Downloading Your Books via the Kindle for PC App: If instead you have sent your Kindle books to Kindle for PC, and we strongly recommend this method because it’s so easy, you can find the locally stored books in the following directory. Once that’s all setup all you have to do is import your Kindle ebooks into Calibre and the plugin will remove the DRM automatically. You can then use Calibre to convert the ebooks into other formats, such to ePub, to read on any non-Kindle ebook reader or reading app.
This guide will help you remove the DRM protections on any Kindle books you’ve purchased from a Windows machine. What is a DRM protection ? In simple term, DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, which effectively acts as a lock on any digital purchases you’ve made online. An example of this is the Kindle eBook from Amazon. If you bought any eBook from either Amazon or Books & Noble you are likely to have a DRM protected eBook. This means you cannot share the book to others; the key to unlock the book is your Amazon account. This puts any eBook into a disadvantage in terms of book sharing. So if you’d like to share your eBook with others, you first need to remove the DRM protection, or simply sharing the Amazon account would do. But if your goal is to allow multiple people to read the content, then removing the DRM protection is the best option.
We are going to show you two methods on how to remove DRM from these protected eBooks.
First – Remove DRM protection via Calibre’s Apprentice Alf’s Plugin
This first method will leverage an open source eBook Reader, Calibre with DRM removal plugin from Apprentice Alf.
You need to download:
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- Calibre eBook Manager
- Apprentice Alf’s DRM plugin for Calibre
First launch Calibre > Find the Preferences
Under Advanced section of Preferences go to Plugins
This will bring up a list of existing Plugins, go find “Load plugin from file” to install DRM removal plugin for Calibre.
Now navigate to the directory where you previously downloaded the tools_v6.1.x. Make sure to unzip the zip. Inside there should be a folder called DeDRM_calibre_plugin. Inside this folder there is a zip called “DeDRM_plugin”. Select the following zip to install as Calibre’s plugin.
This will prompt you a security risk warning; click Yes to proceed.
Once you’ve installed the plugin, you are half way to the finish line !
Now all you need is to import the Kindle book into the Calibre. If you don’t have Kindle for PC installed, please go ahead and download the application right now. Once you have finished installing the app, and logged in to your Amazon account, navigate to
Documents > My Kindle Content you will find some of the books that start with B00XXXX_EBOK.azw4 or .azw formats; those are the DRM protected books from your Kindle purchase.
Now go back to Calibre > Add books > Add books from a single directory. Make sure to select the book from your previous My Kindle Content directory. Once the book has imported, it will automatically remove any DRM protections from them.
How To Use Dedrm Tool For Mac Kindle App
Second – Remove DRM with pure Apprentice Alf’s DRM removal tool
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This method will achieve the same result as the first method, but it requires different steps and setup.
Make sure you have the following tools ready on your Windows
You can now navigate to where you have downloaded the DRM removal tool [PATH_TO]tools_v6.1.0DeDRM_Windows_Application. Create a short-cut of DeDRM_Drop_Target.bat to desktop.
Now all you need to do is to drag and drop the book onto the bat file as shown below.
This will bring up the DeDRM dialog with a detailed configuration setting. You can leave everything as it is and proceed by clicking “Process eBook”.
Based on how large the book is, it’s going to take sometime to remove the DRM. Once it’s finished you should see a different file with readable title on your desktop.
This is it, a complete How-To guide on removing DRM protections on Kindle books. Use this wisely and leave a comment if there is any question.
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I just heard about the woman whose Kindle ebooks were wiped when her account was suspended, and it got me thinking: Do I really own anything that I've bought with DRM? It seems like I could lose it at any time, or lose the ability to view something just because I switched devices. How can I get rid of the DRM so I can keep my own backups?
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Sincerely,
Sick of DRM
Sick of DRM
Dear SoD,
It's always a bit disheartening to hear about content getting changed or removed because of DRM. Combined with the news a few years ago that Amazon could wipe content they didn't have the license for, DRM is increasingly an issue with further reaching implications than simply keeping you from pirating content. Wiping content is one issue—but DRM also usually locks the media to your device or service—which means you often can't transfer your library between different devices. With that in mind, let's first take a quick look at what you're actually buying when you buy DRM content before digging into how to remove DRM from videos and books.
It's always a bit disheartening to hear about content getting changed or removed because of DRM. Combined with the news a few years ago that Amazon could wipe content they didn't have the license for, DRM is increasingly an issue with further reaching implications than simply keeping you from pirating content. Wiping content is one issue—but DRM also usually locks the media to your device or service—which means you often can't transfer your library between different devices. With that in mind, let's first take a quick look at what you're actually buying when you buy DRM content before digging into how to remove DRM from videos and books.
