3 Click on “Kindle” tab, if you are using the Kindle for PC/MAC version higher than 1.24, there will be a notification to remind you to downgrade your Kindle version, see below picture. Click the notification to open the window of downgrading the Kindle for PC and click on “Start” button to start the automatic downgrading process. This particular issue with decoding the kinf file to obtain the decryption key only affects Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac version 1.25 or later. There was also a recent change to the DRM used for books in KFX format. That is a separate issue that affects Kindle firmware 5.10.2 and later as well as the PC and Mac apps.
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. Continue reading for key generation and management instructions.
Creating New Keys:
On the right-hand side of the plugin’s customization dialog, you will see a button with an icon that looks like a green plus sign (+). Clicking this button will open a new dialog prompting you to enter a key name for the default Kindle for Mac/PC key.
- Unique Key Name: this is a unique name you choose to help you identify the key. This name will show in the list of configured keys.
Click the OK button to create and store the Kindle for Mac/PC key for the current installation of Kindle for Mac/PC. Or Cancel if you don’t want to create the key.
New keys are checked against the current list of keys before being added, and duplicates are discarded.
Deleting Keys:
On the right-hand side of the plugin’s customization dialog, you will see a button with an icon that looks like a red 'X'. Clicking this button will delete the highlighted key in the list. You will be prompted once to be sure that’s what you truly mean to do. Once gone, it’s permanently gone.
Renaming Keys:
On the right-hand side of the plugin’s customization dialog, you will see a button with an icon that looks like a sheet of paper. Clicking this button will promt you to enter a new name for the highlighted key in the list. Enter the new name for the encryption key and click the OK button to use the new name, or Cancel to revert to the old name.
Exporting Keys:
On the right-hand side of the plugin’s customization dialog, you will see a button with an icon that looks like a computer’s hard-drive. Use this button to export the highlighted key to a file (with a ‘.der’ file name extension). Used for backup purposes or to migrate key data to other computers/calibre installations. The dialog will prompt you for a place to save the file.
Linux Users: WINEPREFIX
Apprentice Alf Dedrm
Under the list of keys, Linux users will see a text field labeled 'WINEPREFIX'. If you are use Kindle for PC under Wine, and your wine installation containing Kindle for PC isn't the default Wine installation, you may enter the full path to the correct Wine installation here. Install igo primo windows ce 6. Leave blank if you are unsure.
Importing Existing Keyfiles:
At the bottom-left of the plugin’s customization dialog, you will see a button labeled 'Import Existing Keyfiles'. Use this button to import existing ‘.k4i’ key files. Key files might come from being exported from this plugin, or may have been generated using the kindlekey.pyw script running under Wine on Linux systems.
Once done creating/deleting/renaming/importing decryption keys, click Close to exit the customization dialogue. Your changes wil only be saved permanently when you click OK in the main configuration dialog.
Disclaimer: I don't endorse pirating e-books. If you do this, you won't hurt Amazon or Sony, but you might hurt the author.
Sermon: Why DRM Is Bad
Apprentice Alf Blog
Like many people you own an Amazon Kindle device for reading e-books.
And like many companies that trade in digital intellectual property, Amazon includes digital rights management (DRM) software in their e-books. The stated purpose is to prevent piracy, and for that DRM is modestly effective. But DRM also inconveniences legitimate customers.
The problem here is that America's copyright lawyers figured out how to change the rules of ownership. When you buy a paperback book, its content belongs to the author, but the physical book belongs to you. You can loan it to someone, trade it, sell it, or just keep it and reread it as many times as you want. But when you 'buy' a Kindle book, you're renting temporary authorization from Amazon to store the book on up to 6 Amazon-approved devices. This arrangement is bad for customers, for a number of reasons:
- Any Kindle book that you 'own' can disappear at any time, because of technological failure, change of license, or simple human error.
- If Amazon ever abandons their Kindle business, all your Kindle books could vanish in a flash. Wait, though, isn't Amazon too big to disappear? Maybe. But Kodak, Enron, General Motors, Sears, and the Smith-Corona typewriter company were once 'too big to fail' American institutions too.
- DRM interferes with legal uses of copyrighted text, like satire, reuse in teaching materials, and citation in reviews or academic papers. As a one-time IT guy at a public university, I frequently battled with DRM-ed written and recorded materials that instructors or researchers wanted to excerpt. The worst offender here is DVD region encoding.
- DRM-ed Kindle books are incompatible with non-Amazon book readers and software. Sure, Amazon software is supported on most platforms now, but what about a decade from now? How many people still have the equipment to read a floppy disk, VHS tape, phonograph record, or audio cassette? A lot of music, art, and writing is abandoned every time our storage technology changes to a different format, whether you're talking about reel-to-reel tapes or clay tablets. If it's important to you, make as many different copies of it as you can stand.
