There’s a company I won’t name that’s selling DRM-removal software for Kobo ebooks for the ridiculous price of $89.99. They’re most likely just repackaging open-source DRM-removal software that’s available for free online and they’re selling it for a profit to rubes that don’t know any better.
The truth is removing DRM from Kobo ebooks is super easy; there’s no reason to pay for DRM-removal software. I tried the Obok plugin for Calibre over the weekend for the first time and it worked great; I’m surprised there isn’t a similar tool that can pull ebooks off of Kindle ereaders.
Other DRM-removal methods for Kobo ebooks require using Adobe Digital Editions with an Adobe ID and futzing with Adobe’s annoying ACSM files.
The Obok plugin bypass all the Adobe nonsense. You can use it to easily pull your purchased ebooks off of a Kobo ereader or from Kobo’s desktop app for Windows and Mac computers. Instead of dealing with the Adobe EPUB version of the ebook, it removes the DRM from Kobo’s KEPUB format that they use on their ereaders and apps.
The Obok plugin is included with the standard DeDRM tools that can be downloaded for free at GitHub.
You just have to install Calibre on your PC if you don’t already have it installed, and then install the Obok plugin and restart (the full directions are included in a ReadMe file for the Obok plugin). You don’t have to enter a serial number for you Kobo device or configure anything—it just works.
Then all you have to do is plug your Kobo ereader into your computer, open Calibre, and click the Obok icon and it will bring up a list of books on your Kobo device (or Kobo app if you’re using that instead). From there you can select ebooks to import and the Obok plugin will remove the DRM from your Kobo ebooks and automatically convert them to (DRM free) EPUB format.
This isn’t a new plugin, but it seems like most people use the standard DRM-removal method that requires using Adobe Digital Editions to remove the DRM from purchased Kobo ebooks. Using the Obok plugin is actually the easier method, especially if you have a Kobo ereader.
I wouldn’t pay for any DRM removal program for any media. I’ve been burned by paying for programs that did not update the DRM removal process when the source DRM changed, even though other programs were able to crack the new DRM.
Instapaper announced Kobo partnership!!!!
Great! Thanks for letting us know!
“I’m surprised there isn’t a similar tool that can pull ebooks off of Kindle ereaders.”
The DeDRM plug-in by Apprentice Alf (current version 10.0.9) still does that fine. I’ve removed DRM from books published this month with no issue.
Yeah, it works fine (it’s not maintained by Apprentice Alf anymore, though), but seeing as how getting ebooks off of Kindle ereaders is the only reliable method for DRM-removal these days, it would be neat to have a tool like the Obok plugin that worked with Kindles too. Having your list of on-device books at the click of a button is just a little nicer and more convenient than having to drag-and-drop or use the add books function.
You don’t even have to plug the reader in to your computer. Just download Kobo app for Mac/Windows. Then at least on my Mac once I download my books to it, new ones download automatically. And Obok detects them anywhere on your drive. So I just click the Obok plugin and it detects the Kobo books downloaded to the app and let’s me remove their DRM.