The advisability of stripping DRM - a cautionary tale

[Timboli]

@Jean - Maybe I am missing something here?

(1) Download your ebooks to Kindle For PC ... if you haven't already (think you did).
(2) Load them into Calibre from the 'My Kindle Content' folder (User Documents).
NOTE - If you want a little help to determine what file is what and even do the importing for you (with or without DRM removal), then maybe get a copy of my AZWPlug program.
(3) Once in Calibre then Send them (DRM versions) to your K1.
(4) Once there, Sync your K1 to have them verified.

I haven't tried Steps 3 or 4 myself, but from what I have read elsewhere, that should work.

[JSWolf]

I do think amazon should allow some eBooks to not be available in Mobi due to things like advanced formatting or embedded fonts (that need to be there).

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Jean

AnemicOak asked for a list of books that will no longer download via USB from manage my kindle to my K1...

<snip>

War Brides by Helen Bryan
The Martian by Andy Weir
Opening Up by Lauren Dane
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Blood Engines by T. A. Pratt
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

I checked the above books and they are all available for download to my old Kindle 2 which like the Kindle 1 doesn't support newer formats like AZW3/KF8 or KFX. It will let me send them straight to the device or transfer via USB.

Under "Available on these devices" on the store page for each book it does indeed not list the 1st gen Kindle but does list the second gen.

Makes me wonder what's up exactly. Are they just slowing dropping support for the K1 on books because they can or is there an actual technical reason? Seems quite odd as there haven't been any announcements about wholesale support for the device ending or anything. I don't necessarily expect a company to continue supporting devices forever or anything, but changes in status should be announced at the very least and Amazon's usually pretty good about things like that.

Some of those books have recently come out and I know I haven't gotten any update notifications on them so if they worked once on the K1 they still should. Wonder if it's more of a glitch/oversight to do with the "Available on these devices" and them erroneously leaving the K1 out of the list for some reason.

I wonder if an email to kindle-feedback@amazon.com on this would get any useful feedback.



EDIT: A quick Google finds these posts...
https://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/...TxSMFNJ6ODOYVQ
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-f...DiscussionsNew

One quote that may be of use/interest...

Success! K1 Content Manager does provide a back door way to retrieve 'incompatible' books.

Details:
- Bought an e-book at Amazon.com. Publication date Oct, 2014 (not a brand-new title at all). Product page has an 'Available on these devices' link, no Gen 1 listed, 'Kindle' points to Baby K, as previously noted.
- Delivered to default device (my phone)
- Tried 'Deliver to another' - K1 not listed. Can't get there from here.

At Manage Your Content and Devices, new title is present as expected:
- 'Deliver to' has K1 greyed out. Can't get there from here.
- USB download says no devices compatible with content. No way to transfer new book to K1 from the Amazon website.

On the K1:
- Turn on the radio, 'Sync and Check for New Items.'
- Nothing new shows up in list of titles on the device.
- Open on-board Content Manager. New title shows as present at Amazon.
- Select new book, tell Kindle 'Move to SD Card.' 'Move to Kindle' would be OK, too, but I have more room on the card.
- Transfer successful, book opens.

It looks more and more to me like the only incompatibility here is Amazon programming their database to disable transfers to original Kindles. Thanks, FoundQuilting, for pointing me in the right direction!

[bwaldron]

As another data point, I just checked, and I am unable to download via USB for my Kindle 1 for any of the books I checked it with, from recent purchases to my first purchase from the Kindle store in early 2008. I can still get books on that device wirelessly.

[Jean]

I sent an email to kindle-feedback@amazon.com (As suggested by AnemicOak).

I'll let everyone know if I receive any response.

[Atunah]

I checked some of those books listed as I still have a K1 registered on my account. I have the current update that it asked for in spring. On the books Jean listed I checked, only my K1 is greyed out. No sending of samples to it, no purchasing from the book page.

I have also tested on the K1 itself and the only way to pull some of my own old books to the K1 is to use the content manager. Content manager on the K1 is unique to it, don't think the K2 had that. I never had one, I think K2 worked like the K3. So one has to go into content manager and pull them there from the "cloud" onto the K1. Its a bit combersome as its very slow, especially if you need to find something specific. Plus my 3G has been a bit wonky on it for a few years now.

It was kind of fun to use the K1 again for a bit. I read for 2 years on that thing, many many books. Still so pleasant to hold. Only the Oasis finally has the same kind of feel in my hands. My hands are not shaped for thin flat straight slates.

Once my K1 is charged again, I only did enough to try one of my old books out yesterday, I'll go directly for one of the books listed by jean to try it out in content manager. I believe I own at least one of them.

[Jean]

Typical worthless Amazon Response:

Hello Jean,

Thank you for contacting Amazon Customer Support!

I understand that you are concerned about the compatibility of the books on different devices. I'll surely assist you for this.

I'd like to inform you that most Kindle content product detail page offer information about compatibility under “Available on these devices.” Content that you've purchased previously from the Kindle Store, Digital Music Store, Amazon Video Store, and Amazon Appstore for Android are stored in the Amazon Cloud and can be accessed from your Fire tablet.

I also understand that you've spent lot of money on purchasing Kindle contents and we wholeheartedly appreciate that you are a valuable customer of Amazon. However, I would like to inform you that the format of the content is totally decided by the Publisher so is its compatibility with devices.

