DRM question(s)

CharlieBird · 03-04-2011, 01:55 PM

Has the new Amazon DRM been hacked? I checked a couple of places but didn't see anything new.

Also does anyone know why some of the AZW files that unDRM as a zip file are convertible to MOBI or ePub and some are not?

abookreader · 03-04-2011, 02:24 PM

Google the phrase Apprentice Alf Blog and read the entry on DRM and the perplexed.

Starko · 03-04-2011, 02:50 PM

google for "starko kindle drm guide" - you might not be perplexed but it can't be easier.
Do the same search on Youtube and you'll see it in action

mr ploppy · 03-04-2011, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CharlieBird

Has the new Amazon DRM been hacked?

When did they change it?

pdurrant · 03-04-2011, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

When did they change it?

It changed about a fortnight ago IIRC. Amazon slightly changed the way the per-book PID was generated for books downloaded to Kindle for Mac or Kindle for PC. This broke most of the old tools.

The new version of the tools to fix this was in the 3.6 archive. Since then another minor bug fix for Kindle/Mobipocket books has been made, so the current version of the tools archive is 3.7.

The usual places have a download link. (Apprentice Alf and Dark Reverser)

CharlieBird · 03-06-2011, 04:37 PM

I've spent a couple of hours last night following you guys' suggestions on four recently purchased books and decided to relate my findings in case anyone else is having problems.

I'm leery of how much detail I can go into, but suffice it to say that there seems to be three recent K4MobiDeDRM plugins floating around. The first one I had used in January and until last night is from tools_v3.3; your's, Starko, (I think) is v0.2.3 (which didn't work); and the new one via Alf's link is tools_v3.7 . I found the 3.7 (which worked on the four new books) only because I was so frustrated I decided to begin start from scratch, uninstalled all the plugins, re-downloaded the tools_zip file and reinstalled. That was when I started comparing versions.

I hope this is clearer to you folks that it is to me! Is Topaz the AZW1 extension?

Quote:

Originally Posted by abookreader

Google the phrase Apprentice Alf Blog and read the entry on DRM and the perplexed.

These were the two places I referred to in my first post. I have always had trouble navigating DarkReverser's site...it's confusing to me for some reason.

wallcraft · 03-06-2011, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CharlieBird

Is Topaz the AZW1 extension?

Yes. It is TOPAZ if you have .azw1 or .tpz. Sometimes, depending on the app, a TOPAZ can be .azw or .prc (i.e. it can use the same filename extension as AZW on some devices).

KevinH · 03-06-2011, 06:54 PM

Hi,

FYI: The latest version of the tools*.zip is always the one to get. Sometimes the people at Apprentice Alf will post test versions to fix specified problems, but once those have been shown to be correct, they get rolled into the next release of the official tools archive. The tools archives are backwards compatible so there is no reason to keep old versions around (they just create confusion).

The Topaz books get unDRM'd to 3 zip archives (an html, a pure svg one, and an xml one). The Calibre plugins version just produces one of those - the html version (whcih may have some svg images for fixed regions) which should always be convertable to epub and mobi (typically in that order since svg is not really supported by mobi ebooks). If you have an html file that can not be converted in Calibre, then something must have confused their conversion code.

FF2 · 03-06-2011, 07:45 PM

I guess I should go through my plugins and remove the old ones and install the new ones - I've had the new tools for a while but laziness has intervened.

sadievan · 03-07-2011, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

The Topaz books get unDRM'd to 3 zip archives (an html, a pure svg one, and an xml one). The Calibre plugins version just produces one of those - the html version (whcih may have some svg images for fixed regions) which should always be convertable to epub and mobi (typically in that order since svg is not really supported by mobi ebooks). If you have an html file that can not be converted in Calibre, then something must have confused their conversion code.

Are you saying if I want the book in .mobi, I should convert to epub first and then to .mobi.

Thanks,
Carol

KevinH · 03-07-2011, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sadievan

Are you saying if I want the book in .mobi, I should convert to epub first and then to .mobi.

