Amazon and DRM changes

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by markbnj

As an FYI, in case you haven't heard of it (I only discovered it this week!), Freda is a book-reader that can read lots of formats, and even plays well with my calibre server.

Hopefully others will find this useful!
Cheers;

How well does Freda respect the CSS?

[Laburge]

Now it worked for me too (the last 7 books finally decode and i go to kobo to buy, yes 100-200 yen more expensive each book, but at least I can keep in constant access to the purchased goods)

[xyzzy_foo]

Originally Posted by Laburge

Now it worked for me too (the last 7 books finally decode and i go to kobo to buy, yes 100-200 yen more expensive each book, but at least I can keep in constant access to the purchased goods)

Congratulations. It's really disappointing that Price Match Guarantee isn't offered here in Japan, despite this being the home country of Rakuten Group, Rakuten Kobo's parent company. Rakuten Group is truly letting Rakuten Kobo go to waste. They should be able to do so much more.

[xyzzy_foo]

Today, BookFab released a new version, but this was because they launched BookFab Kobo Converter.
However, they're already aware of the issues with BookFab Kindle Converter and are working to resolve them, with plans to release a new version next week.

Also, on the same day, Epubor Ultimate released a new version as well, but it's just minor bug fixes with unclear details.
However, they will soon provide "the ultimate solution to Kindle's DRM changes." I'm confident of that.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

However, they will soon provide "the ultimate solution to Kindle's DRM changes." I'm confident of that.

The only ultimate solution to Amazon's DRM changes is not to buy from Amazon.

[xyzzy_foo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The only ultimate solution to Amazon's DRM changes is not to buy from Amazon.

Yes. So I just finished successfully bulk downloading my Kindle library using the BlueStacks K4A method.
The Kobo Sage is getting outdated, and the snappy performance of the Kindle Paperwhite (12th Generation) really does look appealing, but I absolutely refuse to deal with KFX. Next month, I'm buying a Kobo Sage and switching over to the Rakuten Kobo platform. I'll miss KF8 (AZW3) since it was ideal, but if that's no longer an option, KEPUB is still infinitely better than KFX.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

Yes. So I just finished successfully bulk downloading my Kindle library using the BlueStacks K4A method.
The Kobo Sage is getting outdated, and the snappy performance of the Kindle Paperwhite (12th Generation) really does look appealing, but I absolutely refuse to deal with KFX. Next month, I'm buying a Kobo Sage and switching over to the Rakuten Kobo platform. I'll miss KF8 (AZW3) since it was ideal, but if that's no longer an option, KEPUB is still infinitely better than KFX.

KF8 was never ideal. It's better then KFX, but ideal? Nope. Amazon did not need KFX. They could have made a new KF8 renderer to do hyphens, kerning, and ligatures. That's what Adobe did with Digital Editions.

On the Kindles that are still getting firmware updates, the UI is a right mess. Personally, I much prefer the 6.8" PW5 to the 7" PW6. I do not like what Amazon did with the 2024 Kindles with MTP.

[xyzzy_foo]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

KF8 was never ideal. It's better then KFX, but ideal? Nope. Amazon did not need KFX. They could have made a new KF8 renderer to do hyphens, kerning, and ligatures. That's what Adobe did with Digital Editions.

On the Kindles that are still getting firmware updates, the UI is a right mess. Personally, I much prefer the 6.8" PW5 to the 7" PW6. I do not like what Amazon did with the 2024 Kindles with MTP.

What I'm trying to say is that while the West has options for DRM-free eBook stores, that's simply not the case here in Japan. Every single eBook store in Japan has its own proprietary DRM.

Thanks to DeDRM, Kindle used to be the perfect choice as a source for DRM-free Japanese EPUBs. The EPUBs extracted from KF8 using KindleUnpack completely preserved the publisher's original file structure and CSS, despite having some unnecessary metadata. That level of fidelity was deeply satisfying to me.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

What I'm trying to say is that while the West has options for DRM-free eBook stores, that's simply not the case here in Japan. Every single eBook store in Japan has its own proprietary DRM.

Thanks to DeDRM, Kindle used to be the perfect choice as a source for DRM-free Japanese EPUBs. The EPUBs extracted from KF8 using KindleUnpack completely preserved the publisher's original file structure and CSS, despite having some unnecessary metadata. That level of fidelity was deeply satisfying to me.

That's not good. I see how KF8 was a really good format for you to convert from.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

Thanks to DeDRM, Kindle used to be the perfect choice as a source for DRM-free Japanese EPUBs. The EPUBs extracted from KF8 using KindleUnpack completely preserved the publisher's original file structure and CSS, despite having some unnecessary metadata. That level of fidelity was deeply satisfying to me.

While I couldn't care less about fidelity to the original css. I change parts of the css anyway to suit my preferences, and I even use calibre conversion to make some bulk changes. I don't care what the publisher's original intention was, because it's almost never the same as my own preferences.

For this reason I don't mind KFX too much, other than its use of nonsense class names, which makes it a pain to edit.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Laburge

If you don't know the answer, your words about the wrong command are invalid.

Did you try the command line and suggestions I sent in a visitor message to you since, at that time, your PMs were not functioning?

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

Congratulations. It's really disappointing that Price Match Guarantee isn't offered here in Japan, despite this being the home country of Rakuten Group, Rakuten Kobo's parent company. Rakuten Group is truly letting Rakuten Kobo go to waste. They should be able to do so much more.

Aren't Japanese book sellers required to have the same price by law? What would be the point of price matching under that system?

That's not the case in markets like the U.S and Canada.

[xyzzy_foo]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Aren't Japanese book sellers required to have the same price by law? What would be the point of price matching under that system?

That's not the case in markets like the U.S and Canada.

Unlike current German law, Japan's resale price maintenance system treats eBooks as mere information, thus excluding them from the system. While eBooks are typically sold at nearly the same price as physical books, numerous promotional deals frequently occur where eBooks get discounted. Think of it like Steam sales for PC games.

For physical books in Japan, with very few exceptions, they're never discounted as long as they're new. This makes choosing eBooks over physical copies a significant advantage in Japan.

While publishers offer deals that apply across all eBook stores, each store also runs its own discount promotions, which creates price differences.