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How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

wired.com

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Re: How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

#81

Post by DanBC »

cynwoody wrote: post #74
DanBC wrote: post #16

The Wired link adds nothing. They link to ( http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/ebooks-formats... )

I disagree. Wired's nice little introduction will make more people aware that they don't have to put up with DRM. Wired's attention will also make it easier to find definitive info on DRM removal. When I'm not looking for anything in particular, I look at sites like Wired. But when I want to know how to do something specific, I go straight to Google. And Wired's story will boost Apprentice Alf's search ranking, makin…

"The Wired link adds no value for the readers of HN, apart from a tl;dr".

Re: How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

#82

Post by TeMPOraL »

danso wrote: post #43
fab13n wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it doesn't. You reload DRM-stripped books on the device, as if it had never been bought from Amazon. Don't forget that DRMs aren't here to save Amazon from piracy. Today and for the next couple of years, what they really care about is securing a dominant position. So the DRM security only needs to be good enough to reassure clueless edition managers, who believe that DRM will help their business rather than hurt i…

> No it doesn't. You reload DRM-stripped books on the device, as if it had never been bought from Amazon. Yeah that's the issue...From what I can tell, Amazon differentiates between both and I imagine that would affect how its central database of highlights/bookmarkings keeps track of each individual book. I suppose this would affect you only if you were highlighting a DRM book and then stripped the DRM...which I gue…

From what I saw on my own Kindle, there's no "central database of highlights/bookmarkings"; it's stored per book in new files Kindle create next to each book.

Re: How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

#83

Post by zzzmarcus »

runjake wrote: post #73

This is from 2011 and hugely outdated. As far as I'm aware, the newer Topaz Kindle format hasn't been cracked and thus the DRM cannot be stripped. It's been a long time since I've bought a book that wasn't Topaz-imprisoned.

It still works. I can verify that from having seen it done first hand as recently as yesterday.

Re: How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

#84

Post by arkem »

mverwijs wrote: post #70
doesnt_know wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not buying eBooks from suppliers that infest them with DRM doesn't mean not buying eBooks. I love my Kobo reader with all my heart and it has massively increased my consumption of fiction. Just don't support and buy eBooks from suppliers that use DRM. Baen Books is my favorite for science fiction. (www.baenebooks.com) O'Reilly Media for technical books. ( http://shop.oreilly.com/category/ebooks.do ) Calibre eBook sto…

For all fans of fantasy and science fiction, the dragonmount.com is also a DRM free webshop for ebooks. (I have no affiliation with said site, btw. Just a happy customer).

While http://dragonmount.com is a Wheel of Time community they sell the entire range of DRM free TOR science fiction novels (among others). Definitely a good place to shop.

Re: How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

#86

Post by bo1024 »

dredmorbius wrote: post #71
bo1024 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your books have no DRM, how will DRM screw you over? Isn't that the point of this posting?

It's not just the books, but the reader. This is straight Stallman: if you don't fundamentally control your computing environment, you don't own it, and you have no freedoms within it save those granted by the entity that does control that environment. A Lessig might modify that slightly and say that your freedoms are actually balanced between four influences: Law, Norms, Market, Architecture. In the case of DRMd wor…

I don't get what you mean in this context. I have complete control over what I put on my Kindle and what I don't. I don't use any DRM of any kind, ever, so that's a non-issue.

No, I don't have the power to program the thing myself, so Stallman wouldn't approve it, but then again he wouldn't approve of most computer operating systems or the vast majority of laptops sold either, so I don't see why e-readers are different....

Re: How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

#87

Post by dredmorbius »

bo1024 wrote: post #86
dredmorbius wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just the books, but the reader. This is straight Stallman: if you don't fundamentally control your computing environment, you don't own it, and you have no freedoms within it save those granted by the entity that does control that environment. A Lessig might modify that slightly and say that your freedoms are actually balanced between four influences: Law, Norms, Market, Architecture. In the case of DRMd wor…

I don't get what you mean in this context. I have complete control over what I put on my Kindle and what I don't. I don't use any DRM of any kind, ever, so that's a non-issue. No, I don't have the power to program the thing myself, so Stallman wouldn't approve it, but then again he wouldn't approve of most computer operating systems or the vast majority of laptops sold either, so I don't see why e-readers are differe…

Does anyone else have the power to modify your device? To add, remove, or change software or content? To disable it?

If the answer to any of these questions is "yes", then no, you do NOT have complete control over the device.

Re: How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

#88

Post by doesnt_know »

arkem wrote: post #84
mverwijs wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For all fans of fantasy and science fiction, the dragonmount.com is also a DRM free webshop for ebooks. (I have no affiliation with said site, btw. Just a happy customer).

While http://dragonmount.com is a Wheel of Time community they sell the entire range of DRM free TOR science fiction novels (among others). Definitely a good place to shop.

> they sell the entire range of DRM free TOR science fiction novels

Which are all not available outside the US. I could only find 4 books on that entire site that were actually available to be purchased outside the US.

Re: How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

#89

Post by dredmorbius »

RexRollman wrote: post #18

The real problem is there is nothing that requires companies to provide continued access to DRM-encumbered media; they can turn it off whenever they want. In my opinion, if a company can't or won't provide a way for a customer to access their purchased files, then they should be required by law to provide a way for the customer to un-DRM those files.

And that's happened. Several times. One that comes to mind was a Microsoft product, though I know there've been others.

Does anyone know of an "orphaned DRM systems" list somewhere?

Another, from Yahoo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07...

Re: How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others

#90

Post by bo1024 »

dredmorbius wrote: post #87
bo1024 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get what you mean in this context. I have complete control over what I put on my Kindle and what I don't. I don't use any DRM of any kind, ever, so that's a non-issue. No, I don't have the power to program the thing myself, so Stallman wouldn't approve it, but then again he wouldn't approve of most computer operating systems or the vast majority of laptops sold either, so I don't see why e-readers are differe…

Does anyone else have the power to modify your device? To add, remove, or change software or content? To disable it? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes", then no, you do NOT have complete control over the device.

For my kindle, I think I'm in the clear.

(Edit: It's never hooked up to the Internet, except when plugged into my computer, so I don't see how Amazon or anyone else is going to be able to touch it.)

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