DRM workaround: Kindle for Android

[mbovenka]

That's what I did with K4PC when that still worked (simply deleting the book subdirs), and it was never bothered by it.

[JubileeQ]

I'm a bit confused here.

Following instructions you gave to Patitapetit, on how to use this workaround on an Android device, I installed KO Reader on my android tablet. But it literally can't see (and thus cannot import or read) the Amazon ebooks that are on my tablet. And thus I can't export the ebook onto any other devices. Am I missing a step or two?

I know the ebook files are on my tablet (in the com.amazon.kindle folder), but no other app other than Kindle seems to able to see them.

I used to be able to download kindle ebooks in the AZW format on my Kindle for Mac, v1.28, but apparently that's stopped working for new ebooks published starting this calendar year (2023).

I'm using Kindle for Andoid 8.75, the Cherry Blossom version on KO Reader, both installed on a Samsung Tab S6 Lite using Android 13. (I also have a mac running Ventura).

Thanks!!

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by JubileeQ

I'm a bit confused here.

Following instructions you gave to Patitapetit, on how to use this workaround on an Android device, I installed KO Reader on my android tablet. But it literally can't see (and thus cannot import or read) the Amazon ebooks that are on my tablet. And thus I can't export the ebook onto any other devices. Am I missing a step or two?

I know the ebook files are on my tablet (in the com.amazon.kindle folder), but no other app other than Kindle seems to able to see them.

I used to be able to download kindle ebooks in the AZW format on my Kindle for Mac, v1.28, but apparently that's stopped working for new ebooks published starting this calendar year (2023).

I'm using Kindle for Andoid 8.75, the Cherry Blossom version on KO Reader, both installed on a Samsung Tab S6 Lite using Android 13. (I also have a mac running Ventura).

Thanks!!

Yes, you cannot do that. Even if the other app would have access to the files from the Kindle app, they would still be locked up with DRM. The workaround here is the same as what you did with Kindle for Mac. Download book, copy into calibre to remove DRM, then sideload it to your device of choice, possibly format shifting. You are unlikely to be able to get a DRM removable file from Kindle for Android 8.75. You will need to use an Android emulator on your Mac (if Bluestacks doesn't work, Android Emulator might). A newer real Android device is unlikely to get you what you need.

[black5clover]

I am on the BlueStacks steps but it say I can't download it(and yes I use mac). And also what is SDK Platform Tools used for please dumb it down for me to understand

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by black5clover

I am on the BlueStacks steps but it say I can't download it(and yes I use mac). And also what is SDK Platform Tools used for please dumb it down for me to understand

M1 mac? You will need to do everything,but use Android Studio to get Android Emulator instead of Bluestacks. You need Android Debug Bridge (adb) in the SDK platform tools, which can be downloaded in Android Studio. The Android Emulator has easier way to get the needed key for the plugin out, downloading just one small file instead of a full backup. You would need to use adb and dig around in the shell. Or do the backup method.

They have fixed some loopholes on real devices, not sure if Android Emulator still works, or if it forces an update of the Kindle app that makes downloading DRM removeable files impossible. It is too slow on my computer to test and see if it still works, was just playing around with it. I am using Bluestacks instead since its performance is much better, also because I like the high resolution files, which are currently only work in Bluestacks. All attempts, so far, on real devices have failed. And if they do work, nobody posted about them.

[slimwilson]

This is what works for me in summary:

Bluestacks is definitely the way to go. Using the links provided at the beginning of this thread work, as well as the version of Android etc.

Use the built in media manager to look for your .prc files after you login to amazon on the kindle app in on the android emulator. You download the .prc files when you click on the book in the kindle app. It downloads them to sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files.

An easy way to get the files you want (because you can't see the .prc often) is once you get to the above location, use the little search icon in the top right and put .prc in there. You'll now only see the files you need to transfer to your computer. Easiest way for me was once you do all of the above and you see only your .prc files, choose 'Export to Windows' on the bottom left, select all of your .prc files.

If you haven't read all of the threads. You MUST have the DeDRM and the kfx plugins for Calibre. Also, the DeDRM plugin needs the 'Kindle for Android ebooks Keys' not just the one from your PC install. This messed me up for a minute. The way you get that is again listed in the first post. Yes you need to download the adb.exe to use. You use this with the cmd prompt as indicated. One thing that was messing me up is that after i connected, finding the port and location in the advanced settings. It connected, but when i attempted to do the backup, I got the error:
unable to connect for backup: more than one device/emulator

if you get this, run .\adb.exe devices . You might get a list like this:
List of devices attached
127.0.0.1:5555 device
emulator-5554 device

This is totally fine, just use this syntax: .\adb.exe -s 127.0.0.1:5555 backup com.amazon.kindle -f nameofbackup.ab

the -s tells it which device to use. I used the -f to name the file. You don't have to do that.

The last thing i want to say is I couldn't find the backup file. I was looking on the Android folder structure or in the sharedfolder etc. The home directory in which it is backed up, is the directory from which you're running the adb.exe

Once you have the .ab file you use as instructed and the .prc files will be decrypted nicely in your Calibre.

