09-20-2019, 08:15 PM | #1 |
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WHat Kindle Does Behind the Scenes
Here is an article from 2017 telling what Amazon does behind the scenes with KFX. Is this still what happens? Is it still as bad as this article makes it out to be?
https://medium.com/@jiminypan/what-k...s-3d1be22efce3 |
09-20-2019, 10:34 PM | #2 |
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I think that article is intentionally inflammatory, but is largely based on the truth. KFX is a totally proprietary format. Amazon went out of their way to avoid using EPUB, HTML, and any other standard related to e-books in KFX.
Every book in KFX format has DRM, even if the publisher opted out of it. On top of that when a method of removing KFX DRM became available Amazon quickly moved to update their DRM to prevent its removal. I have seen other signs that indicate they are serious about keeping KFX DRM intact in the future. So while KFX provides improved ebook rendering on Kindle devices it also serves Amazon's desire for lock in to their proprietary ecosystem. What I still can't figure out is why they haven't taken steps to close the DRM loopholes in their other formats. I suspect that will happen at some point. |
09-20-2019, 11:14 PM | #3 |
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09-21-2019, 12:43 AM | #4 | |
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It's really bogus that you can't force ragged margin if your book "doesn't support enhanced formatting." Ugh. |
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09-21-2019, 09:36 AM | #5 | ||
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09-21-2019, 09:44 AM | #6 |
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What is it that KFX does that cannot be done with an updated KF8 renderer? RMSDK (ADE) does "enhanced typesetting" without the need for a special format.
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09-21-2019, 10:21 AM | #7 |
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Is KFX used yet? Not sure I have seen it around. I do backup my books and in other formats in case. But I own kindles (2 of them now) and only buy from Amazon for the convenience. If I ran into situation in which I could not backup my books I would buy elsewhere in which I can. Then I guess it would be a hassle to copy to my kindles?
And to be open about it, I have never shared my backups with friends or family. It is not something I tell them I could do. |
09-21-2019, 11:33 AM | #8 | |
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09-21-2019, 12:16 PM | #9 |
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If your Kindle can handle it, and you buy new enough books from the Kindle Store (published in the last six years or so, or a huge selection of older books that have been retrospectively converted) that don't contain crazily complex tables etc that KFX intentionally does not implement support for, and you get them over the air, KFX has been passed to your Kindle for years. This is often "most books". About 2/3rds of the books on my Kindle are KFXes (which I don't let worry me as long as I can still download non-KFX versions for backup).
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09-21-2019, 01:46 PM | #10 |
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Yeah I agree, I see no problem with that either.
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09-21-2019, 01:49 PM | #11 | |
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I guess in looking at stuff on the kindle itself there is no way to determine what format it is in. I like the way it all works now and happily buy my books on amazon but glad I can backup them up. |
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09-21-2019, 03:22 PM | #12 | |
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Surely KFX is purely about Mobile delivery bandwidth and DRM. Not whatsoever about appearance. Also Amazon are breaking civil law if they add DRM to a title supposed to be DRM free. |
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09-21-2019, 03:28 PM | #13 |
the rook, bossing Never.
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PW3 Model:
If you select "Transfer via USB" you get AZW. If you select OTA / direct download (even if really Broadband + WiFi and not Whispernet), you get KFX, since at least 2018 here. I've not bought off Amazon for a few months, so I don't know if it's still true. App users may get something different. |
09-21-2019, 03:48 PM | #14 | ||
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I doubt the law is quite as black and white as you want it to be, here. Besides... it's been a long time since Amazon billed ebooks as "DRM Free" on their site. You might see "Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited" though. |
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09-22-2019, 07:26 AM | #15 |
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Civil law is very different to Criminal Law. Publishers & Copyright owners would have to take Amazon to court and sue. Very expensive.
It's nothing to do with how Amazon advertises the books, the publishers get to to choose on a per book basis (including self publishers) if a book is DRM free or not. KFX is nothing to do with presentation despite what Amazon say. Nor have publishers/uploaders any control over the conversion process other than choosing epub, mobi, docx etc as the upload format. Certain kinds of Amazon electronic books are not traditional ebooks (such as some textbooks) and don't work on eink based readers at all. They are converted differently and are more like PDFs. |
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