Can you convert Kindle ebooks to Sony?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by CarolB

I didn't realize that kind of thing was illeagal, why don't they just make a universal kind of file so they work on everything? Does it ruin them to change them or make them look different?

From your mouth (backed by our considerable chorus) to their ears...

Yes, those are the questions many of us have been asking for years now. It is all about trying to lock-in customers in their store, not someone else's. And you'd think Amazon, with one of the biggest stores there is, wouldn't be that concerned about that.

It's also about publishers wanting security and control, so you can't bootleg their e-books, and the Kindle system is designed specifically to prevent that.

Fortunately for us, as other players (like Barnes & Noble) build their e-book stores and introduce more devices, Amazon finds itself having to offer new perks to customers, in order to keep them returning. The latest was Kindle-on-PC. We can only hope that sooner or later, probably as other stores offer more services, Amazon will offer a service that will allow you to convert your books to other formats, or read them on more non-Amazon reading devices.

[landkole]

Okay so HOW ??? Sorry, my frustration is LARGE... I cannot find the books I want for my reader anywhere but AMAZON so I thought okay I will download their Amazon for PC and then convert it. I PAID FOR THE DARN BOOKS!!! I do not WANT a Kindle. I rec'd a Sony Reader for Christmas and to put out another $300 seems assinine. I will CANCEL my account with Amazon if this is not corrected. Alot of good that will do but as we come into the NEW AGE of reading I HOPE that the more people that PROTEST AMAZON'S lack of fluidity and maybe they will stand up and FINALLY take note! DAMN monopolizers!

[wallcraft]

There are now a couple of applications to remove the DRM from K4PC AZW ebooks. The easiest to use is unswindle.pyw.

[Bremen Cole]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

There are now a couple of applications to remove the DRM from K4PC AZW ebooks. The easiest to use is unswindle.pyw.

+1 for unswindle, it works great..... but not on the Amazon books DRM'd with topaz.....

Search and ye shall find............

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by landkole

Okay so HOW ??? Sorry, my frustration is LARGE... I cannot find the books I want for my reader anywhere but AMAZON so I thought okay I will download their Amazon for PC and then convert it. I PAID FOR THE DARN BOOKS!!! I do not WANT a Kindle. I rec'd a Sony Reader for Christmas and to put out another $300 seems assinine. I will CANCEL my account with Amazon if this is not corrected. Alot of good that will do but as we come into the NEW AGE of reading I HOPE that the more people that PROTEST AMAZON'S lack of fluidity and maybe they will stand up and FINALLY take note! DAMN monopolizers!

You're run head-on into the dreaded DRM issues. Basically each device/bookseller encodes and encrypts their books for a particular device (with the exception of non-drm content). Legally you cannot strip DRM, but there are tools that allow you to remove ("liberate") the DRM and depending on the format (mobi, epub, topaz, etc) you can potentially convert it to a drm-free format compatible with your device. This is not true for all formats or drm implementations and is certainly a PITA even if you can.

[CarolB]

So, how do you know if it's a book you can do it with and what to use to do it with? Just unswindle for everything?

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by CarolB

So, how do you know if it's a book you can do it with and what to use to do it with?

One approach is to download the sample first and unswindle should tell you if it is TOPAZ (or look for TPZ0 as the 1st 4 bytes of the file). A good "tell" is that TOPAZ ebooks don't include their filesize on their Kindle Store web page.

There has been progress on removing the DRM from TOPAZ, but the TOPAZ format is essentially a reflowable scan of the printed page. So far it isn't convertible to any standard ebook format.

A DRM-free AZW is a MOBI (I suggest using .mobi as its filename extension), and it can be converted to ePub or LRF for a Sony using Calibre.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Legally you cannot strip DRM, but there are tools that allow you to remove ("liberate") the DRM and depending on the format (mobi, epub, topaz, etc) you can potentially convert it to a drm-free format compatible with your device.

Legally you *can* strip DRM for legal purposes, such as making a backup or format shifting to another device. It's covered under the same precedent that allows you to videotape TV shows to watch them later, potentially on a different television.

