Dealing with Kindle ebooks in calibre

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by metatech

I found other examples, and, on second thought, the common factor might be the size. Nevertheless, none of the 15 comic strips books I have bought was downloadable on my K4NT.

Non downloadable examples (free):
B09V37MRY2 ‎8938 KB
B07DSCXWN5 8018 KB
B06VT2V4QX 5223 KB
B07P6GVWFJ 21286 KB
B087K1GTBF 39982 KB
B01EBEMYRC 21665 KB

Non downloadable examples (non-free) :
B00LEW8MKI 41906 KB
B079ZBR63D 44807 KB
B0C1TQSB9R 66397 KB
B07D14QSFB 20625 KB
B014TP7EB4 132288 KB
B01LX13YOZ 119366 KB
B06XJCW3C2 115572 KB
B00NV1PO1A 106125 KB

metatech

I didn't check them all, but the ones I did look at are probably azw4 which older kindles can't handle. Have you tried K4PC?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by metatech

I found other examples, and, on second thought, the common factor might be the size. Nevertheless, none of the 15 comic strips books I have bought was downloadable on my K4NT.

For what it may be worth, I went through 5 of the free books. They are all either fixed layout which may be an issue on your old K4NT or simply not available for any eInk Kindle.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Almost all books on e-ink Kindles in KFX format can be processed using the latest DeDRM plugin. The text converts properly however images are often lower resolution and without color.

For those devices that use MTP the files must first be copied to a local drive before being imported into calibre. I created a pull request to avoid the need for that but it was rejected by Kovid because it significantly slowed down the detection of those devices.

Wait, what? Do I need to update Method 3 so that it's all eink Kindles, and not just older models? When did this happen? And is this with DeDRM 10.0.9 or the latest alpha release?

[lkmiller]

@Wonder-Woman

My additional question is since I do have an old device and will hopefully be able to retrieve the S/N off of it, would entering the S/N into any of the plugins or the Calibre program itself make it possible to convert Kindle eBooks to PDF? If yes, then how do I do that?

You can get your Paperwhite's serial number from the Amazon website. Copy and paste it into the DeDRM plugin customization.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Wait, what? Do I need to update Method 3 so that it's all eink Kindles, and not just older models? When did this happen?

My outdated "Dealing with KFX" post was originally focused on methods for avoiding KFX format and did not go into all of the possible ways that Kindle books could be obtained in KFX. Copying them directly from a Kindle has been possible on and off depending on whether or not the currently used KFX DRM was supported by the deDRM plugin.

It was not emphasized because it is not a great method to obtain Kindle books. The resulting files will typically have low quality images. However with Download & Transfer becoming unavailable for new Kindle models and other alternatives becoming more difficult to make work, it may be good enough in some cases.

Originally Posted by odamizu

And is this with DeDRM 10.0.9 or the latest alpha release?

At present most books in KFX obtained using USB directly from Kindles running the latest firmware can have their DRM removed using DeDRM 10.0.9 or later. That could end at any time. Amazon has a history of reacting quickly when they become aware that holes in KFX DRM are being exploited.

Kindles that are no longer receiving firmware updates (9th Generation and earlier) are likely to continue to allow KFX DRM removal as long as they are supported by Amazon. That might become useful if Amazon continues to curtail the availability of Download & Transfer.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by jhowell

... At present most books in KFX obtained using USB directly from Kindles running the latest firmware can have their DRM removed using DeDRM 10.0.9 or later ...

Oh wow. I had no idea. I have updated the first post accordingly. Thanks!