Invalid Item/DRM Error [Fire HD 8/eBooks]

[Mortiferon]

Hi all.

Received the Fire HD 8 tablet for my birthday for eBooks. But, all I am actually reading on it is:

"Invalid Item: This item is protected with DRM and cannot be read on your Fire. Please remove the item from your device and download it again or purchase a copy from the Kindle Store."

These are not bought/sold eBook files but those that I have compiled and created myself from scratch of FanFiction in Word 2007 .DOCX converted to .AZW3/.Mobi with Calibre. Ergo, there is actually no DRM/Copyright-whatever. To clarify, I have attempted both .AZW3 and .Mobi formats.

Amazon's bought/sold eBooks, of course, work fine. Just none of MY eBook files.

I transferred them, with Calibre, via USB off my Desktop to the Fire tablet. To internal memory.

So... what is the problem? By all accounts I ought to be able to do this without issues, so . . . ?

And yes I have attempted to deregister and reregister the Fire device. I have also forced stopped and cleared cache of all apps and I even 'restarted' the Fire (holding the power button down 30 seconds), etc. etc. etc. and 'sync device' (with Amazon account, I presume). I have not attempted factory reset and nor would it have any salutary effect as this is a brand spanking new Fire.

Nothing is helping this problem. And this is the sole use/reason I wanted a tablet...

S.O.S. Please help!

[stumped]

can you read them ok in calibre viewer?

have you tried emailing them to your kindle account to see if they then work

if there's no copyright then you could attach one here for others to test with ?

a possible workaround could be to make simple text file versions and see if the fire tablet will allow you to read those

also, check the relevant amazon community forums, there may be an answer there
- lots of threads ( I have not read all of them) but maybe no definitive solutions:
clear the kindle app cache is worh asa try, so is check for software updates
https://www.amazonforum.com/search?f...e=2&search=DRM

[Mortiferon]

Yes, they're good in Calibre viewer. I also had tried to email (failed).

I actually really didn't want to do this, but I hacked for Google Play Store. I also 'sourced' Moon Reader+ Pro (which Amazon claims is incompatible, no less)... and lo and behold, the files work just fine there; go figure .AZW3 too (well, they do open and everything's there but there's some white highlight of the text so probably going with .EPUB instead in hopes that's not there anymore).

And apparently, now, I can even use the SD Card to store and use them from (something else Fire HD itself as-is will not permit). Only from this app, but whatever better than not at all.

So... I guess others encountering the same sheer frustration as I did with this shall also have to go to the 'dark side'. It flat-out will not work as-is on the non-hacked Fire HD.

And I'm really not so sure this is an error/bug either. Frankly reeks of sabotage...

Any road, thank you stumped.

[stumped]

bug not sabotage. the amazon forum suggest it happens to a few users but not to every book on every tablet.
I used to use an HD8 and I am sure I sideloaded books to it OK at the time

its probably is worth trying the simpler suggestions from that forum e.g. clearing the app cache is very quick, and i know that force stop + clear cache fixes other bugs with other amazon apps e.g. when prime video goes wrong, that's the quick fix
for the record. what generation is the tablet and what version of Fire OS is in use - look in settings
moon is a very good alternative though, and having google store and services is a great improvement - e.g. you can now use Chrome and not Silk. its not actually a hack - you are just installing additional apps from " unknown sources"

were you puttting the problem books onto SD card, or into the books folder in main memory? you could try putting copies into books, and also into download folders to see if it is a folder properties issue
as to the white highlight - there may be an explicit background colour set in the book CSS for some styles. Check and zap all references to color / colour and it should fit it

[Mortiferon]

8th Gen.
Fire OS 6.3.1.2

It put them into the main device memory. I tried it from "Books", "Documents" and even "kindle".

I don't know, maybe mine is just a lemon because now I am having problems with it staying connected to my PC. It's even 'Not Responding' my File Explorer. Wonderful. Have to keep toggling the USB thing on the Fire (between charge and transfer) and then closing/opening Calibre... incessantly.

Now I'm wondering if that's anything to do with what I did to get Play Store or if it was already screwed up (why I really didn't want to go there). Although it was not doing that before so it probably is ugh.

Oh but I tried finding Chrome to put on here and it's not there and I'm leery about third-party Apk of that because it does have access to my Google account and passwords and such...

Anyway, thank you so very much for that tidbit about the CSS that did indeed resolve it. For anybody else also wondering, you need to find each instance of "background color: [#-whatever it is]" and type in "transparent" in place of [#-whatever it is]. Kind of sucks you have to do that but lol.

[stumped]

for chrome etc you get it from the installed playstore so you get the safe, official versions
if you installed the relevant apps for google accounts, services, store, in correct order you should be able to use the play store, just like on a proper android tablet. ( but it takes a while for play store etc to fully start up- i think it has to complete some one-off background scans and tasks before it completely works )

your books open ok in moon reader , and in calibre viewer, so there is no actual DRM in them. its a bug in the kindle reader app. You could try the same books in kindle for PC to confirm that its only the tablet app that has the issue

I'd be inclined to do a full factory reset and start over, to see if all the misc problems go away, if not get a cheap new one in black Friday sale, or something different , if you had it with fire tablets - then sell yours as for parts/ not working ( full disclosure on ebay) someone will take if off your hands. Sell it after the BF sale ends for a better price.

several sites have the detailed steps & links for adding google services. or you can have a link to what I use if you Pm me with an email address to share to

[stumped]

ps - a soft reset is less destructive so try this first, it will not remove any apps or data:
with tablet on, hold down power button and ignore all screen messages until tablet shuts down ( takes 30 - 40 seconds to happen). then restart and re-test

[Mortiferon]

Well I'll be damned. I factory reset and it is now working. Although what I get when attempting to open these files from "Documents" is "No application available to view this file", which I find strange. Inconveniently so (I have a lot of files, like ~2000 and ever expanding lol).

That said, I find this vastly inferior to Moon+ Reader Pro (even the dodgy, adware infested apk I was testing with; yes mostly why I did the factory reset lol). I'd much prefer my FanFiction eBooks to be on the SD card too (fairly certain as-is that won't be possible). So, after I get Google Play back on here it should be possible to get that legitimately purchased app onto this device, correct?

I'm rather new to all this in general, so I really do appreciate the assistance and thank you so much again.

[stumped]

sure. you can buy legit moon reader pro from play store and you can install all the google stuff. Moon will work with books on an SD card

as for the doc files you can't open, what extension are they? there are apps for all file types you just have to install one either from amazon or google store, for the format you need to open. one of the free ( with ads) multipurpose office type apps may be what you need. I would not get the actual microsoft office ones as they are on a paid subscription basis. plenty of free ones can open doc, docx.... and there are lots iof apps for .txt files

[stumped]

Ps moon reader pro is one of the least fussy apps around, when it comes to checking licences
several people here have reported that once you've bought it ( from Google) then if you somehow wrangle the apk onto an amazon device it just works, it does not complain about missing licences. What they probably did though ( as this is easiest) is buy it from the app store onto an android device, use a backup + restore app, then move their own backup over onto their amazon device. The app certainly works happily on several android devices all registered to the same google account as that is how I use my purchased copy.