When Amazon launched the newest version of its Kindle ebook format in 2015, the improved typography and hyphenation came at a price. Each KFX ebook was delivered as a collection of files with no obvious details other than unfamiliar file suffixes and a new type of DRM.
This release adds full support for the new.kinf2018 key files and the nw KFX encryption. Many thanks to Apprentice Sakuya for their work on this. This means that this release now works with the latest (2.8) version of Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac. Managing Kindle for Mac/PC Keys. If you have upgraded from an earlier version of the plugin, any existing Kindle for Mac/PC keys will have been automatically imported, so you might not need to do any more configuration. In addition, on Windows and Mac, the default Kindle for Mac/PC key is added the first time the plugin is run. Kindle/Kobo/Adobe eBooks downloaded via official desktop app. Import eBooks to Calibre to DeDRM. The reason that we must use calibre version 4.x is because the DeDRMtools only works on this version. Calibre 5.x does not work with DeDRM, until DeDRM 7.0.0 is released in the future. The DeDRMtools contains two plugins: DeDRM and Obok. If the book is from Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac (version 1.17 or older) and you think you are doing everything right, and you are getting this message, it is possible that the files containing the encryption key aren’t quite in the format the tools expect. To try to fix this: Deregister Kindle for PC(Mac) from your Amazon account.
That new DRM was unbreakable, and that caused a lot of problems for those who want to protect their purchases. This problem only intensified last year when Kindle for PC gained support KFX and made it harder to download a Kindle ebook that could be deDRMed, but now we have a solution.
The latest version of the Apprentice Alf DRM-stripping tools was released last week, and it now works on KFX ebooks.
According to the blog post, this is a beta release:
This release incorporates works by several people to give initial KFX support to the plugin. If you are not interested in removing DRM from the new Kindle KFX format, then there is no need to update at this time. We still recommend using the older Kindle formats when possible for more successful conversion into other formats.
Install the KFX Input Plugin to automatically locate all of the files that make up a KFX format book and gather them into a KFX-ZIP. After the DeDRM plugin removes the DRM, then the KFX Input Plugin will package it into a single KFX file.
You can download the files from Github. Bug reports should be left on the Apprentice Alf blog.
I started off reading eBooks from the Amazon Kindle store. As time has progressed, I’ve found myself using my physical Kindle less and less. Partly because I forget to charge it, and partly because I can never get the lighting in my favorite reading locations quite right. And at night? Forget about it.
Download Kindle For Mac
So I’ve converted all of my Kindle purchases to ePubs for use in iBooks. I could use the Kindle app for iOS but I’ve found iBooks to be faster at syncing read position, and it feels a lot more natural to use.
Since I went through the effort of converting all of my Kindle documents, I figured I’d write a mini guide to getting it done. I’m specifically focusing on the Mac since that’s all I know; other users will have to venture elsewhere.
Kindle For Mac And Pc Keys Dedrm
Setting up Calibre
Calibre is a Java application which is an eBook management suite. It’s a bit ugly but it does what it says and works well. Since the Kindle’s eBooks are encrypted, we need to install a decryption plugin to do the heavy lifting there.
Download and install Calibre.
Download and decompress the DeDRM archive.
Open Calibre’s preferences (⌘,).
Go to “Plugins”.
Click “Load plugin from file”.
Choose the K4MobileDeDRM plugin’s zip file (zip within the main zip; don’t extract).
The encryption used on Kindle books is fairly basic. The decryption key is a product of the serial number for your device, so it’s not difficult to determine.
Getting eBooks
Dedrm Kindle Version
The DeDRM scripts work by understanding Kindle for Mac’s settings files, so to get the eBooks we need use the application. There are scripts to do conversions directly from Kindle hardware’s eBooks, but it’s more effort.
Download Kindle for Mac.
Register it with your account.
Download all of your eBooks (open them from the “Archived Items”).
Converting eBooks
Kindle eBooks are in the MobiPocket format. However, iBooks requires ePub, so we need to both decrypt and convert the files. At this point, we’ve got all we need, so we can use Calibre to do the conversion.
Navigate to ~/Library/Application Support/Kindle/My Kindle Content/
Drag all of the .azw files into the Calibre window.
Select the books in the Calibre window which you wish to export.
Click the “Convert books” toolbar item.
Choose “ePub” as the output format in the top-right of the convert window.
Go to the “Page Setup” item in the left list, and configure the conversion as so:
Select “Kindle” as the input profile.
Select “iPad” as the output profile.
Hit the “OK” button to begin the conversion. It may take a while.
Kindle For Pc Key File
If you have any issues at the decryption step, you should delete your~/Library/Application Support/Kindle folder and start again.
Enjoy
Kindle App For Mac
You can now “Save to disk” from the toolbar item to save the books which you’ve converted, and import them into iTunes for use in iBooks. Calibre is powerful enough to do many other formats if you want to use other devices as well.
Dedrm Python 3
Remember, don’t post any of the unencrypted documents anywhere. Just because the DRM is gone doesn’t mean you’re legally authorized to do so. They’re for your personal use only.