Amazon and DRM changes

[shalym]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

All files for the Kindle 4 were DRM azw3 - one for the PW4 was kfx

Are you sure that you have your DeDRM configured correctly? I can verify that I downloaded 2 different books for USB from Amazon that were designated for my 2019 Oasis and I was able to remove the DRM successfully.

Shari

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by jhowell

On the other hand I still hold out hope that a completely different method of attack will be found. The idea of using an old version of Kindle for Android in an emulator has been mentioned. And there is a chance that a new way to disable KFX will be found that works in the latest version of Kindle for PC.

There's actually an interesting attack vector that epubor uses: It opens the cloud reader on PC and scrapes each individual page of your ebook.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

There's actually an interesting attack vector that epubor uses: It opens the cloud reader on PC and scrapes each individual page of your ebook.

What sort of result does that produce?

I can see that generating a set of page images that you could turn into a readable PDF but getting something like an EPUB out would be tricky.

[C-novice]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Because then I can't actually read the bloody book! I don't have a Kindle (and have no desire to get one), and the online reader is terrible.

Exactement!. My thoughts exactly.

[C-novice]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

A simple tuning of the subject-verb agreement works even better.


"Does Amz pay so well that authors would bind their works for life to that one entity?"

Correct verb tenses are also helpful.

See why I must own the books I buy? By having them handy to re-read any number of years later even when they are no longer published, I might learn a bit more vocab/grammar, yes?

Assuming they are well written or is it properly written?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by shalym

Are you sure that you have your DeDRM configured correctly? I can verify that I downloaded 2 different books for USB from Amazon that were designated for my 2019 Oasis and I was able to remove the DRM successfully.

Shari

Were they published 2023 January 3 or later?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Were they published 2023 January 3 or later?

I've downloaded 11 books that were published on or after 2023-Jan-03. They all give the PCMAC_126 error message when attempting to download using K4PC and/or K4Mac. They all downloaded as azw3 files when using Download and transfer via USB (registered device is a PW4) and calibre was able to import them (I do have an eInk Kindle with it's serial number registered in the DeDRM plugin).

In my personal opinion, this is not a change in DRM but rather an issue with Amazon disallowing downloads by older K4PC and K4Mac applications based on publication date.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by DNSB

In my personal opinion, this is not a change in DRM but rather an issue with Amazon disallowing downloads by older K4PC and K4Mac applications based on publication date.

Thanks for the data points.

That is a good summary and analysis of the main topic of this thread and does not seem to be in dispute other than quibbling over what is under the DRM umbrella.

ottischwenk has muddied the water with reports on "Download & Transfer" of newly published ebooks bought via amazon.de, so far neither refuted nor confirmed.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Thanks for the data points.

That is a good summary and analysis of the main topic of this thread and does not seem to be in dispute other than quibbling over what is under the DRM umbrella.

ottischwenk has muddied the water with reports on "Download & Transfer" of newly published ebooks bought via amazon.de, so far neither refuted nor confirmed.

I also have not experienced any changes related to newly published books other than with Kindle for PC.

The report of what is happening on Amazon.de is an anomaly. I am curious whether something interesting is going on there or if it is just a misunderstanding.

[cpegg]

Originally Posted by DNSB

In my personal opinion, this is not a change in DRM but rather an issue with Amazon disallowing downloads by older K4PC and K4Mac applications based on publication date.

I was wondering about this, if it's possible that the change has little to do with a desire to close gaps in their DRM. Could it simply be one step towards "standardizing" and "simplifying" to avoid dealing with legacy software, antique hardware, and obsolete (to them) file formats in order to reduce IT costs? Creating DRM difficulties is just a side effect? Perhaps not an unwelcome one, yet still incidental?

I'm musing about this because the company I work for (we'll call it Big Giant Worldwide Corporation) shows similar tendencies and this 'simplification' must look great on someone's end-of-year presentation but it never goes well for us end users.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by cpegg

I was wondering about this, if it's possible that the change has little to do with a desire to close gaps in their DRM. Could it simply be one step towards "standardizing" and "simplifying" to avoid dealing with legacy software, antique hardware, and obsolete (to them) file formats in order to reduce IT costs? Creating DRM difficulties is just a side effect? Perhaps not an unwelcome one, yet still incidental?

To me that just doesn’t fit with what Amazon is doing. My hypothesis is that they are doing what they can to promote lock in to their reading infrastructure. They don’t appear to be taking any steps to discontinue their older file formats. They are happy to let you read on a Kindle, even a very old model. The areas where they keep making changes relate to being able to take Kindle books out to be read on other platforms.

So far the only place they haven’t tried to stop that is the Download and Transfer function that requires the customer to be a Kindle owner to use. If I am correct they will continue to curtail that functionality going forward.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by jhowell

To me that just doesn’t fit with what Amazon is doing. My hypothesis is that they are doing what they can to promote lock in to their reading infrastructure. They don’t appear to be taking any steps to discontinue their older file formats. They are happy to let you read on a Kindle, even a very old model. The areas where they keep making changes relate to being able to take Kindle books out to be read on other platforms.

I wonder what motivation they have for doing this. It won't add new customers, it will take away those customers who read their Kindle books on other brands. What's the benefit? Why not allow Kobo and Pocketbook users to continue buying and converting? Are they hoping all those people will now buy a Kindle? That would mean selling the hardware is more important to them than selling the books.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I wonder what motivation they have for doing this. It won't add new customers, it will take away those customers who read their Kindle books on other brands. What's the benefit? Why not allow Kobo and Pocketbook users to continue buying and converting? Are they hoping all those people will now buy a Kindle? That would mean selling the hardware is more important to them than selling the books.

I don’t think it is about selling the Kindle hardware for a profit. Instead owning a Kindle device demonstrates a commitment to spending money on Kindle books. That is what they want.

It is all about data mining and advertising. If you read on a Kindle device or app you are continuously exposed to suggestions for more books to purchase.

If you take your books and read elsewhere you might not come back.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by jhowell

To me that just doesn’t fit with what Amazon is doing. My hypothesis is that they are doing what they can to promote lock in to their reading infrastructure. They don’t appear to be taking any steps to discontinue their older file formats. They are happy to let you read on a Kindle, even a very old model. The areas where they keep making changes relate to being able to take Kindle books out to be read on other platforms.

So far the only place they haven’t tried to stop that is the Download and Transfer function that requires the customer to be a Kindle owner to use. If I am correct they will continue to curtail that functionality going forward.

If they extend this to older books, my theory would be that they're trying to close the "buy - strip drm - refund" route, considering their recent changes to the refund policy. But this make less sense if it's only for newly-published book.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

If they extend this to older books, my theory would be that they're trying to close the "buy - strip drm - refund" route, considering their recent changes to the refund policy. But this make less sense if it's only for newly-published book.

Amazon had choices. They could have completely cut off all downloads by older apps or cut off only newly purchased books instead.

By cutting off downloads only for books published after a specific date they can claim to be stopping downloads because those new books use technology that is not supported in the older app versions. But there is actually no technical reason for that. Those new books are functionally identical to books published last year.

In other words I think this is a dishonest attempt to deflect customer complaints. “I’m sorry but old apps just don’t support new books.”

Honest would be, “That old app lets you do things that we don’t want you to do, so upgrade already.”