How to make your Kindle ebooks readable on ereaders other than the Kindle.

Post updated 18.3.13  

I bought an ebook from Amazon, read it on my PC, then decided to buy a sony ereader.   But I wanted to read my Amazon purchased ebook again, and some I hadn’t read yet, hence the beginning of a long web journey to find a way to change a Kindle file so I could read it on whatever device I wanted. Below is a step by step guide so you do’t have to take the same long journey.

The process is a lot simpler than when I wrote the original post, which is still below. I left it here in case there is anything helpful for there for any of you who get bugs. The new system also removed the DMR from Topaz files. Thanks to the people who made these tools available. Like me, they are completely against pirating and have said so on their sites. Here’s my version of it.

Note  – the only reason anyone should be removing DMR on a Kindle book (or any other ebook)  is so they can read a book they’ve purchased for one ereader on a different kind of ereader. Pirating is not cool – it’s very  bad karma.

If a book is under $5, why don’t you just go and buy it again in a different format? Save yourself all the bother of changing the format yourself. Some books are only 99c and a lot are only $2.99. Buying another book is very good karma because it supports an author and their family.

So if you’re as poor as me, here are the steps. If you’ve got a good job, at least buy another of the author’s books after you’ve read this one.

1. Download Calibre. http://calibre-ebook.com/download  (It’s free)
   This is a program for managing ebooks and converting their files from one format to another. If you have files that aren’t DMR protected – free books often aren’t  – then this software will work without resorting to anything else.
2. Open Calibre. Go to ‘add books’ to put your books into the Calibre library, then go to ‘convert books’. On the top right hand side is something that says output format. Choose the one you want –  Epub is the industry standard and should fit most ereaders –  and click okay. If it tells you that the book is DMR protected, you’ll have to follow the steps below to remove the DMR protection.

How to remove the DMR protection.

1. Download and Install Python ( this will go into the C drive) http://www.python.org/download/
2. Download DMR stripping  tools_V4.8.   There’s scripts there for decrypting any file you can think of. You can get them here. http://www.4-shared.eu/download/dEmAsblNQQr40w1y613lPu/tools-v4-8.html
3. Open the _V4.8 folder and click on KindleBooks, then on Kindle Books again. A dialogue box comes up. Fill it in.
4. The input file is the file you want to decrypt. Find it on your computer . If it’s on a Kindle device you will need to put the devices serial number in the bottom line of the box.
5. The directory for the unencrypted file is where you want the finished book to go.
6. Click start.
7. When its finished, at the bottom it will say it’s successfully unencryted.
8. That’s it. Close the box or do another book.
9. Now to change the file type to suit an ereader that takes epub. Open Calibre. Go to ‘add books’ to put the unencrypted book into the Calibre library.
10. Click on ‘convert books’. On the top right hand side is something that says output format. Choose the one you want –  Epub is the industry standard and should fit most ereaders .
11. On the epub output check maintain cover ratio.
12. on ‘Look and Feel’ check remove spacing between paragraphs
13. click okay.
14. Calibre will create a folder for the output that you will find under your name in the Users folder on your C drive. You can change where they go by using the ‘Save to Disc ‘button.

If you want to say thanks for me helping you out here. Buy one of my books. They are actually quite good. If you don’t believe me check the reviews.

THE ORIGINAL POST

 Thank you to ‘Dark reverser’ who created the hack, and to ‘I love cabbages’ and all the others who’ve put instructions on the web and videos on this on utube.

In this instance, they’re people who just want to be able to read their legally purchased ebooks on whatever ereader they choose. On all the sites I visited and in all the videos I watched, the writers said that they were not advocating piracy or copyright infringement. They all said that was wrong, but they thought that Amazon was also wrong to try to limit their ebooks to Kindle use only.

I agree.

They said it was simple. It is once you get it to work, but first I had to scout around to find the latest versions of the software. Many of the links in older posts didn’t work anymore. I also had to search countless forums to find the solutions to the error messages that I and many others got. Nowhere did I find clear step by step instructions that included what to do to avoid the common error messages. After several days of research and trial and error, I finally succeeded in making the file conversion work on both my Windows 7 Netbook and my XP laptop.

I was so thrilled to finally make it work that I was leaping around the house. Yay, I did it!

Here’s step by step instructions that are simple enough for the non-tech-minded like me and should also avoid the common error messages.

1. Download Calibre. http://calibre-ebook.com/download  (It’s free)
   This is a program for managing ebooks and converting their files from one format to another. If you have files that aren’t DMR protected – free books often aren’t  – then this software will work without resorting to anything else.
2. Open Calibre. Go to ‘add books’ to put your books into the Calibre library, then go to ‘convert books’. On the top right hand side is something that says output format. Choose the one you want –  Epub is the industry standard and should fit most ereaders –  and click okay. If it tells you that the book is DMR protected, you’ll have to follow the steps below to remove the DMR protection.

How to remove the DMR

1. If you already have Kindle for PC on your computer uninstall it first. Then download this earlier version of Kindle for PC beta. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2992929/Kindl…
   OR
   http://ifile.it/tq05bk4
2. Immediately disable automatic updates on Kindle for PC ( see menu/settings)
3. If you already have kindle books on your computer, you will need to download them again from Amazon to get the a new ‘Book path’ . To do this go to your Kindle for PC Home screen, select ‘menu’ then ‘sync and check for new items’, then go to “Archived Items” and download them again.
4. Download and Install Python ( this will go into the C drive)
   http://www.python.org/download/
5. Disable UAC if you use Windows 7 or Vista. (Control panel/useraccounts/)
6. Download these Python Scripts  to a folder of your choice
   http://bit.ly/bTTVIU  (this is unswindle.pyw and mobidedrm.py in one folder)
7. Double-click the Mobidedrm.py file, then the unswindle.pyw file. Kindle For PCwill open.[If you get a message saying that unswindle can’t find the Mobidedrm.py file – it did this on my XP – then copy Python (see 4) into the same folder as the Python scripts (see 6). Then try again. You’ll find the Python folder on your C drive.]
8. When Kindle for PC opens, select the book you want to convert.
9. When the book loads, simply exit Kindle For PC.
10. The “Select unencrypted Mobipocket file to produce” dialog will open asking you where you want to save your decrypted .mobi file. Enter the filename with the .mobi extension and save the DRM-free .mobi file.
11. Now use Calibre (see step 2) to change the .mobi file to whatever other file type you require.

Note that this doesn’t remove DRM protection from Topaz .tpz ebooks. More and more new Amazon ebooks will have this file name so if you don’t have a kindle, try to get latest releases from other stores if you can. Smart publishers will make sure they’re available in at least two formats, one for Kindle and one for the others.