Dealing with Kindle for PC/Mac 1.19 and KFX in calibre

[odamizu]

"Kindle Classic" for Mac is now at version 1.40.3. The release notes for this new version simply say: "This app will no longer receive updates after October 31, 2023. A new and improved Kindle for Mac with enhanced book reading experience and library management is now available to download from the Mac App Store."

There do not appear to be indications that Kindle Classic for Mac is going to be disabled, just that it will no longer receive updates.

I still have 1.40.1 (which I previously downloaded from Amazon's website, not the App Store) running on my Mac alongside the new Kindle for Mac (downloaded from the App Store). The tools still work on 1.40.1 and there are no pop-ups asking if I want to upgrade to 1.40.2 or 1.40.3 or suggesting I switch to the new Kindle for Mac. The two apps appear to function totally independently of each other. (I cannot say with certainty that the same is true for the Mac App Store version of Kindle Classic 1.40.x.)

[Lief]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Undocumented is that this new version now downloads comics in KFX format instead of KF8 (AZW3).

This is true. I just want to add that with this version KFX drm can be still removed and with this command line code

calibre-debug -r "KFX Input" -- -e "path/to/file.kfx" "path/where/you/want/to/save/your/file.epub"

It will be converted to epub without any problem.
you can after that send it to kindle/convert it with kindle previewer or even extract to zip and use this great tool

https://wing-kai.github.io/epub-manga-creator/

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Amazon has released Kindle for PC version 2.2.0. The main documented change is that the View menu now includes a Compact List option that shows more books by reducing the size of the cover image in the list. (I hope that they decide to do something similar to the e-ink Kindle firmware.)

Undocumented is that this new version now downloads comics in KFX format instead of KF8 (AZW3).

Do you get hi-res images or low-res images?

[Lief]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do you get hi-res images or low-res images?

I tried with my manga, azw3 version and kfx version got the same image resolution for what I can tell (my manga is not really high res...).

[Jack Knight]

There is a new comic book I'm interested in but I never had to nuke drm from an Amazon comics.

Is there a way to dedrm the book with no quality loss ?

Please bear with my very stupid question. I never had to handle drm for a comic book.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Jack Knight

There is a new comic book I'm interested in but I never had to nuke drm from an Amazon comics.

Is there a way to dedrm the book with no quality loss ?

Please bear with my very stupid question. I never had to handle drm for a comic book.

Removing the DRM does not change any of the images.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Removing the DRM does not change any of the images.

That is true, however the resolution and quality of images in Kindle comics can vary based on the method used to obtain a copy from Amazon.

Using a recent version of Kindle for PC should yield high quality images, but conversion from KFX format will be needed.

[JollyRoger]

I just downloaded version 1.7. It would not let me login. So I uninstalled, and installed the latest version. I then kept the new file in the storage folder but uninstalled the new app and reinstalled 1.7. The book downloaded as an azw file but when imported into Calibre it was a useless KFX-ZIP file that I can't even read.
Is this the end of importing books to calibre?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by JollyRoger

I just downloaded version 1.7. It would not let me login. So I uninstalled, and installed the latest version. I then kept the new file in the storage folder but uninstalled the new app and reinstalled 1.7. The book downloaded as an azw file but when imported into Calibre it was a useless KFX-ZIP file that I can't even read.
Is this the end of importing books to calibre?

No, it isn't. I suggest reading the first post in this thread.

And if you still can't, downloading for transfer via USB is a good method if you have a suitable Kindle registered to your account.

[JollyRoger]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

No, it isn't. I suggest reading the first post in this thread.

And if you still can't, downloading for transfer via USB is a good method if you have a suitable Kindle registered to your account.

Method 1:
This does not work now as they prevent you from logging in from version 1.17.

Method 2a:
Worked perfectly!. I wish I'd seen the hidden text the first read through.

I did not try any of the other methods as 2a worked, many thanks!

[Lief]

Right now I think method 4 is the best one to use just because it will allow to use the last version of Kindle PC and do not require any kindle e-ink device.
On the quality of images of comics/manga I tried to get some examples... but on the resolution side of things there is no difference at all. For some reason the KFX->Epub weight 4 times the AZW3 file so maybe there was some image loss with the old method but the difference to the naked eye is zero (at least I don't see it at all)... I tried to extract two images of the same volume one in AZW3 one in KFX but I did not see any difference.
In any case I don't think it's worth using the old format for a few MB of space.

One very good thing about the new Kindle PC version is that it allows you to download/view documents sent via it to:
https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle

It is an amazing way to use Kindle PC to read everything even ebook from kobo/humble bundle store.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Lief

Right now I think method 4 is the best one to use just because it will allow to use the last version of Kindle PC and do not require any kindle e-ink device.
On the quality of images of comics/manga I tried to get some examples... but on the resolution side of things there is no difference at all. For some reason the KFX->Epub weight 4 times the AZW3 file so maybe there was some image loss with the old method but the difference to the naked eye is zero (at least I don't see it at all)... I tried to extract two images of the same volume one in AZW3 one in KFX but I did not see any difference.
In any case I don't think it's worth using the old format for a few MB of space.

One very good thing about the new Kindle PC version is that it allows you to download/view documents sent via it to:
https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle

It is an amazing way to use Kindle PC to read everything even ebook from kobo/humble bundle store.

You won't find many here who want or do read eBook on their computer.

[lkmiller]

Haven't tried it myself, but a new post in the Discussion area at noDRM's GitHub talks about removing DRM from kfx format downloaded with Kindle for Android.

[Lief]

for some reason now my kindle pc app (version 2.2.0) download azw3 for manga again... not sure why. Monday it was downloading kfx, right now it download azw3.

[lkmiller]

Same or different books?