What's not legal is distribution of DRM-removal tools. So they're hard to find, posted in weird anonymous places of the web, and people who want to legally use their content have to wade through tech-discussion forums and manage complex installation instructions.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Legally you *can* strip DRM for legal purposes, such as making a backup or format shifting to another device. It's covered under the same precedent that allows you to videotape TV shows to watch them later, potentially on a different television.
..

I don't know that that is even true. Is there specific legislation that allows it? Can you point me to it?

Certainly you could back up the DRM'd version. It's just a file. And you wouldn't have to strip DRM to do that.

If there is a law that specifically allows it I'd like to be aware of it.

[Bremen Cole]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I don't know that that is even true. Is there specific legislation that allows it? Can you point me to it?

Certainly you could back up the DRM'd version. It's just a file. And you wouldn't have to strip DRM to do that.

If there is a law that specifically allows it I'd like to be aware of it.

I don't doubt anything you are saying.......... but in all fairness I have never seen "specific legislation" that says it is against the law to strip the DRM from an ebook. I know the publishers/sellers "policy", or perhaps even user agreements, but I have never heard of anyone getting prison time for it, or even a fine.

I think most of these kind of things are just fear tactics to intimidate the masses.........

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I don't know that that is even true. Is there specific legislation that allows it? Can you point me to it?

DMCA 1201(a)(1)(B-E):
shall not apply to persons who are users of a copyrighted work which is in a particular class of works, if such persons are, or are likely to be in the succeeding 3-year period, adversely affected by virtue of such prohibition in their ability to make noninfringing uses...

(Emphasis mine.) You can remove DRM to avail yourself of noninfringing use--which includes time/device shifting (the Betamax case), copies for educational uses, limited quotations for review/commentary, and so on.


Section 1201(c)(1): Nothing in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses to copyright infringement, including fair use, under this title.

If it's fair use, it's not an infringement of copyright; if it's not infringing copyright, the DM Copyright Act doesn't apply.

[jbloudg20]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

I don't doubt anything you are saying.......... but in all fairness I have never seen "specific legislation" that says it is against the law to strip the DRM from an ebook. I know the publishers/sellers "policy", or perhaps even user agreements, but I have never heard of anyone getting prison time for it, or even a fine.

I think most of these kind of things are just fear tactics to intimidate the masses.........

The DMCA forbids the removing of encryption from products. I also have never heard of someone being prosecuted for personal use, but it is still not allowed.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

DMCA 1201(a)(1)(B-E):
shall not apply to persons who are users of a copyrighted work which is in a particular class of works, if such persons are, or are likely to be in the succeeding 3-year period, adversely affected by virtue of such prohibition in their ability to make noninfringing uses...

(Emphasis mine.) You can remove DRM to avail yourself of noninfringing use--which includes time/device shifting (the Betamax case), copies for educational uses, limited quotations for review/commentary, and so on.


Section 1201(c)(1): Nothing in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses to copyright infringement, including fair use, under this title.

If it's fair use, it's not an infringement of copyright; if it's not infringing copyright, the DM Copyright Act doesn't apply.

I don't feel that says anything about DRM or in fact allows it in that the prior section specifically states that it is illegal to remove it.

That is copyright law and you are interpreting it to imply that you are allowed to remove drm. I'm certain not a lawyer, but I think the DRM laws may say something different.

Fair use can is covered by the fact that you can back it up in total (with the drm intact) and you can quote pieces from it for purposes of fair use without having to remove DRM.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by jbloudg20

The DMCA forbids the removing of encryption from products. I also have never heard of someone being prosecuted for personal use, but it is still not allowed.

Sorry, I was not reading that entire section quoted above. Thanks. You are right the main point of it is to make illegal the removal of DRM.

[susan_cassidy]

Originally Posted by landkole

Okay so HOW ??? Sorry, my frustration is LARGE... I cannot find the books I want for my reader anywhere but AMAZON...

That is a major reason why people buy a Kindle, as opposed to a Sony. The book selection in DRMed format (which is the only way you are going to be able to legally acquire most recently written/published books) is larger.