DRM workaround: Kindle for Android

[Anonymous Guy]

I recommend installing Android 11 (for hi-res) or Nougat 64-bit for SD.
I can simplify the steps for you:
1. Download SDK Tools.
2. Go to your search bar and search for "edit the system environmental variables" and then select Environmental Variables...
3. Under System variables select Path > Edit > New > Paste path to your Platform Tools folder.
4. Install Bluestacks, then set up your preferred emulator through the Multi-Instance Manager in the bottom left. My recommended settings are: Portrait, 3840x2160, and 320 DPI.
5. Once done, import KFA 4.16.0.75, attempt to install, then allow for external APKs and restart the emulator.
6. Open up the app, sign in, and—this is important—download a book without opening it. Now we're at the backup.ab step.
7. Navigate to your Platform Tools folder, right-click, and then Open in Terminal.
8. Paste adb backup com.amazon.kindle and press enter. It might fail the first time since it needs to set itself up, so try a second time. You should see a screen in your emulator now, then select Backup. The backup.ab file will be in your Platform Tools folder now.
9. Download and install the latest version of Calibre, then install the latest DeDRM plugins.
10. Once done, go to Preferences > Plugins > Search for DeDRM > Double Click > Kindle for Android ebooks. Select the plus sign, then select Choose Backup File and navigate to your Platform Tools folder, or wherever you exported the backup to. Add the backup, then write in a name for it, then select ok.
11. Install the KFX input and output plugins in Calibre. Preferences > Plugins > Get new plugins.
12. Go back to your emulator, then import KFA 8.51.1.0 and install. Even newer versions will work, but if it ain't broke...
13. Once installed, redownload your books, then open Media Manager > Explore > Android > data > com.amazon.kindle > files. Here you will want to open up your book folders, which start with a B, then extract all the files within to your desktop into a folder of the same name.
14. Open one of the folders, then drag the first kfx file that appears in it into Calibre, and voila, a De-DRM'd KFX file that you can convert into a format of your choosing (EPUB is generally preferred.) For normal books, conversions should work flawlessly, but if you'd got a manga or comic, you'll want to make sure you have "Allow conversion to complete even if errors are detected" selected in the KFX input options. If hi-res isn't a concern for you, I'd suggest just using K4PC using version 2.0.70350 or later.
15. For a much better way of grabbing the files, especially if you downloaded a lot of books, run the command: adb pull sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle Desktop (or whatever location you want on your computer.)

[Anonymous Guy]

FYI, hi-res is different from high quality. When I say hi-res, I mean getting the uncompressed ebooks (if they exist.) Nougat-64 bit (AZW3) is perfect for getting good quality books. It all just depends on what you're looking for. Wrote a whole guide with a lot more info, but mobileread isn't letting me post it for some reason.

[Anonymous Guy]

Originally Posted by Anonymous Guy

I recommend installing Android 11 (for hi-res) or Nougat 64-bit for SD.
I can simplify the steps for you:
1. Download SDK Tools.
2. Go to your search bar and search for "edit the system environmental variables" and then select Environmental Variables...
3. Under System variables select Path > Edit > New > Paste path to your Platform Tools folder.
4. Install Bluestacks, then set up your preferred emulator through the Multi-Instance Manager in the bottom left. My recommended settings are: Portrait, 3840x2160, and 320 DPI.
5. Once done, import KFA 4.16.0.75, attempt to install, then allow for external APKs and restart the emulator.
6. Open up the app, sign in, and—this is important—download a book without opening it. Now we're at the backup.ab step.
7. Navigate to your Platform Tools folder, right-click, and then Open in Terminal.
8. Paste adb backup com.amazon.kindle and press enter. It might fail the first time since it needs to set itself up, so try a second time. You should see a screen in your emulator now, then select Backup. The backup.ab file will be in your Platform Tools folder now.
9. Download and install the latest version of Calibre, then install the latest DeDRM plugins.
10. Once done, go to Preferences > Plugins > Search for DeDRM > Double Click > Kindle for Android ebooks. Select the plus sign, then select Choose Backup File and navigate to your Platform Tools folder, or wherever you exported the backup to. Add the backup, then write in a name for it, then select ok.
11. Install the KFX input and output plugins in Calibre. Preferences > Plugins > Get new plugins.
12. Go back to your emulator, then import KFA 8.51.1.0 and install. Even newer versions will work, but if it ain't broke...
13. Once installed, redownload your books, then open Media Manager > Explore > Android > data > com.amazon.kindle > files. Here you will want to open up your book folders, which start with a B, then extract all the files within to your desktop into a folder of the same name.
14. Open one of the folders, then drag the first kfx file that appears in it into Calibre, and voila, a De-DRM'd KFX file that you can convert into a format of your choosing (EPUB is generally preferred.) For normal books, conversions should work flawlessly, but if you'd got a manga or comic, you'll want to make sure you have "Allow conversion to complete even if errors are detected" selected in the KFX input options. If hi-res isn't a concern for you, I'd suggest just using K4PC using version 2.0.70350 or later.
15. For a much better way of grabbing the files, especially if you downloaded a lot of books, run the command: adb pull sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle Desktop (or whatever location you want on your computer.)

adding on to that message...

16. My recommendation is to create one emulator for each (so one for Android 11, and one for Nougat; two each if you want to do two languages.) and use KFA 8.51.1.0 just so you always get high quality images.

