Hacks Amazon Kindle Hack: Read DRM-protected Mobipocket content

[reak]

Igor, first let me say that I think you are doing an amazing and, in my opinion, very important work. I believe that in the end, DRM'd books will be a thing of the past, just like DRM'd music, which is dead already, and in no small way thanks to the people like you. What we need is a blanket worldwide license for all kinds of content and the sooner it'll become a reality, the better.

Now, as for your current mobipocket-kindle hack which sparkled an 8-page long debate in this thread, it seems to me that it doesn't really work the way people think it does. The moment the vendor you are buying your books from decides to block Kindle IDs, that's it. From reading your new blog it is obvious that mobipocket.com doesn't allow you to redownload your files with a Kindle ID already, so the whole row is pointless. It is impossible to buy a book from Mobipocket.com and read it on the Kindle. You are saying that Fictionbooks works fine, but that's only for the time being.

Originally Posted by igorsk

So yes, with a little modification you can make a tool to add extra PIDs to a Mobi file (which AZW is) without actually decrypting the content and read it on your PC or other devices. You decide whether it's legal or not... I guess it depends also on your country of residence

I suppose that a tool which would allow one to add PIDs to files without the vendor's involvement is what is really needed by humanity. Leaving apart the questions of legality, of course.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by reak

I suppose that a tool which would allow one to add PIDs to files without the vendor's involvement is what is really needed by humanity. Leaving apart the questions of legality, of course.

It still wouldn't help for those benighted souls whose platform of choice isn't supported by mobipocket with a version of their software. If you're going to crack the DRM, go all the way and get the content out. May as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.

[reak]

Originally Posted by nekokami

It still wouldn't help for those benighted souls whose platform of choice isn't supported by mobipocket with a version of their software. If you're going to crack the DRM, go all the way and get the content out. May as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.

Cracking DRM all the way is simply much more difficult, as I understand it. Igor said that adding more PIDs is possible without decripting the file. That would be a nice solution while we are waiting for more substantial advances.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by reak

I believe that in the end, DRM'd books will be a thing of the past, just like DRM'd music, which is dead already

I believe you're mistaken - about the music, I mean. Take a look at Apple's iTunes store; you'll find that the overwhelming majority of music on it is DRM-protected.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mrkai

I will call up Amazon tomorrow and ask them what they think

Well? What did they say?

[reak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I believe you're mistaken - about the music, I mean. Take a look at Apple's iTunes store; you'll find that the overwhelming majority of music on it is DRM-protected.

I'm not talking about the stores but about the music people are actually listening to. You'll need $40K to fill an iPod with iTunes songs. What about the huge number of mp3 players which are not iPods and therefore you can't buy music to fill them "DRM-way" anywhere. Of course, the stores offering DRM music are there, and the DRM talk is there allright. However, if you look closely you'll see that the concept is dead and everybody in the industry knows that, even while they are still suing some unfortunate p2p folk.

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by reak

Cracking DRM all the way is simply much more difficult, as I understand it.

Oh, it's quite easy all right, but after the last C&D letter I'm a bit hesitant about releasing such things...

[HarryT]

Nonetheless, I believe that Apple have some ridiculous share of the MP3-player market - isn't it 80+% or something like that? - and iTunes is the most popular music store in the world, bar none. It makes huge amounts of money.

I don't personally buy from iTunes, because it's not very good for classical music, which is my thing. I buy CDs and rip them myself.

[reak]

Originally Posted by igorsk

Oh, it's quite easy all right, but after the last C&D letter I'm a bit hesitant about releasing such things...

May I ask what the letter was about and when you got it? Was it from Amazon or Sony?

Of course, I see what you mean about feeling hesitant. We all remember the Adobe story. However, what one might do (as a purely theoretical possibility without any connection to our current topic) is releasing such a thing anonymously from an obscure African internet cafe server. It would just be there for people to use.

[HarryT]

Speaking for a moment with my moderator's hat on, please remember that we do NOT associate ourselves in any way, shape, or form, with illegal DRM-cracking tools here on MobiPocket. We've always been very, very strict about that. It could get us shut down.

This tool of igorsk's is clearly not a DRM-circumvention tool, but a tool which permitted one to add additional PIDs to a MobiPocket file would be, because it would allow anyone to read any Mobi book on their Mobi device by adding their own device PID to the file.

MobiPocket have shown in the past that their lawyers will come down like the proverbial ton of bricks on anyone who attempts to circumvent Mobi DRM.

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by Harpgliss

The DRM is part of what is being bought and of you do not agree, do not buy it.

By and large understood by people since they by and large do not buy e-books, and in the rare cases they do as opposed to print, they prefer non-drm to drm by a large margin.

As mentioned before, everyone is welcome to sell their drm books, but they should not be surprised if there are few takers.

[reak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Speaking for a moment with my moderator's hat on, please remember that we do NOT associate ourselves in any way, shape, or form, with illegal DRM-cracking tools here on MobiPocket. We've always been very, very strict about that. It could get us shut down.

Of course, I understand that and I've read other posts of yours written from under that hat so I know the rules of this forum. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that whatever public policy is there, it must at the end of the day be beneficial to the society at large. I believe that the DRM-based model of compensation for the authours and publishers is very poor at both protecting their interests and at being beneficial to the society. So the sooner it crumbles, the better. I have no doubt that in 20 year's time at most, DRM distribution will be no more than a distant memory of a stone age period in digital history.

Originally Posted by HarryT

This tool of igorsk's is clearly not a DRM-circumvention tool, but a tool which permitted one to add arbitrary numbers of additional PIDs to a MobiPocket file would be!

Exactly. No need to release it here.

[marieclaire]

.....

[mrkai]

Originally Posted by HarryT

This tool of igorsk's is clearly not a DRM-circumvention tool,

...because clearly, it is
I believe what your meant to say was "is clearly not a DRM decryption tool"

[mrkai]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Well? What did they say?

...and was quite busy today. Its #1 on my Monday morning list however.