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What You're Buying When You Buy Digital Content
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Just as a quick primer here, we should note what exactly it is you're purchasing when you buy digital content, and why this problem exists in the first place. When you purchase digital content, you're typically just buying a license to use it. You do not 'own' the books or media you purchase in traditional terms. For example, here's Amazon's Terms of Use (bolding ours):
Upon your download of Kindle Content and payment of any applicable fees (including applicable taxes), the Content Provider grants you a non-exclusive right to view, use, and display such Kindle Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Kindle or a Reading Application or as otherwise permitted as part of the Service, solely on the number of Kindles or Supported Devices specified in the Kindle Store, and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Kindle Content is licensed, not sold, to you by the Content Provider.
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Most Terms of Use at other digital stores follow Amazon here, and they all also have something similar to this little caveat:
In addition, you may not bypass, modify, defeat, or circumvent security features that protect the Kindle Content.
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So, just so you know: removing DRM from ebooks and videos is typically against the Terms of Use. Most services like Amazon or Barnes and Noble allow you to store your books or video purchases in the cloud so you can download them again later. But they're always restricted to their apps, and that's a bummer.
How to Remove DRM from Ebooks (and Back Up Your Library Permanently)
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The easiest way to strip DRM from Kindle books (and Barnes and Noble, Adobe Digital Content, etc) is with the free ebook software Calibre, DRM removal plugins, and a copy of the Kindle desktop software (PC/Mac). These directions are for Kindle, but will work with Barnes and Noble, Adobe Digital Editions, and older formats. Here's what you need to do:
- Download Calibre, the the plugins, and the Kindle Desktop software.
- Unzip the contents of the plugin directory.
- Open up Calibre and click on 'Preferences.'
- Navigate to 'Plugins' under the 'Advanced' section.
- Click 'Load Plugin from file,' and select K3MobiDeDRM_v04.5_plugin.zip from the directory you just unzipped.
- Load up the Kindle app on your Mac or Windows computer and download all your books from Amazon.
- Navigate to either C:Users[your username]DocumentsMy Kindle Content on Windows or [your username]My DocumentsMy Kindle Content on Mac.
- Your books aren't named in any meaningful way, so just drag all the *.azw files into Calibre.
- After a short wait (depending on the size of your library), Calibre will finish importing the books. Now you have a DRM-free backup of all your books on your computer.
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It's a little convoluted, but once you get the hang of it, Calibre is a solid way to backup all your purchased ebooks.
How to Remove DRM from Movies and TV Shows
![Tool Tool](/uploads/1/3/3/2/133298103/114643661.jpg)
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Movies are slightly easier to remove DRM from then ebooks, but the process isn't free. For this, we like Tunebite ($25) on Windows, or Noteburner M4V Converter ($50) on Mac. Both will cost you a little money, but removing DRM from video files downloaded from the likes of Amazon or iTunes is an incredibly simple process.
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Alternately, you can record directly from your computer using a screen recording tool (any of these five will do). You will, of course, have to wait for the entire movie since it operates essentially like dubbing, but if you already use screen recording tools it's a free option for backing up your movies.
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As a few commenters have noted in the discussion, Requiem is also an excellent way to remove DRM from iTunes downloads. The process is pretty self-explanatory. Download a version of Requiem that corresponds to your version of iTunes, and open up the video files you want to remove the DRM with.
The Case for Abandoning DRM Content Completely
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While it is possible to strip away all the DRM from the content you already own, it's even better to buy from sellers that don't use DRM in the first place. That's easier said than done, of course, as most major stores (iBooks, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc) all use DRM for their content.
For books, crowdfunded efforts like Story Bundle or Humble Ebook Bundle are great ways to get DRM-free books, but they're not the same as a store. Occasionally, you can also grab books directly from a publisher like Tor that come DRM-free, or grab older books from Project Gutenberg.
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The same goes for videos. Much like books, you have to go directly to a performer to get a DRM-free video. For instance, comedians Louis CK, Jim Gaffigan, and Aziz Ansari both released their comedy shows free of DRM, but those types of instances are few and far between (occasionally smaller films, like Indie Game: The Movie will do it). However, if you really want to avoid DRM, it's still easier to buy a physical disc and rip it yourself—whether it's a DVD or Blu-Ray disc. They still technically have DRM, but it's the easiest to bypass.
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The fact is, while piracy is certainly an issue, so is user experience. You want to pay money for something knowing you'll be able to use it in the future regardless of what device you have in your hand, and DRM often makes that hard. Author Cory Doctorow describes this problem pretty bluntly as: 'If you can't open it, you don't own it.' Worse, when you're locked into a certain store or hardware, you end up getting stuck on the upgrade treadmill because your content is locked to one type of device. Sure, Amazon's Kindle app exists across platforms, but if you buy a Nook, you all of a sudden have no books. Same if you buy movies from iTunes and switch away from the Apple TV. And there's always a (slight) chance any given service will stop providing support. Then you're really left in the lurch. Photo by Gavin Baker.
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Sincerely,
Lifehacker
Lifehacker
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Title photo by Austin Parrish Thomas.