Determining Kindle book format before you purchase?

[Tomk2]

I have bought or been gifted about 10 books from Amazon recently, and one of the books I can not strip DRM from to convert to epub for use on my old Nook. The other 9 I had no issue with. I can read the book on kindle apps and kindle devices. Is there a way to determine what format an Amazon ebook will be downloadable in before you purchase it? dont even know what format the book I can not convert was in, it was downloaded with FSDownload as the title but no file extension. Manually adding the azw3 file extension makes its correct book title visible in my software, but I get a DRM warning that prevents opening it on non kindle apps/devices.

How do I avoid purchasing books like this in the future?

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[Sirtel]

What book is it?

[hobnail]

I've never heard of a way of determining beforehand a book's format.

I'm using a Kobo and out of laziness I buy my books from Amazon, and haven't yet had a book that doesn't convert. But I'm on Windows.

[jhowell]

Books may be available in different formats depending on the reading device and method of delivery. Most books have a free sample available for download and/or delivery and that will almost always be in the same format as the purchased book.

"FSDownload" sounds more like the result of a delivery failure than a book format.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Tomk2

... it was downloaded with FSDownload as the title but no file extension. Manually adding the azw3 file extension makes its correct book title visible in my software, but I get a DRM warning that prevents opening it on non kindle apps/devices ...

FSDownload occasionally happens when downloading using Safari on macOS.

However, when it's happened to me, adding the .azw extension always fixes it, so you've got something else going on as well.

Have you tried downloading on Chrome or Firefox?

[Tarana]

This has been happening with cookbooks for a year or more now. I just return them now. Another new thing is the inability to download and print magazines. For instance, a multipage cross stitch pattern needs to be printed in order to work from it. No dice. This is a new thing. I cancelled all 3 subscriptions and got a refund. Literary magazines, like Asimov, still download and convert BUT you can't download magazines using Kindle for PC any longer.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by odamizu

FSDownload occasionally happens when downloading using Safari on macOS.

However, when it's happened to me, adding the .azw extension always fixes it, so you've got something else going on as well.

Have you tried downloading on Chrome or Firefox?

Originally Posted by Tarana

This has been happening with cookbooks for a year or more now. I just return them now. Another new thing is the inability to download and print magazines. For instance, a multipage cross stitch pattern needs to be printed in order to work from it. No dice. This is a new thing. I cancelled all 3 subscriptions and got a refund. Literary magazines, like Asimov, still download and convert BUT you can't download magazines using Kindle for PC any longer.

chromium under linux sometimes results in a file named download. Renaming it to end in azw3 usually works,however immediately redownloading usually results in a file with the correct name. Since this happens on a variety of browsers and seems to be transient and not necessarily associated with a particular book, I think this is yet another example of ongoing sloppiness on amazon's part. They need to start considering the possibility that some problems are on their end and not the customer's.

[Tomk2]

As for the FSDownload title, adding AZW3 as the file type does let it import into my favorite desktop ebook software with plugins, and in that software is has the correct book title instead of "fsdownload". But I can not open it, or change the format due to DRM. All the other downloads from Amazon I was successful in changing the format, including 3 other books that downloaded as fsdownload without a file extension type. So there is something about this particular book that does not let me get around the DRM, and I have downloaded it multiple times on different days. I suppose I could try again on a windows machine instead of my MAC. I was hoping to avoid accumulating a collection of purchased books that I can not change the format to suit the reader of my choice.

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