Yes! I've removed the DRM from my ebooks

[Kathy]

Kathy, do I really need to give you the answer?

Ruddy apple, iplod and itunes and single format unusable crap?

Yebbut the iBook was FREE!

[nuttycyclist]

Kathy, do I really need to give you the answer?

Ruddy apple, iplod and itunes and single format unusable crap?

Yebbut the iBook was FREE!

And therein lies my gripe with DRM...

You have bought (for free) the book for your iPhone Kindle App, but can't read it on the Kindle, therefore have to download it again (at cost 'cos I can't find it for free) for the Kindle itself.

That's like having to buy the same physical book twice, once for home and once for holiday.



I would never have bought a Kindle, as I felt it was tied to Amazon in the same way that iShit is tied to Apple.

Mine was bought for me though as a present so I pretend to be grateful.  Calibre is good (but I don't have that book in the library to give you to replace the one you have bought already).    Question I still wonder though, can Amazon read what I have on my kindle that I have downloaded from Gutenburg etc?

[Kathy]

I would never have bought a Kindle, as I felt it was tied to Amazon in the same way that iShit is tied to Apple.

Mine was bought for me though as a present so I pretend to be grateful. 

Er - will the present-giver be able to read this?

[pcolbeck]

Nutty of you buy an Ebook from Amazon you can read it on your Kindle or on a PC running the PC version of the Kindle app or on a MAC with the MAC version or on an iPAD with teh iPAD app version. They will all synch up the same book you dont have to buy it again.

The problem is not with Kindle books but iBooks ie books bought from the Apple Ebook store. These only work on an iPad.

All DRM is the spawn of stan but at least Amazon have the decency to provide a reader for most operating systems.

 

[Ham]

Oh, Kathy, once again, you have mail 

[Kathy]

Oh, Kathy, once again, you have mail 

You are so sweet!

[nuttycyclist]

All DRM is the spawn of stan but at least Amazon have the decency to provide a reader for most operating systems.

I run linux, and the kindle is a linux device.

They do not provide a linux reader.


Thank cluck for wine.

[pcolbeck]

All DRM is the spawn of stan but at least Amazon have the decency to provide a reader for most operating systems.

I run linux, and the kindle is a linux device.

They do not provide a linux reader.

That's true. Maybe they will in future if enough people want it. Amazon already do a downloader for their MP3 music service for Linux. At least they support more than a single OS unlike Apple. Amazon are in the business of selling you content not hardware so it's much more beneficial for them to provide support for as broad a range of devices and OSs as they can compared to Apple who want to lock you in to their hardware. I'm not sure why Amazon use DRM on their Ebooks they dont on their MP3s, probably was the only way they could get the publishing companies to sign up.

[harrumph]

I'm considering buying a Kindle, but will only do so if I can remove DRM from the very few books I might buy from Amazon, whose prices for ebooks, and DRM-infected ones at that, are outrageous.

The (apparently) simplest, most automated way to remove DRM that I have found so far is what follows. I have translated the instructions from geekspeak, but I haven't tested it myself, because I haven't got any DRM-infected stuff yet to test it on.

Go to skindle-06.tgz and download skindle.

Create a new directory C:\skindle

Unzip the skindle archive (.tgz) file, putting the unzipped files in C:\skindle

To remove DRM from a book:

1. in Windows, copy the book file you want to remove the DRM from (e.g. superbook.azw) to C:\skindle

2. open a DOS window (Start/All Programs/Accessories/Command Prompt)

3. go to the skindle directory:  CD C:\skindle

4. to remove DRM, type as follows:

skindle -i superbook.azw -o superbook1.azw       (for non-Topaz book files

skindle -d -i suckerbook.tpz -o suckerbook1.tpz    (for Topaz book files

The output file name must be different from the input file name, and no spaces are allowed in the file names.

That's it. To convert .azw files to other formats, use Calibre, a free ebook manager that also allows you to change the formats of your DRM-free ebooks.

[BrianI]

Ye olde worlde printede booke.  Available to borrow for free from your olde worlde publice librarye!   

(I don't see the attraction in ebooks to view on an ereader. Much rather have a nice printed book)

[Kathy]

Ye olde worlde printede booke.  Available to borrow for free from your olde worlde publice librarye!   

(I don't see the attraction in ebooks to view on an ereader. Much rather have a nice printed book)

Tim won't let me take a metric shedload of books on holiday, when he has to carry my suitcase. Hence Kindle.