Dealing with Kindle ebooks in calibre

[JCEMAC]

Hello,

I have a Kindle (2022 - last version) and I have a very stupid question (sorry! ):
Is it possible to copy free DRM books from my PC to my kindle via USB after the installation of the last firmware?

Thanks

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JCEMAC

Hello,

I have a Kindle (2022 - last version) and I have a very stupid question (sorry! ):
Is it possible to copy free DRM books from my PC to my kindle via USB after the installation of the last firmware?

Thanks

Yes, if they are MOBI or AZW3. Not if they're EPUB.

[mcandre]

Kludge DRM removal, at least for macOS users:

https://github.com/mcandre/tigris

Inspirated by Comixology Backup.

Food for thought:

* A Kindle for PC (Windows) would want to replace AppleScript with some combination of PowerShell / .NET
* BlueStacks + adb would provide a cross-platform solution that works regardless of the host OS (think macOS, Windows, Linux, BSD, ...)

[FlyingSloth]

So, basically, unless you have a Kindle reader, you can’t convert files with Mac, for any recent publications.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by FlyingSloth

So, basically, unless you have a Kindle reader, you can’t convert files with Mac, for any recent publications.

Well, you could use virtual machine software to run Kindle for PC on your Mac.

Or you could use an Android emulator to try running Kindle for Android on your Mac (Method 4).

[Shykat]

Hi! I just installed Kindle 2.4.70904.

While offline, I unchecked the "automatically install updates when they are available without asking me". And ran the "disable K4pc download.bat".

My version of Calibre is 7.20. I have DeDRM 10.0.9 installed as well as KFX Input.zip

With the K4PC, the available books in my Kindle Unlimited library all showed up unlike when I was using the Kindle for Android setup where I had to go to the Kindle Unlimited area of Amazon and click on "Deliver or remove from device" to make them available in the Android version (using Bluestacks on my PC). I chose a book to load into K4pc then I went to the My Kindle Content directory and these are the files:

book_asset.db 10/18/2024
B09FX7N89Z_EBOK.mbpB2 10/18/2024
B09FX7N89Z_EBOK.apnx 8/6/2023
B09FX7N89Z_EBOK.azw 8/6/2023

Yes, the last file has a different date and year which I'm thinking might have been the publication date but I am not sure.

Any way.....

Which of the latter 3 files do I import into Calibre to convert them into EPUB format?

Or have I totally messed things up.

HELP an old lady with a confused mind, please.

[DNSB]

Using the calibre Add books tool, browse to the directory and you should see the .azw (and possibly the .azw.md file) as selectable. Select the .azw file and click ok.

One oddity is that the book_asset.db file should be in the root of your My Kindle Content directory while later versions of K4PC put the ebook content into individual directories named after the ASIN

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by DNSB

One oddity is that the book_asset.db file should be in the root of your My Kindle Content directory while later versions of K4PC put the ebook content into individual directories named after the ASIN

What does this mean for me, the reader? Should I be doing something with it outside of Calibre?

[sgmoore]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

What does this mean for me, the reader? Should I be doing something with it outside of Calibre?

No. Just ignore it.
book_asset.db is a database used by K4PC and contains the details of all the books that K4PC knows about.

[JSWolf]

It looks like the new 2024 Kindle will not allow you to use Download & Transfer via USB. The new Kindles are also MTP.

If you want to use Download & Transfer and you do want a new Kindle and have an older Kindle, do not trade-in your old Kindle for a new Kindle.

[Shykat]

Welp, something weird is going on. As before, I go to the Documents> My Kindle Content folder and that's where I saw the file:
book_asset.db 10/18/2024 from yesterday.

I went to Calibre to load in the .azw file and it was for an older book which is why it had the date of 8/6/23.

So, I went back into my newly installed K4PC and opened another book that I know is a recent book. It opens just fine in K4PC but, when I go to the My Kindle Content folder, the only file that has today's date on it is the book_asset.db now dated 10/19/2024.

Where the heck does the new version of K4PC actually store the .azw files?? I sure as heck can't find them. I even closed everything down and rebooted my computer. The K4PC version is unchanged.

Does anyone have any idea where the sneaky new K4PC could have downloaded the .azw file even though the new .db file is in the My Kindle Content folder.

This is so darned confusing.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Shykat

Welp, something weird is going on. As before, I go to the Documents> My Kindle Content folder and that's where I saw the file:
book_asset.db 10/18/2024 from yesterday.

I went to Calibre to load in the .azw file and it was for an older book which is why it had the date of 8/6/23.

So, I went back into my newly installed K4PC and opened another book that I know is a recent book. It opens just fine in K4PC but, when I go to the My Kindle Content folder, the only file that has today's date on it is the book_asset.db now dated 10/19/2024.

Where the heck does the new version of K4PC actually store the .azw files?? I sure as heck can't find them. I even closed everything down and rebooted my computer. The K4PC version is unchanged.

Does anyone have any idea where the sneaky new K4PC could have downloaded the .azw file even though the new .db file is in the My Kindle Content folder.

This is so darned confusing.

Are you sure the file was actually downloaded in K4PC and is not still in the cloud?

[Shykat]

Originally Posted by Shykat

This is so darned confusing.

And, after thinking about it, I just did a search on .azw files, it looks like I have FOUND THEM!!!!!

The K4PC appears to create an individual directory for EACH BOOK WITHIN the My Kindle Content for EACH book now!

I tried loading the new .azw file into Calibre and it worked!!!

::Happy Dance::

Hope this information helps someone else.