Please be informed, Amazon is working closely with major Kindle content publishers to make sure that more content titles will soon be available for all Amazon devices and Kindle apps.

At Amazon, we are passionate about driving continuous innovation to serve our Kindle customers in the best way possible. Your feedback about our services is definitely very important for us to continue delighting our customers.

I hope as a valuable and responsible customer of amazon you understand our limitations in this case.

I understand that you are not happy with this feature and your comments in your recent email were really appreciable and I am glad that you took out your precious time to write to us.

Rest assured that I have passed along your comments to the concerned department. We definitely value your opinion and will continue to listen and respond to our customers' concerns. We will make every effort to evaluate the information you have provided, and try our level best to lead it to program changes or enhancements.

We never expect this for customers like you. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

Be rest assured that we are here to make things easier for you and we'll take every action to prevent you from bearing any loss.

If you need additional assistance or have further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us again. You can reach Kindle Customer Support by phone or chat by clicking Contact Us on our Kindle support pages at:

www.amazon.com/kindlesupport

[Terisa de morgan]

How many words to say nothing!

[cfrizz]

The important piece was said in the third paragraph as far as they are concerned. They told her to use her Fire tablet. Whether she wants to or not is up to her the books are still accessible.

[Timboli]

That's the problem with the Cloud or Amazon's version of it.

They don't store an original copy of the ebook it seems, but keep changing the version of it, which to my mind is wrong. They should keep a copy of all versions that have been released. Once someone has bought an ebook, then that particular version copy should stay on the Cloud, totally independent of what the Publisher might do from then on. Once you bought the ebook they should lose a say in it, for all intents & purposes.

For those who don't fully understand the Cloud, it generally works like this. 10 people or more buy the same edition or version of an ebook, and one copy only is kept on the server (Cloud). Those 10 people etc can always access that one copy. Of course, there is more than one server around the world, so realistically there is more than one Cloud copy of each ebook. Not to mention server backups too.

So anyway, if Amazon won't do the right thing, you need to. You need to store your ebook elsewhere, in addition to any copies on your device(s). Use Google Drive for instance. Like I said in an earlier post, you should only need to get the ebook on your device via Calibre, and then sync to get the ebook verified for use.

And of course, part of the problem, is legitimate updates by Publishers, where errors have been corrected in an ebook. New formatting and fonts is legitimate too, but they shouldn't supersede older versions that only work with older devices, they should be in addition to.

But none of this would be an issue, if Amazon were managing things properly, as even revisions of an ebook should be kept in many circumstances.

[Jean]

I already use my fire tablet as well as sideloading to my k1. I also don't think format is the issue - l can wirelessly download direct to my k1 with no problem. But the exact same book is considered incompatible and can't be downloaded from manage my kindle. It's the inconsistancy that bothers me.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Timboli

They don't store an original copy of the ebook it seems, but keep changing the version of it

That should only happen if you have auto updates turned on. Otherwise you have to go to to the Amazon website and manually choose to update the book(s). Which is why I still get the 2008 version of a few books instead of the revisions that have happened since.

The books in this case still work with the device in question. It's pretty obvious there is some kind of glitch in Amazon's web system when it comes to the K1.

[AnemicOak]

Nate's take is that it's a software glitch...

Software Glitch Blocks Downloads to First-Gen Kindle – Here’s How to Bypass

[Timboli]

Formats are an issue for some Kindles, and each time there is a format change, a Kindle requires a firmware and or software update. After a certain period of time, just like for old computer hardware, firmware & software updates are no longer made for those beasts.

If you browse the My Kindle Content folder on your PC and compare the files there with the Files on various Kindle models, you will see they are different in many instances, between all different age devices. Different file extensions and different companion files.

Amazon started with something like MOBI, then moved to AZW, then moved to AZW3, and now have KFX. The only two extensions that appear in the My Kindle Content folder for Kindle For PC, are the first two, MOBI and AZW ... even for the most recent purchase of two days ago. On my Kindle Paperwhite 2, all four extensions show up.

So between my PC and both Kindles I have different versions of the same ebooks. Even AZW still, for current purchases.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Amazon started with something like MOBI, then moved to AZW, then moved to AZW3, and now have XLF. The only two extensions that appear in the My Kindle Content folder for Kindle For PC, are the first two, MOBI and AZW ... even for the most recent purchase of two days ago. On my Kindle Paperwhite 2, all four extensions show up.

AZW is Mobi (or was, see below). I have no idea what XLF is, but perhaps you mean KFX.

At this time file extensions mean little for Kindle, especially Kindle for PC. AZW can mean AZW/Mobi, AZW3/KF8, AZW4/Print Replica PDF, etc. depending on where it's being delivered. The way most "regular" Kindle books (linear fiction & non-fiction) are done a hybrid file is created using Amazon's publishing tools and that file contains both Mobi and KF8 (along with the ePub source if it's an ePub conversion). The file your individual device gets depends on the most advanced format your device/app supports. Some books are still uploaded by the publisher as only Mobi & some have been on sale long enough without updates that the only version is a Mobi as well.

KFX is a different beast and is only obtained when doing a direct download to supporting devices/apps.