ePub & PDF decryption on Mac OSX

[mores]

Super, thanks for pointing me directly to the good stuff!

[rwe]

epub decryption......
thanks Eric, i followed your excellent step by step instrcutions on viva ebooks blog and it worked fine, working on mac 10.5.8 (leopard)and python 2.5, no problems,
i credit you u all the Karma i can give
I come to the point where the value of my books is much bigger then the value of a reader and with all development going on, i'am certain i will buy a different reader in the near future.
This allowes me to put books i bought and payed for from different shops under either calibre for multiple formats or adobe digital editions and to be able distribute it on my preferred reader, being an ipod on the train or a bigger screen reader home.

The only piece missing is to have this work on my mac for epub books i bought from b&n, there is a set of scripts from ilu-cabbages, but they won't work yet on my mac.
i'am certain one day it will, even for amazon books.
(this also covered my remark on your blog)

rene

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by rwe

The only piece missing is to have this work on my mac for epub books i bought from b&n, there is a set of scripts from ilu-cabbages, but they won't work yet on my mac.

The latest B&N circumvention scripts are supposed to work on any platform.

[adullday]

The key retrieval program is Windows only, but the key generator (which is all you need to get the key) will work on the Mac.

[rwe]

Originally Posted by adullday

The key retrieval program is Windows only, but the key generator (which is all you need to get the key) will work on the Mac.

Thanks all,
however i had to do a couple of things to make it work, things probably very basic, but maybe not as clear to everyone who works by pushing buttons like me.

when i clicked on the links in the cabbages blog, i got something with linenumbers etc. it didn't work out of the box.
-i had to cut and paste it into texteditor or scripteditor
-then i had to save it as plain xxx.txt to check and to xxx.py to get something that python understood
i put these files on the desktop btw.
clicking on the xxx.py created the structure and the application that did the trick.
i validated all by loading the output file of the operation into adobe digital editions and calibre and no hitch there, it worked.

i'am now one happy customer in control of my own books

[epstewart]

Originally Posted by rwe

Thanks all,
however i had to do a couple of things to make it work, things probably very basic, but maybe not as clear to everyone who works by pushing buttons like me.

when i clicked on the links in the cabbages blog, i got something with linenumbers etc. it didn't work out of the box.
-i had to cut and paste it into texteditor or scripteditor
-then i had to save it as plain xxx.txt to check and to xxx.py to get something that python understood
i put these files on the desktop btw.
clicking on the xxx.py created the structure and the application that did the trick.
i validated all by loading the output file of the operation into adobe digital editions and calibre and no hitch there, it worked.

i'am now one happy customer in control of my own books

Rene,

I am glad you have figured all this out! And that it works for you!

Here is my experience with it:

I went here at the i♥cabbages blog and clicked on each of the three scripts in turn: ignoblekey (even though it's Windows-only), ignoblekeygen, and ignobleepub. The links each take you to pages at pastie.org that list the script's code. At upper-right is a Download link for each, and when I used that I wound up with just the code itself without line numbers, etc. I saved each download to an appropriately named file with extension .py (not .pyw).

Then I double-clicked on the ignoblekeygen.py file. Because I have Python 2.6 installed, it created an ignoblekeygen app in the same folder, and when I double-clicked on that app, it opened a dialog box into which I entered my name (as registered at Barnes & Noble online) and my credit card number. ignoblekeygen put its output file, bnepubkey.b64, at the root level of my Mac's folder hierarchy — not my ~/ user folder hierarchy, the main folder hierarchy.

I did the same thing with ignobleepub.py, as downloaded. I double-clicked it to cause the ignobleepub app to appear in the same folder. Double-clicking the ignobleepub app brought up a dialog which asked me to enter the location of the key file that was generated in the prior step (bnepubkey.b64) — I just let that default to the root-level file generated as a default by ignoblekeygen, though I could have moved the default file elsewhere — and also the file I wanted decrypted. (There are ... buttons which let you browse for file locations.) The third field in the dialog is for the filename and location to be used for the decrypted output file.

Here I ran into a minor snag: none of my books from B&N seem to use the encryption these scripts are intended for! I tried inputting into the ignobleepub app a .pdb file I have on hand, but the script app complained that the input file wasn't a ZIP file, and did not produce any output.

So I'd appreciate it if you or anyone else reading this thread would supply me with a link to a book that these scripts work with!

Regards,
Eric

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by epstewart

So I'd appreciate it if you or anyone else reading this thread would supply me with a link to a book that these scripts work with!

