Capture downloaded Kindle books to disk

vlmEmis · 08-17-2015, 05:34 PM

Greetings! This is my first mobileread post, so I hope I'm posting in a reasonable location for my topic.

As an experiment, I bought my first 3 Kindle books. But I don't own any Kindle devices, and I don't wish to be bound to the Kindle reading app. Is there a way for Calibre to find and recognize my 3 downloaded Kindle books, so that I can capture the files on disk and then convert them to another format?

Editing this post ... Okay, I just found a folder called "My Kindle Content". This folder appears to contain all my books. For each book I purchased, there are files with the extensions apnx. azw, mbp, and phl. For the three books they gave me, there is no .phl file. (That last character appears to be an "L".)

Thank you!

eschwartz · 08-17-2015, 05:52 PM

Yes, you can import the books directly from there.

You want the *.azw -- the other files are page numbers (apnx) annotations/bookmarks/highlights (mbp) and popular highlights (phl), and calibre cannot make use of any of them.

Always make sure you install the win32 (Windows 7-compatible) desktop application, not the Metro app (this is relevant if you ever change computers).

You will probably want to take a look at http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com if you are buying books with DRM.

vlmEmis · 08-19-2015, 01:15 PM

Thank you eschwartz!

I installed the plugin, worked through a minor glitch, and voila! I have Kindle books as perfect PDF, eBook, etc. files. For the first time, I feel comfortable investing in Kindle books, because I won't be tethered to Amazon's readers ... or to their nifty data collection schemes.

Thank you!

eschwartz · 08-19-2015, 01:51 PM

Happy to help!

08-17-2015, 05:34 PM	#1
vlmEmis Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2013 Device: Calibre, Kindle for Windows	Capture downloaded Kindle books to disk Greetings! This is my first mobileread post, so I hope I'm posting in a reasonable location for my topic. As an experiment, I bought my first 3 Kindle books. But I don't own any Kindle devices, and I don't wish to be bound to the Kindle reading app. Is there a way for Calibre to find and recognize my 3 downloaded Kindle books, so that I can capture the files on disk and then convert them to another format? Editing this post ... Okay, I just found a folder called "My Kindle Content". This folder appears to contain all my books. For each book I purchased, there are files with the extensions apnx. azw, mbp, and phl. For the three books they gave me, there is no .phl file. (That last character appears to be an "L".) Thank you! Last edited by vlmEmis; 08-17-2015 at 05:41 PM. Reason: Found updated information - some file locations

08-19-2015, 01:15 PM	#3
vlmEmis Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2013 Device: Calibre, Kindle for Windows	Capture downloaded Kindle books to disk Thank you eschwartz! I installed the plugin, worked through a minor glitch, and voila! I have Kindle books as perfect PDF, eBook, etc. files. For the first time, I feel comfortable investing in Kindle books, because I won't be tethered to Amazon's readers ... or to their nifty data collection schemes. Thank you!

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08-17-2015, 05:52 PM	#2
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Yes, you can import the books directly from there. You want the *.azw -- the other files are page numbers (apnx) annotations/bookmarks/highlights (mbp) and popular highlights (phl), and calibre cannot make use of any of them. Always make sure you install the win32 (Windows 7-compatible) desktop application, not the Metro app (this is relevant if you ever change computers). You will probably want to take a look at http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com if you are buying books with DRM.

08-19-2015, 01:51 PM	#4
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Happy to help!

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