It looks like Amazon is closing off one of the last remaining methods that allows people to remove the DRM from their purchased Kindle ebooks, locking down the Kindle platform even more than it’s ever been before with a new type of DRM for Kindle devices.
This comes after Amazon removed the ability to download purchased ebooks from their website earlier this year. They’ve also gone out of their way to break other DRM removal methods, and now they’re making it so you can’t remove the DRM from ebooks downloaded to (newer) Kindle devices.
Here’s a quote from Jhowell over at MobileRead, who knows a lot more about this kind of stuff than most people:
This DRM is applied to any newly downloaded books regardless of purchase or publication date. However it is not applied to books where the publisher has requested the DRM not be used, as shown on its sales page with “Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited” in the product details.
This new DRM uses an account secret stored in an inaccessible location as part of the key needed to unlock the encryption of the book. The only hope of being able to remove it requires access to that storage, which is only possible if the device was jailbroken prior to being updated to the new firmware.
It appears this new strengthened DRM was added to Kindle devices with the latest 5.18.5 software update. The new DRM might not be activated for all devices with the new software right away; it sounds like it might be one of those things that happens for some and not for others, like whenever Amazon rolls out new features to Kindles.
So far there are only a few reports of people encountering difficulties removing DRM from ebooks downloaded to their Kindles after the 5.18.5 software, but there are a few corroborating reports so it’s something to take seriously if you rely on that method to backup your Kindle ebooks.
So far the 5.18.5 update is only available for 11th and 12th gen Kindles, along with the Kindle Scribe and Kindle Colorsoft. If you have an older Kindle it shouldn’t be affected by this new DRM yet, but it’s hard telling what Amazon will do down the line at this point. The Kindle for PC method appears to still work for DRM removal too, with some stipulations.
I wonder if Amazon is going to use their strengthened DRM as a bargaining chip to convince authors and publishers that Kindle ebooks are more secure from piracy than other platforms that use Adobe DRM for ebooks that can be easily cracked and pirated. It doesn’t really serve Amazon to strengthen DRM to such a degree otherwise when people can just buy most ebooks elsewhere and easily remove the DRM in about 2 seconds.
There’s a time-consuming, roundabout way to backup your Amazon e-books. So you’re not entirely out of options. You’re not stripping the DRM but crafting an entirely new e-book.
There’s a newer DeDRM which works on the current Kindle for PC 2.8.0.
I know but I was reticent to openly advertise it. I guess Amazon knows about all the methods now anyway since they’re actively closing everything off.
Where would one find this newer DeDRM? I was able to put my device into airplane mode before it updated. However I now have to no way to download ebooks to my device.
New tool for K4PC2.8.
interesting, but I stopped buying ebooks from Amazon about a month ago. I had a few more hoops to jump through to remove DRM on Kindle compared to other platforms and I am lazy. It has only been about $200 in purchases so far which doesn’t matter to Amazon and wouldn’t be missed.
Just another reason I’m happy I jailbroke my Oasis when I did (I can’t thank you enough for posting about Winterbreak back in January, Nathan!)! Although it looks like Amazon has stopped Oasis updates at 5.18.2, who knows if they possibly backdoored the new DRM to this firmware level…
I buy books from Kobo, it’s much easier to strip them of DRM and then read them on my Kindles as well. So this won’t really affect me. I would never buy another book from Amazon with their attitude.
The problem is I don’t want to support Kobo’s ebook store either if they aren’t going to be releasing any black and white ereaders anymore.
They probably will….a market will remain for black and white. It is possible that Kobo will miss the opportunity this year.
It is so easy to put out something in black and white…just don’t add the color layer…don’t worry they will re-emerge; unless something like an improved Gallery technology that does not need a color filter comes around.
That walled garden is looking more and more like a prison yard….
The cool thing is there are always people smarter than Amazon working on ways to break down the prison walls.
People keep talking about the fact that you can’t transfer books to your Calibre Library anymore and strip the DRM. I have 5.18.5 running on my Colorsoft, and I have no issues getting Kindle books off it and into Calibre. Not sure what I am doing wrong, but I don’t have this problem. Maybe people are crying wolf, and there isn’t one?
As noted in the article, the new DRM might not be activated for all devices with the new software right away, like how it took some Kindles a couple of months to get the new line spacing settings.
First, I jailbroke my PW before all of this & haven’t been updated to the problematic new version BUT — from the description of the problem — it is NOT a new DRM which is the issue, the new update appears to simply make the device storage invisible to external file viewers by creating a hidden partition.
This would explain why they can apply this to ALL of their ebooks, regardless of date, (which they’ve not been able to do, before) AND why the books are not visible in Calibre/Explorer/Finder.
AND the good news for that — if it’s true — is that what can be hidden can be UNhidden. Easily. What it also means, of course, is that if you’ve jailbroken your Kindle before the v5.18 update, you aren’t affected by any of this (at least, I don’t seem to be although I don’t have any Kindle DRM content on mine, to test.)
BTW, can we just observe how absolutely stupid it is for Amazon to wage this DRM battle? That”s because they are eliminating ALL Amazon ebook sales to owners of other ereaders, at a time when (it seems) EVERYONE is leaving Kindle in droves. Personally, I used to buy all my books for my primary ereaders — Kobo & Pocketbook — from the Amazon store. So even though I haven’t purchased Kindle hw for years, I still gave them money for ebooks which I read on those other devices; just because the Amazon store was better/easier. No more.
QUOTE: “BTW, can we just observe how absolutely stupid it is for Amazon to wage this DRM battle? That”s because they are eliminating ALL Amazon ebook sales to owners of other ereaders, at a time when (it seems) EVERYONE is leaving Kindle in droves. ”
No one actually knows why Amazon’s doing it. Maybe it’s to do with Kindle Unlimited – they want to eliminate any possibility of KU books getting uploaded to pirate sites, so that folks have to subscribe or buy if they want to read them. And they can’t buy KU books from other sellers, because of exclusivity.
Another possible cause is that Amazon wants people to read Kindle content only on Kindle devices and apps, so they can be shown ads for more Amazon stuff. You can’t show ads if the customer isn’t reading the book on a device you control.
Who knows. But another thing is, I don’t think people are leaving Kindle in droves. Most Kindle customers probably read in the Kindle app on their phone or tablet, and most of those who use an eink Kindle don’t care about DRM removal – they just buy/download/read/delete, rinse and repeat. The folks who want to remove the DRM and manage their ebooks themselves are a small minority, IMO. True, they’re also the ones that participate in discussions and rail against restrictions, so it might seem there are many of them. But I don’t think they’re really a significant part of Kindle users.