I saw a report in another thread that the B&N Mac Reader may still be downloading eReader (.pdb) files when the Windows version is downloading ePub (.epub) files. Make sure you have the latest version (v1.1 for Mac, which supports ePub). Under Windows, Altar of Eden by James Rollins, currently free, downloads as a 2.1MB EPUB from within the Windows B&N Reader but if you download this from your B&N bookshelf via a web browser it comes as a 562KB eReader (.pdb) file.

Note that the .epub file format is a particular kind of ZIP file, and hence the "not a ZIP" error if the file isn't an EPUB.

[epstewart]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I saw a report in another thread that the B&N Mac Reader may still be downloading eReader (.pdb) files when the Windows version is downloading ePub (.epub) files. Make sure you have the latest version (v1.1 for Mac, which supports ePub). Under Windows, Altar of Eden by James Rollins, currently free, downloads as a 2.1MB EPUB from within the Windows B&N Reader but if you download this from your B&N bookshelf via a web browser it comes as a 562KB eReader (.pdb) file.

Note that the .epub file format is a particular kind of ZIP file, and hence the "not a ZIP" error if the file isn't an EPUB.

Thanks, wallcraft. I obtained Altar of Eden in the way you mentioned and successfully used the ignobleepub Python script from i♥cabbages (converted to a double-clickable application by my Mac) to decrypt it.

The situation, as you mentioned, is interesting. This eBook by James Rollins is being given away for free at the B&N online store. If you go there in a web browser, either on a Mac or in Windows, and "buy" and then download the book from your "My eBooks Library," you will get a .pdb version of the book.

The ignobleepub Python script doesn't work with that. It works only with the EPUB version. But apparently the only way to get the EPUB version is to download it from your online "My eBooks Library" using Barnes & Noble Desktop Reader for Windows! Barnes & Noble eReader for the Mac is not a clone of that software, and it cannot access your online B&N eBooks library, so apparently it cannot obtain the EPUB version of the Rollins book directly.

I find it curious that (at least in this case) B&N would be able to "localize" two different versions of the same eBook, depending on how you access the eBook once it is in your online B&N library.

I wonder if the same is true for other B&N eBooks. Does anyone know?

[adullday]

I have one book, Jerry Coyne's book Why Evolution is True, that only downloads as a pdb. All of the other B&N books that I have (including the samples) download as epubs under the B&N software on XP and Vista, but as pdb from the web. It's not a bad deal for me since I get the epub books (which I prefer), but still have pdb versions I can read on my Centro without going through the trouble of converting them.

I haven't made the leap to Intel yet so I haven't been able to try the most up-to-date Mac version of the B&N software.

[epstewart]

Originally Posted by adullday

I have one book, Jerry Coyne's book Why Evolution is True, that only downloads as a pdb. All of the other B&N books that I have (including the samples) download as epubs under the B&N software on XP and Vista, but as pdb from the web. It's not a bad deal for me since I get the epub books (which I prefer), but still have pdb versions I can read on my Centro without going through the trouble of converting them.

I haven't made the leap to Intel yet so I haven't been able to try the most up-to-date Mac version of the B&N software.

Thanks, Dave, for the input. It sounds like B&N and the publishers that provide it with eBooks have a variable policy as to whether the book can be retrieved as an epub by using the Barnes & Noble Desktop Reader for Windows.

Why the policy would vary from book to book makes little sense to me, though. To wit, we in this thread know that the epub versions can be unlocked into no-DRM eBooks that might, by those less scrupulous than we, be freely distributed, while I am not aware that the pdb versions can be (though I have yet to really investigate pdb decryption). If I were B&N, I would get rid of the epubs post haste!

Off-topic alerts:

That Jerry Coyne book is excellent! I've read it in its print version, which I bought before getting involved with the next evolutionary step: electronic books.

Also, some of my friends tell me that (rumor has it) Apple will introduce its "tablet" device in, maybe, February. I gather it will be like a big iPhone and thus be capable of running apps such as Stanza/eReader/B&N eReader/Kindle which will let us read just about any eBooks (even Adobe-DRM'ed ones, provided we decrypt them first). My friends say it will cost about $900. I have read online that the backlit, color-LCD touchscreen size will be 10.6 inches diagonally.

Cheers,
Eric

[adullday]

It wouldn't do B&N any good to get rid of the epubs... the ereader pdb's were cracked a long time ago. I'll withhold discussing it so I won't get Mobileread into any trouble, but a Google search should provide links and answers to the curious.

Off-topic:

I listened to the audio version of Jerry Coyne's book while raking leaves last Fall, and I loved it. It was a great (and refreshing) followup to the Kansas Evolution Hearings of 2005 (which are also on Audible.com). I saw your review of the book on your blog but haven't had a chance to read it yet.