Interesting notes: AZW3 is better for Japanese books (quality goes down with KFX,) while KFX is better for English books (only if hi-res is available, otherwise stick with AZW3 for better file organization.) Hi-res = the size advertised on the store page. So if it says like 400MB, that's what you'll get with Android 11 + KFA 8.51.1.0 or better. If you download the same thing on Nougat, you'll only get the compressed version at like 100 something MB (from my experience at least.)

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Anonymous Guy

Just a heads up that for hi-res images, you will want to follow all the steps on Android 11 with Portrait, 3840x2160, and 320 DPI. Did not work on Nougat/Pie.

Are you saying that my guide that is quoted in first post of this thread no longer works to install with Bluestacks Nougat? ?

[Anonymous Guy]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Are you saying that my guide that is quoted in first post of this thread no longer works to install with Bluestacks Nougat? ?

It works just fine for good quality images, which is all most people really need. What it doesn’t seem to work for is hi-res, uncompressed books like comics or manga (if applicable). This what is referred to as Kindle HD, which requires your device to be a specific resolution and DPI for it to become available. Otherwise, you’ll just get the SD version, which is still pretty good, but not what you want if you desire the very best quality. I imagine that has something to do with the Android version or perhaps you need to be on a specific Nougat device.

Anyway, let’s say Amazon advertises 500MB on the store page. If you get served the HD version, that’s what you’ll get. If you get served the SD version, you’ll get a smaller file with smaller images. Sizes will vary by publisher, and oftentimes they’ll only upload a SD book, anywho.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Anonymous Guy

What it doesn’t seem to work for is hi-res, uncompressed books like comics or manga (if applicable).

You will have a very hard time finding any commercial )or probably any) ebook that is not highly compressed.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Anonymous Guy

It works just fine for good quality images, which is all most people really need. What it doesn’t seem to work for is hi-res, uncompressed books like comics or manga (if applicable). This what is referred to as Kindle HD, which requires your device to be a specific resolution and DPI for it to become available. Otherwise, you’ll just get the SD version, which is still pretty good, but not what you want if you desire the very best quality. I imagine that has something to do with the Android version or perhaps you need to be on a specific Nougat device.

Anyway, let’s say Amazon advertises 500MB on the store page. If you get served the HD version, that’s what you’ll get. If you get served the SD version, you’ll get a smaller file with smaller images. Sizes will vary by publisher, and oftentimes they’ll only upload a SD book, anywho.

I see. If you are into such a fringe case as graphic novels, using Android (emulator) to import books sounds like a lot of hoopla and double copying. Easier would be to not use Android, but K4PC.

[Anonymous Guy]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

You will have a very hard time finding any commercial )or probably any) ebook that is not highly compressed.

Indeed, which is why I spent a lot of time looking into this. For the cases where Amazon does have them, I wanted to figure out how to obtain them. Not sure if there are any other digital stores that have them.

[Anonymous Guy]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

I see. If you are into such a fringe case as graphic novels, using Android (emulator) to import books sounds like a lot of hoopla and double copying. Easier would be to not use Android, but K4PC.

I've used K4PC long before I looked into the Android emulator method.
With Nougat, you can still get AZW3 ebooks, but with K4PC, you can only get KFX now, at least from Amazon US. AZW3 is actually better than KFX for getting higher quality novel images, which is why I'll continue to use Nougat for that. I'll continue running tests to see if I can get hi-res, uncompressed AZW3 comics/manga with Nougat, but have had no success so far. Might try another emulator.

[bizzybody]

I'm not having any luck getting backup to work with BlueStacks.

I'd been using adb to backup from Kindle 4.16.0.75 on an old (and painfully slow) Sprint tablet but some recent books aren't allowed to be downloaded with that old version.

I have BlueStacks 5.14.22.1003 P64, logged in with my Google account, the old Kindle app version, logged into my Amazon account, downloaded but did not open one book. ADB is enabled in BlueStacks.

I run adb connect 127.0.0.1:4758 and it connects (port number changes each time BlueStacks is run!)

Then I do adb backup com.amazon.kindle and get the normal response in the Windows command prompt.

But unlike with the real tablet, BlueStacks never gives me the backup prompt.

With the real tablet it would not do the backup from an elevated command prompt. I've tried it both ways with BlueStacks.

[lkmiller]

Nougat 32-bit?

Or give up on this method and use Kindle for PC.

[bizzybody]

The problem is the old Kindle For PC version that forced download of books in a format with bypassable DRM, or no DRM, has been cut off from downloading most books. So I tried what was then the latest version and ALL of the books it downloaded had DRM that the newest release of the DRM removal for Calibre can't remove.

Yes ALL the books, even ones the authors specifically told Amazon they wanted sold without DRM. I re-downloaded a sampling of the books I've bought or got free, across all the time I've been getting ebook from Amazon, and ALL of them had non-removable DRM when they didn't have it downloaded with the old K4PC or the old Android version.

[DNSB]

To use the latest version of K4PC, you will need to have the KFX Input plugin installed and a newer version of NoDRM's DeDRM fork. I would recommend the Automatic alpha release with latest changes.

As for the DRM on books where no DRM was requested, Amazon will reply that those books get the generic DRM key so any Kindle/Amazon app will be able to access them.

[lkmiller]

@bizzybody
As David said, most books from the latest Kindle for PC should work with KFX Input and at least DeDRM 10.0.9.

If you're determined to use Kindle for Android, Nougat 32-bit worked for me. And then you will need the alpha release of DeDRM that David linked to import the backup file into DeDRM.

[JSWolf]

My solution is to download via an old Kindle Touch. I get Mobi or KF8 which can have the DRM removed.