But DRM isn't going away, so..
To Remove the DRM from a Kindle E-Book:
![Mac Mac](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/515X2CXYTXL._SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_.jpg)
(July 2017: Updated for Calibre 3 and added screenshots.)
(December 2017: Added a note about using Calibre with a Kindle reading app instead of an e-ink Kindle.)
(April 2018: As of version 6.6.0, Apprentice Alf's DRM removal tools support Amazon's newer .kfx file format. You'll also need to install the KFX conversion plugin to import your .kfx files into Calibre.)
(December 2017: Added a note about using Calibre with a Kindle reading app instead of an e-ink Kindle.)
(April 2018: As of version 6.6.0, Apprentice Alf's DRM removal tools support Amazon's newer .kfx file format. You'll also need to install the KFX conversion plugin to import your .kfx files into Calibre.)
- Download and install the Calibre e-book management utility. Calibre is open-source software and costs nothing, although if you find it useful you might throw developer Kovid Goyal a few dollars. Calibre is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Download Apprentice Alf's DRM removal tools for ebooks. This comes as a .zip archive, so open it up and put the 'DeDRM_calibre_plugin' folder where you can find it. (You don't need to unzip the 'DeDRM_plugin.zip' file in the DeDRM_calibre_plugin folder.)
- Start up Calibre and go to Preferences -> Advanced -> Plugins.(Click images for full size.)
- Click the 'Load plugin from file' button.
- Select the 'DeDRM_plugin.zip' file you placed in step 2 and click 'Open'. Calibre will add this plugin under its 'File type plugins' list in the Preferences window.If Calibre gives you an error like `ERROR: Unhandled exception: InvalidPlugin:The plugin in C:UsersMeDownloadsDeDRM_tools_6.6.1.zip' is invalid. It does not contain a top-level __init__.py file`, you're trying to load the full archive folder into Calibre. Instead you need to open up the .zip file you downloaded and drill down a couple of levels. Using this example the file you want is C:UsersMeDownloadsDeDRM_tools_6.6.1.zipDeDRM_calibre_pluginDeDRM_plugin.zip.Note: If you're using a Kindle reading app instead of a handheld Kindle, you can skip steps 6-8 below. Instead, just drag the books you've downloaded into Calibre to remove the DRM. On Windows, your Kindle library will be something like `C:UsersyouDocumentsMy Kindle Content` and on a Mac it'll be `/Users/you/Library/Containers/com.amazon.Kindle/Data/Library/Application Support/Kindle/My Kindle Content`. Note again: For this to work, Kindle for PC or Mac should be installed on the same computer and user account as Calibre, and the version of the reading app you're using matters too. I'd suggest tracking down a copy of Kindle for PC/Mac version 1.17 or earlier.Note #2: If you're trying to de-DRM Amazon's newer .kfx files, you'll also need to install the KFX conversion plugin. Full details and discussion, as well as a .zip archive containing the plugin, are at the provided link. You can install this like you did the DeDRM plugin in steps 3-5 above.
- Next you'll need to add your Kindle's serial number. Select 'DeDRM' under the 'File type plugins' list and click the 'Customize plugin' button.
- In the 'Customize' window that opens, click the 'eInk Kindle ebooks' button, then click the + button to add your Kindle's serial number. (On my basic wi-fi Kindle this is listed under Settings -> Device Info.) Enter the serial number as 16 characters, without spaces. Then click the 'Apply' button, and close out the preferences window.
- Make sure your Kindle is connected to your computer as a USB device. If it is connected, you'll be able to browse it like your computer's hard drive.
- Now you need to add your Kindle books to the 'Library' in Calibre. There are various ways to do this. In Calibre, you can click the 'Add Books' button, or click 'Calibre Library' and then right-click and select 'Add books', or just drag the book files (.kfx, .azw3, .mobi) from your Kindle's documents folder into the Library window.
- If you configured the De-DRM plugin correctly (steps 3-7), Calibre will automatically strip the DRM from your Kindle books as it adds them to its library. This can take a while, so patience is a virtue.
- As Calibre imports your books, it copies them to your 'Documents' folder under 'Calibre library'.
- To ensure the DRM was removed, you can try converting one of your imported books to a different format. Right-click one of the books in your Calibre Library window and select 'Convert books -> Convert individually'. The default export format is .epub, which is fine for testing. Click OK, and if the process completes with no errors then you know the DRM is gone. (The .epub book is placed in the same location as the original file in the 'Calibre library' folder on your computer.)
Trikaraoke mp3g player. Finally, back up your DRM-free files. You do back everything up, right?
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