Okay, I'm going way off-topic into a volatile subject... I'll behave.

[epstewart]

I bought a Nook, the new eBook reader/"Kindle killer" from Barnes & Noble. I was (apparently erroneously) under the impression that it is able to side-load and read Adobe PDF files. My first attempt to do so met with failure. An eBook which works fine in Adobe Digital Editions on my Mac — "The Keepsake" by Tess Gerritsen, borrowed from Maryland's Digital eLibrary Consortium — refuses to open on the Nook.

I tried using v2 of the ineptpdf Python script from i♥cabbages on it. The script was able to successfully decrypt the book, but on the Nook the decrypted version opens to a blank page (1 of 0!), while on the Mac it fails to open in Adobe Reader at all, complaining, "There was an error opening this document. The root object is missing or invalid."

When I open the decrypted version on the Mac using Adobe Digital Editions, I get the same weird blank page as on the Nook.

I would like to try a later version of ineptpdf, but I can't seem to locate one on the Web. If any of you have one or know how to get one, would you kindly PM me with the necessary information?

Thanks,
Eric

Edit: Further experiments show that neither Adobe PDF nor Adobe EPUB files borrowed from Maryland's Digital eLibrary Consortium can be used on the Nook, though (at least one of) the same books seem to work fine on the Nook when I buy them commercially. In general, I seem to have no problem reading non-borrowed Adobe PDFs and EPUBs on the Nook. It is only the borrowed versions that fail to work. Also, an experiment with a different borrowed Adobe PDF showed that at least that book could in fact be successfully decrypted by v2 of ineptpdf and then read in decrypted form on the Nook, so it looks as if I just happened to pick an Adobe PDF with an extra problem when I tried decrypting it as my first experiment with borrowed Adobe PDFs.

[joblack]

Ineptkeymac is state of the art for Mac OS X.

[pietvo]

And ineptpdf is now at version 7.4 which can handle a lot more pdf's.

[EatingPie]

Originally Posted by epstewart

The problem has to do with the fact that some downloaded Adobe eBook files need to be unzipped and then rezipped again before decrypting them on a Mac. eBooks in the ePub format (even if they are ADEPT-encrypted) are basically ZIP files. They've been zipped into an archive containing a signle folder that holds multiple individual files. The entire archive has been compressed to make it smaller. For some reason, the ineptepub.py decryption software on a Mac can't do the unzipping properly, preparatory to doing the decryption. But if you unzip the archive and then rezip it, you can feed the rezipped version to ineptepub.py and it will work.

The key thing to do seems to be to follow the directions in post #60.

You will work on a copy of your eBook, not the original. I suggest putting the copy on the Desktop. It has to be renamed in Get Info, in the Finder, so that it has a .zip extension replacing .epub. Then, when you double-click the renamed .zip file, the Mac will unzip it into a folder on the Desktop.

Post #60 refers to this post in another thread, in which you will find a downloadable AppleScript "droplet" that you will download and unzip to become an ePub Zip 1.0.2 icon on your Desktop. Then you will drag the unzipped eBook archive, now a folder on your Desktop, to this droplet in order to rezip it. It becomes a file on the Desktop. This file has an .epub extension. You can use this file as the Input File to ineptepub.py.

I found an alternate solution to this problem.

- DOES NOT require unzip/rezip. (The Good News!)
- DOES require the command line. (The Bad News, unless you're me. )

It also eliminates the do not use unzip on the command line warning. An unzip will work fine afterward, though it won't be necessary, since the archive is repaired directly.

Here goes...

The zip file has a corrupted file name in the archive, as mentioned above. The command line version of zip on Mac OS X actually has the ability to repair zip files. Since this is a pretty simple repair, it works fine.

Note that the zip command alters the file in place, so you probably want to work on a copy.

% cp your-epub.epub new-epub.epub
% zip -F new-epub.epub

To test the archive, you can use the unzip command:

% unzip -qt new-epub.epub

If the fix worked, you shouldn't see anything. Just a clean run, all clear and back to the prompt. This also doesn't actually unzip anything, it's just a test run.

Okay!!

Now you can run ineptepub.pyw on the fixed file (it has a command-line/no GUI mode when you pass it parameters).

% python ineptepub.pyw  adeptkey.der new-epub.epub decrypted.epub
% rm new-epub.epub

I wrote a bash script to do the whole shebang, but it's pretty custom in terms of hard-coded directories. It's also against the rules to post here anyway.

This solution should also work via in an Applescript. Wink Wink Nudge Nudge.

-Pie