Hope this helps!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by slimwilson

If you haven't read all of the threads. You MUST have the DeDRM and the kfx plugins for Calibre. Also, the DeDRM plugin needs the 'Kindle for Android ebooks Keys' not just the one from your PC install. This messed me up for a minute. The way you get that is again listed in the first post. Yes you need to download the adb.exe to use. You use this with the cmd prompt as indicated. One thing that was messing me up is that after i connected, finding the port and location in the advanced settings. It connected, but when i attempted to do the backup, I got the error:
unable to connect for backup: more than one device/emulator

Minor nit. You do not need the kfx plugins for calibre to import the .prc files since you are not importing KFX files. If you want to export KFX files, that's a different story and you will need the kfx output plugin. If you have a source for non-DRMmed KFX files, you would need the KFX input plugin but neither is necessary for the purposes of this discussion.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

If you want to export KFX files, that's a different story and you will need the kfx output plugin. If you have a source for non-DRMmed KFX files, you would need the KFX input plugin but neither is necessary for the purposes of this discussion.

And an OS that supports the Amazom program KFX output uses. Unless I'm being dim, Calibre actually doesn't convert to KFX at all, but uses the plug-in to pass the file to the Amazon program, which doesn't work on Linux. I don't know about x64 or ARM Mac-OS / OSX.

Are there ANY Amazon source non-DRM KFX or just the ones that have no mobi/azw3 DRM by publisher request use a generic "opens on any Kindle or Kindle app" that supports KFX version of DRM? I'd presumed only "home-made" KFX is DRM free.

[slimwilson]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Minor nit. You do not need the kfx plugins for calibre to import the .prc files since you are not importing KFX files. If you want to export KFX files, that's a different story and you will need the kfx output plugin. If you have a source for non-DRMmed KFX files, you would need the KFX input plugin but neither is necessary for the purposes of this discussion.

Yes, thanks. I misspoke there

[nobody-knows-me]

Hey, I just registered to say thanks a gadzillion to everyone who posted here with info help get this working.

A couple of notes for anyone else having trouble (especially re using map_data_storage.db) -

I did this on an android device, not with an emulator. So set everything up, rooted device, using 4.16 then -

adb backup com.amazon.kindle

my device insisted on a password, which meant the ab file is encrypted, so dedrm could not read it, so I then had to install abe-jar and do

java -jar abe.jar unpack backup.ab backup.tar password

I then tried several ways to stuff the decrypted backup.tar file into dedrm, but none seemed to take. No error, but also no text saying the file had been accepted - it looked like dedrm simply didn't see it as an appropriate file and ignored it.

I then found the posts about manually removing the map_data_storage.db file from the tar archive and using that (its in the db subfolder).

This worked!

But - if you are trying this - dedrm WILL NOT accept the map_data_storage.db unless it is named map_data_storage.db and nothing else. This took me a long time to work out!

I had stupidly renamed it as I extracted it because I figured the name didn't matter.

IT DOES.

So for the next idiot who does that - rename map_data_storage.db and all will be well.

Thanks again everyone.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by nobody-knows-me

Hey, I just registered to say thanks a gadzillion to everyone who posted here with info help get this working.

A couple of notes for anyone else having trouble (especially re using map_data_storage.db) -

I did this on an android device, not with an emulator. So set everything up, rooted device, using 4.16 then -

adb backup com.amazon.kindle

my device insisted on a password, which meant the ab file is encrypted, so dedrm could not read it, so I then had to install abe-jar and do

java -jar abe.jar unpack backup.ab backup.tar password

I then tried several ways to stuff the decrypted backup.tar file into dedrm, but none seemed to take. No error, but also no text saying the file had been accepted - it looked like dedrm simply didn't see it as an appropriate file and ignored it.

I then found the posts about manually removing the map_data_storage.db file from the tar archive and using that (its in the db subfolder).

This worked!

But - if you are trying this - dedrm WILL NOT accept the map_data_storage.db unless it is named map_data_storage.db and nothing else. This took me a long time to work out!

I had stupidly renamed it as I extracted it because I figured the name didn't matter.

IT DOES.

So for the next idiot who does that - rename map_data_storage.db and all will be well.

Thanks again everyone.

Did you try changing the extension of the .tar to .ab? If you didn't, please try it. You probably seen that the backup has multiple .db files, so it makes sense to only allow the correctly named file to pass. Haven't looked at the code of the plugin myself, but I would program it to attempt to unpack the backup first (the logic most likely is to look if the extension is .ab), then go to the next step to specifically look for map_data_storage.db.

[nobody-knows-me]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Did you try changing the extension of the .tar to .ab?[/i].

Oh yes, I did - sorry I missed that. I changed .tar to .ab but no luck.

I assumed it was either timing out or perhaps the file structure on the device had changed slightly so it couldn't find the actual key - I did notice someone here talking about the /database subfolder on the device, but mine was /db.

Either way, the map_data_storage.db way works

[Allen20]

Hi guys, I downloaded a 2023 book in *.prc file but when I want to remove DRM, the Calibre says "Cannot convert. This book is locked by DRM. What should I do now? Any solution?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Allen20

Hi guys, I downloaded a 2023 book in *.prc file but when I want to remove DRM, the Calibre says "Cannot convert. This book is locked by DRM. What should I do now? Any solution?

Did you get the key and enter it in the deDRM plugin settings?

[Allen20]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Did you get the key and enter it in the deDRM plugin settings?

No. How can I get the key? where? and how can I enter the key in the deDRM plugin settings? Can you guide me, please?