Post updated on 10 August, 2015
About calibre
Calibre is a free, open source, ebook management and conversion utility created and maintained by Kovid Goyal. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Calibre cannot, on its own, remove DRM from ebooks. However, it is possible to added third-party software (‘plugins’) to enhance calibre.
To be able to use the DeDRM plugin for calibre, it is necessary to install calibre first. The latest version can be downloaded from http://calibre-ebook.com/download.
破解 DRM 其实很简单,只需要使用到 DeDRMtools 工具即可,这个工具是开源的,可以直接在 GitHub 上下载到。 这个工具提供了两种方法来破解 DRM,第一种是直接使用它提供的 Mac 或 Windows 应用,第二种是使用 Calibre 插件,并配合 Calibre 进行破解。. 破解 DRM 其实很简单,只需要使用到 DeDRMtools 工具即可,这个工具是开源的,可以直接在 GitHub 上下载到。 这个工具提供了两种方法来破解 DRM,第一种是直接使用它提供的 Mac 或 Windows 应用,第二种是使用 Calibre 插件,并配合 Calibre 进行破解。.
The DeDRM plugin for calibre
The DRM removal plugin (DeDRM_plugin.zip) can be found in the tools archive linked from the most recent post in this blog. The DeDRM plugin can remove DRM from Kindle eBooks (but not rented Kindle ebooks, books downloaded to a Kindle Fire, Kindle for iOS or the Windows Store Kindle App), Barnes & Noble ePub ebooks (but not books downloaded to the Windows Store Nook App) , any ebooks using Adobe Digital Editions DRM (this includes ePubs from Kobo and Sony that are downloaded for Adobe Digital Editions), and the older Mobipocket and eReader ebooks. For other kinds of ebooks see the other posts in this blog.
Installing the DeDRM plugin for calibre
- Download the latest tools package, and unzip it.
(On Windows, right-click and “Extract All…”; After extracting all, rename the tools_vX.X.X.zip file to tools_zipped_vX.X.X.zip to prevent later confusion) - Run calibre. From the Preferences menu select “Change calibre behavior”.
(Do not click “Get plugins to enhance calibre”, that option is reserved for ‘official’ calibre plugins.) - Click on Plugins (under “Advanced”) — it looks like a jigsaw puzzle piece.
- Click on the large “Load plugin from file” button
- Navigate to the tools folder unzipped in step 2
- Open the “DeDRM_calibre_plugin” folder
- Select the DeDRM_plugin.zip file in that folder
- Click on the “Add” (sometimes “Open”) button.
- Click on the “Yes” button in the “Are you sure?” warning dialog that appears. A “Success” dialog will appear, saying that the plug-in has been installed. Click on “OK”.
Customising the plugin with encryption keys
On Macintosh and Windows systems no customisation is required for ebooks from Kindle for Mac/PC, Nook Study, or Adobe Digital Editions (ADE), provided that calibre is run on the same computer and user account as the installation of Kindle for Mac/PC, Nook Study, or ADE to which the books were downloaded. The default key is found and stored in the preferences automatically. Anyone using Linux should read the ReadMe file for details of how to obtain the keys manually.
For other sources of ebooks, or on Linux systems, you must configure the plugin. To configure the plugin, you must find it in the list of plugins. Usually calibre will have automatically selected the DeDRM plugin after you add it. If not, the DeDRM plugin can be found under “File Type plugins”. It might easier to find if you check the “Show only user installed plugins” checkbox. You might need to click on the triangle next to the “File Type plugins” label to show the list of File Type plugins.
If it’s not already selected, click on the DeDRM plugin in the list to select it, and then click on the Customize plugin button. This will open that main “Customise DeDRM” dialog which contains a set of buttons describing different type and sources of ebooks. If you have DRMed ebooks that match the description on any of the buttons, you will need to click on the button and enter the required information in the sub-dialog that will pop up.
All the dialogs have a help link in the top right of the dialog, that gives further information about the required information.
When all the configuration for your DRMed ebooks has been entered, click “OK” in the main dialog to save all the information you’ve entered. You’re now ready to remove the DRM from your ebooks.
Using the DeDRM calibre plugin
The DeDRM calibre plugin removes DRM from ebooks as they are imported into calibre. So to use the plugin, just import your DRMed ebooks into calibre, and the DRM will be removed. If you have already imported your ebooks into calibre, you will need to remove the DRMed ebooks and import them again.
You can check that the DRM has been removed from an imported ebook by trying to view it using calibre’s built-in viewer. Note that for .azw3 Kindle ebooks you might need to check a checkbox in calibre’s preferences to say that .azw3 ebooks should be viewed using calibre’s internal viewer.
If things go wrong
The calibre developers are not involved in the development of the DRM removal plugin, and are not able to help with any DRM removal questions. If you have any difficulties following the instructions in this post, the calibre developers will not be able to help.
You must ask any questions about installing or using the DeDRM calibre plugin in a comment to most recent post on this blog.
Credits
Most of the work on converting the DRM removal scripts to a calibre plugin has been done by DiapDealer and Apprentice Alf.
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
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:
(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.)
- 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.)
Finally, back up your DRM-free files. You do back everything up, right?
Dedrm Calibre Plugin
Categories:
Github Dedrm_tools
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