Thanks,
Carol

Hi,

If I have trouble converting to mobi directly, I often try converting to epub (often using Sigil) first and then to mobi. More of the css seems to be picked up that way.

sadievan · 03-07-2011, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

Hi,

If I have trouble converting to mobi directly, I often try converting to epub (often using Sigil) first and then to mobi. More of the css seems to be picked up that way.

Thanks Kevin. I use Calibre. Do you know if there is a way to get Calibre to convert from a certain format if you have more than one format of the book. Say I have both .zip and .mobi is there a way to get Calibre to convert from the .zip file.

Carol

FF2 · 03-07-2011, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sadievan

Thanks Kevin. I use Calibre. Do you know if there is a way to get Calibre to convert from a certain format if you have more than one format of the book. Say I have both .zip and .mobi is there a way to get Calibre to convert from the .zip file.

Carol

I am not sure that there is an automatic way, but when you click the Convert Icon, the new screen that opens offers basically Source on the upper left corner and Output on the upper right. You can change those.

sadievan · 03-07-2011, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FF2

I am not sure that there is an automatic way, but when you click the Convert Icon, the new screen that opens offers basically Source on the upper left corner and Output on the upper right. You can change those.

Thanks. I never noticed that.

Carol

CharlieBird · 03-07-2011, 07:29 PM

I just want to thank everyone for all the explanations. I can't see a use for the svg or xml files...leave that to you pros. I am just sooo happy w/Calibre's conversion of the html. There's only a couple of AZW1 dictionaries that don't look so hot.

Point of interest: on several PDB books I had to use my entire credit card number.

I just noticed pdurrant's reference to ver3.7. duh—and I thought I'd just had my eyes opened to the value of reading. I'm ashamed to admit that I've been pretty much ignoring README files for years.

thx, d

03-04-2011, 01:55 PM	#1
CharlieBird ¿Huh? Posts: 349 Karma: 1004526 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: rural Jalisco Device: HiSense A7 CC, Fire HD6, Kobo Libra2	DRM question(s) Has the new Amazon DRM been hacked? I checked a couple of places but didn't see anything new. Also does anyone know why some of the AZW files that unDRM as a zip file are convertible to MOBI or ePub and some are not?

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03-04-2011, 02:24 PM	#2
abookreader Wizard Posts: 1,516 Karma: 2567610 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindles - Keyboard, Fire, 2-US, iPhone, iPAD	Google the phrase Apprentice Alf Blog and read the entry on DRM and the perplexed.

03-04-2011, 02:50 PM	#3
Starko Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 998177 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3	google for "starko kindle drm guide" - you might not be perplexed but it can't be easier. Do the same search on Youtube and you'll see it in action

03-06-2011, 06:54 PM	#8
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,683 Karma: 5703586 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Hi, FYI: The latest version of the tools*.zip is always the one to get. Sometimes the people at Apprentice Alf will post test versions to fix specified problems, but once those have been shown to be correct, they get rolled into the next release of the official tools archive. The tools archives are backwards compatible so there is no reason to keep old versions around (they just create confusion). The Topaz books get unDRM'd to 3 zip archives (an html, a pure svg one, and an xml one). The Calibre plugins version just produces one of those - the html version (whcih may have some svg images for fixed regions) which should always be convertable to epub and mobi (typically in that order since svg is not really supported by mobi ebooks). If you have an html file that can not be converted in Calibre, then something must have confused their conversion code.

03-06-2011, 07:45 PM	#9
FF2 Wizard Posts: 1,105 Karma: 1025784 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: WiFi Kindle3	I guess I should go through my plugins and remove the old ones and install the new ones - I've had the new tools for a while but laziness has intervened.

03-07-2011, 07:29 PM	#15
CharlieBird ¿Huh? Posts: 349 Karma: 1004526 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: rural Jalisco Device: HiSense A7 CC, Fire HD6, Kobo Libra2	I just want to thank everyone for all the explanations. I can't see a use for the svg or xml files...leave that to you pros. I am just sooo happy w/Calibre's conversion of the html. There's only a couple of AZW1 dictionaries that don't look so hot. Point of interest: on several PDB books I had to use my entire credit card number. I just noticed pdurrant's reference to ver3.7. duh—and I thought I'd just had my eyes opened to the value of reading. I'm ashamed to admit that I've been pretty much ignoring README files for years. thx, d

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