NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) and Kindle for PC 1.19

[PeterT]

STOP THE PRESSES

You Should Update Kindle For PC Right Now

http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-n...r-pc-right-now

(Please note the source and disregard this advice)

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by PeterT

http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-n...r-pc-right-now

Yikes!

There is lots of conjecture about the KFX e-book format, simply because it came out in 2016.

The release of KFX for enhanced typesetting in e-books was actually in 2015, but KFX usage for interactive magazines was even earlier.

One of the biggest factors is that it is digitally encrypted and nobody has managed to crack the DRM system, which prevents piracy.

It prevents more than piracy. Even books that are supposed to be DRM-free according to the publisher are delivered with DRM in KFX format.

The KFX format is also “pre-rendered” to some extent, such as having hyphenation pre calculated and added to the text as either soft-hyphens or html tags.

False. Hyphenation is handled by the reading device using dictionaries. KFX is a compiled binary format, which reduces the workload on the reading device, but contents are not pre-rendered. There are far too many variants of screen sizes, fonts, font sizes, margins and line spacing for that to be the case.

This allows Amazon to push out their new Ember and Bookerly formats and to make e-books like way better than with Caecilia.

Huh? What?

[Apache]

Quote:
This allows Amazon to push out their new Ember and Bookerly formats and to make e-books like way better than with Caecilia.
Huh? What?

Sounds like the writer is an ex Valley Girl.
Apache

[AnemicOak]

I left him a comment pointing out a few things, but I see he promptly deleted it.

[lkmiller]

Well, that was good for a laugh. More hilarity in a reply in the comments:

http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-n...ent-3132242540
DRM is uncrackable, at least with this new update, but really there is no need to crack Amazon ebooks, there is likely no reason why you would ever lose access to them. I think the benefits of TTS and new fonts/typeography makes up for it anyways.

There are other reasons to remove DRM. Not all of us use Kindle devices/apps. And it's not cracking. Do you call it breaking in when you use the spare key that was left under the mat to enter your own house?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Well, that was good for a laugh. More hilarity in a reply in the comments:


There are other reasons to remove DRM. Not all of us use Kindle devices/apps. And it's not cracking. Do you call it breaking in when you use the spare key that was left under the mat to enter your own house?

That's similar to what I commented to his reply, but he deleted it.

[Innula]

Thanks, everyone. I wondered what on earth was going on after the copy of Kindle on my PC updated itself yesterday and I found I couldn't open my downloads in Calibre.

Fortunately, I found this thread and, after turning off automatic updates, uninstalling Kindle 1.19, and downloading 1.17 from FileHippo, I was soon back to normal.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Innula

...downloading 1.17 from FileHippo...

I recommend using the links posted previously in this thread to download the working version directly from Amazon instead of going to a third party site.

[thekidsmom]

Thanks all for having the answer (as always). I came here this AM after realizing that my new laptop had somehow auto-updated my Kindle for PC and all my settings had gone to hell in a handbasket. All is resolved now, thanks to you guys. My Calibre reading world is back in its proper place and I can go on about my day. THANK YOU!

[MarjaE]

... I only buy drm-free books there, so I can use them with my older e-reader, and with more accessible software. So Amazon is breaking one set of accessibility tools in the name of enabling another.

[lkmiller]

I wonder if Tor is aware that Amazon is no longer honoring their request to provide DRM-free ebooks in many cases. Or other publishers that are suppose to be DRM-free and are, of course, everywhere else.

ETA: I wonder if authors published by them are aware.

[Ravensknight]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

I wonder if Tor is aware that Amazon is no longer honoring their request to provide DRM-free ebooks in many cases. Or other publishers that are suppose to be DRM-free and are, of course, everywhere else.

ETA: I wonder if authors published by them are aware.

Have you downloaded a TOR book from amazon to check this? Or are you just saying this? It would be interesting if someone with 1.19 WOULD download a drm free TOR book and see what format it comes in.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Ravensknight

Have you downloaded a TOR book from amazon to check this?

There are lots of examples. New Spring by Robert Jordan is published by TOR. It contains the standard blurb: "The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied so that you can enjoy reading it on your personal devices."

However, this book has enhanced typesetting and is delivered to Kindle for PC 1.19 and newer e-ink Kindles in KFX format with DRM. (I just tested it again to make sure.)

Added:

You may be wondering, if no one has decoded KFX how do I know that it has DRM?

KFX has been decoded sufficiently for the DRM to be apparent. A KFX book is composed of multiple files only one of which contains encrypted content. The others can be decoded to extract metadata and images. The protected file has a header of "DRMION". (Ion is the name of the binary encoding scheme used by KFX.) It also has a callout to a DRM voucher, which is another file always associated with a KFX book. For example, my copy of New Spring in Kindle for PC has the file "amzn1.drm-voucher.v1.7189ce2c-7fa1-46e3-bbed-18109b5ec2e5.voucher".

[Ravensknight]

Originally Posted by jhowell

There are lots of examples. New Spring by Robert Jordan is published by TOR. It contains the standard blurb: "The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied so that you can enjoy reading it on your personal devices."

However, this book has enhanced typesetting and is delivered to Kindle for PC 1.19 and newer e-ink Kindles in KFX format with DRM. (I just tested it again to make sure.)

Added:

You may be wondering, if no one has decoded KFX how do I know that it has DRM?

KFX has been decoded sufficiently for the DRM to be apparent. A KFX book is composed of multiple files only one of which contains encrypted content. The others can be decoded to extract metadata and images. The protected file has a header of "DRMION". (Ion is the name of the binary encoding scheme used by KFX.) It also has a callout to a DRM voucher, which is another file always associated with a KFX book. For example, my copy of New Spring in Kindle for PC has the file "amzn1.drm-voucher.v1.7189ce2c-7fa1-46e3-bbed-18109b5ec2e5.voucher".

Thanks for checking. I wanted a verifiable statement, not hyperbole. And you provided the verification

[lkmiller]

I guess that pretty much answers my question. Probably very few beside those of us who have been following jhowell's investigations into the format for a while now are aware that *all* KFX files have DRM. And if it has enhanced typesetting and you download it with a device/app that can support it, you will get KFX. So in many cases, "being sold without DRM at the publisher's request" is only true if you know how to avoid the KFX format. And it's getting harder to avoid.