
* Attempt to downgrade my Paperwhite firmware
* Register the Voyage which should still work

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kobo decides on the DRM for KePub.

What do you mean? If it's DRM-free in epub, it's DRM-free in kepub.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kobo decides on the DRM for KePub.

Not sure what you mean by your statement. Unless the author/publisher who supplied the ebook to Kobo requests that DRM be applied, neither the ePub (Adobe's ADEPT DRM) nor the kepub (Kobo's proprietary DRM) will be DRMmed which matches what @Quoth stated.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by jacobh

I have a Paperwhite 2 (6th gen) on 5.12.2.2 and a Voyage that I've never registered with Amazon (have always managed offline with Calibre).

I just tested removing DRM with the Paperwhite and it failed as per the feedback here around Amazon updating through the firmware exploit.

Are my only options at this point:
* Attempt to downgrade my Paperwhite firmware
* Register the Voyage which should still work

There's still Kindle for PC for the moment, and if you jailbreak your Paperwhite 2, I believe there is now a solution for that as well. See Satsuoni's GitHub.

[jacobh]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

There's still Kindle for PC for the moment, and if you jailbreak your Paperwhite 2, I believe there is now a solution for that as well. See Satsuoni's GitHub.

Thanks.

For the jailbreak option, my understanding was I'd also need to downgrade firmware, but I'll explore that more.

[Sats]

Originally Posted by jacobh

Thanks.

For the jailbreak option, my understanding was I'd also need to downgrade firmware, but I'll explore that more.

For my tools to work you need, in general, same firmware you downloaded books on, so downgrading would (likely) remove your ability to decrypt books unless you redownload them. Downgrading would/may allow you to download books that work with older tools.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sats

For my tools to work you need, in general, same firmware you downloaded books on, so downgrading would (likely) remove your ability to decrypt books unless you redownload them. Downgrading would/may allow you to download books that work with older tools.

Does your new tool work with the new KFX DRM on jailbroken Kindles?

[Sats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Does your new tool work with the new KFX DRM on jailbroken Kindles?

Pw2 5.12.2.2, yes. Others, I don't know and am trying to get people to test it. Pw5 5.16.2.1.1 apparently yes. 5.8.10, no, but it also does not have new DRM so not much point in using it.

[Nephesh]

Originally Posted by Sats

5.12.2.2[...]am trying to get people to test it[...]

I've got a 7th generation Kindle Basic with that firmware. I think I'll try to finally jailbreak my reader and then to remove drm. Is the removal of drm's kind of straightforward in terms of instructions? I'm not a "not a techy guy": I can follow a tutorial (from stackexchange for example but wherever), I use pc's since 1996-7 circa, tried and toyed Linux as a secondary OS for 12 years but cannot consider myself a poweruser.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Sats

Pw2 5.12.2.2, yes. Others, I don't know and am trying to get people to test it. Pw5 5.16.2.1.1 apparently yes. 5.8.10, no, but it also does not have new DRM so not much point in using it.

Paperwhite 3 (7th generation) is the one on 5.16.2.1.1. PW5 is 11th gen and up to 5.19.2. (Amazon is pretty annoying with their naming/numbering.)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sats

Pw2 5.12.2.2, yes. Others, I don't know and am trying to get people to test it. Pw5 5.16.2.1.1 apparently yes. 5.8.10, no, but it also does not have new DRM so not much point in using it.

That's really good as I have a PW3 and your tool would work. So if I have a problem with DRM, I can jailbreak and use your tool. Well done! Thank you!

[Sats]

Originally Posted by Nephesh

I've got a 7th generation Kindle Basic with that firmware. I think I'll try to finally jailbreak my reader and then to remove drm. Is the removal of drm's kind of straightforward in terms of instructions? I'm not a "not a techy guy": I can follow a tutorial (from stackexchange for example but wherever), I use pc's since 1996-7 circa, tried and toyed Linux as a secondary OS for 12 years but cannot consider myself a poweruser.

If you can figure out KUAL, it should be straightforward enough. For more detailed help, ask on Github, not here (forum rules)

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Paperwhite 3 (7th generation) is the one on 5.16.2.1.1. PW5 is 11th gen and up to 5.19.2. (Amazon is pretty annoying with their naming/numbering.)

I am not the one reporting numbers... Apparently they were running older FW, or did not number kindle correctly? I believe the report was "11th gen with 5.16.2.1.1"

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That's really good as I have a PW3 and your tool would work. So if I have a problem with DRM, I can jailbreak and use your tool. Well done! Thank you!

It should. Do tell me if it does not. PW3 does not have reports as of yet, in either direction.