Audio/video stream recording forums (http://stream-recorder.com/forum/index.php)

- Removing DRM protection from eBooks (http://stream-recorder.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=63)

- -

Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

(http://stream-recorder.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5423)

spunky

01-17-2010 08:29 AM

Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

:confused: I downloaded an ebook from B&N that is in PDB format but can't read on my Sony PRS300. Any suggestions???

Stream Recorder

01-18-2010 02:07 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook

Quote:

Originally Posted by spunky (Post 15450)

:confused: I downloaded an ebook from B&N that is in PDB format but can't read on my Sony PRS300. Any suggestions???

Are you sure it is DRM protected? Try to convert your PDB ebook with freeware Calibre.

Stream Recorder

01-18-2010 02:17 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook

If you buy DRM-protected books from B&N, then IMHO it is better to buy DRM-protected EPUB files, because you can remove DRM protection from B&N (Barnes & Noble) EPUB ebooks.

You can also buy EPUB (or PDF, but EPUB is better) books in US stores that provide Adobe EPUB ebooks. For example: Books on Board, FictionWise. DRM protected EPUB ebooks works on Sony Readers, so you don't need to remove DRM protection from EPUB ebooks.

However the situation with audio and video content shows, that some stores leave the market and some computers crash, so users are left with legally purchased DRM protected content that they can no longer use. Also your next ebook reader may not support EPUB or PDB, and it is always easier to convert DRM-free content.

So I highly recommend to buy DRM-free content or at least to remove DRM protection from any ebooks or media files immediately after purchasing them. But please do not abuse rental licenses!

any ANONYMOUS forum user

01-18-2010 03:17 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook

How to convert PDB file into PDF

Download and install freeware PDFCreator
Open your PDB file in the PDB viewer for windows (ISILO)
Press the "Print" button, then select the DoPDF Printer and press the "Ok" button.
It will prompt you to save the PDF file as. Enter the filename for the PDF file and the folder to save to.
In case of large documents you may want to print to several PDF files (for example: pages 1-500, 501-1000, 1001-1500) for faster access.

Please note that internal PDB links will not be maintained in the result PDF file.

any ANONYMOUS forum user

01-18-2010 04:08 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook

The original ereader2html.py has been split into two pieces:

1. erdr2pml.py which simply generates the pml file, any images, and bookinfo.txt file and this can be used with Dropbook. Its syntax is that of the original file.

2. pml2xhtml.py which takes a pml file, and bookinfo.txt file and generates an xhtml file. It uses python subprocess to invoke tidy via the command line. Command line versions of tidy build out of the box on Linux, and MacOSX (actually it is already installed on MacOSX machines) and is available for Windows as a binary

There are two reasons for ereader2html.py beeing split. The first is that the DRM piece now stands alone as it will be updated much less frequently. And the second reason is that the pml to xhtml piece will be free to use by anyone anywhere since it now has nothing to do with DRM (and can be updated more often more easily).

How to remove DRM from PDB files with erdr2pml.py

Download the latest version of erdr2pml.py and xpml2xhml.py files from The Dark Reverser blog

or
Download erdr2pml.py v. 0.11

Code:

http://pastie.org/771116

Rename the downloaded file to erdr2pml.py

This will output the raw pml and images. You can then use Dropbook to convert this back to a non-drm PDB file.

Palm DropBook is a simple freeware application for Windows and Macintosh which allows you to convert a text file formatted using the Palm Markup Language into a Palm OS .pdb file which can be read with the eReader application.

You can also use xpml2xhml.py to convert raw pml and images to html.

You can get xpml2xhtml.py from

Code:

http://pastebin.com/m5f77fec8

Code:

http://code.google.com/p/ebook-conversion-tools/updates/list

Download the file and rename it to xpml2xhtml.py

xpml2xhtml.py syntax is

Code:

python pml2xhtml.py infile.pml [bookinfo.txt] outfile.html

any ANONYMOUS forum user

01-18-2010 08:01 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook with ereader2html.py

How to remove DRM from eReader PDB ebooks with ereader2html.py:

Please note that ereader2html.py was split into 2 files: erdr2pml.py and xpml2xhml.py, which were significantly improved after that. It is recommended to use erdr2pml.py and xpml2xhml.py instead of ereader2html.py.

Download the latest version of ereader2html.py from The Dark Reverser blog

or
Download ereader2html.py 0.09

Code:

http://pastebin.com/f7be19a99

ereader2html.py converts eReader PDB books to HTML

Code:

ereader2html.py infile.pdb outdir "your name" credit_card_number

Step by step: How to remove DRM from eReader PDB ebooks with ereader2html.py:

Install Python.
Create a working directory.
Copy ereader2html.py to the working directory.
Copy ereader.pdb file to the working directory.
Open File Explorer and navigate to the working directory.
Right click an item in the list on the left and select "Properties".
Highlight the directory information after "Location:". Right click and select "Copy".
Open terminal (in linux) or command prompt (in Windows).
Type: "cd " (no quotes needed) and right click to paste the directory information you just copied, and hit enter.
From the terminal / command prompt, enter the command as documented:

Code:

ereader2html.py infile.pdb outdir "your name" credit_card_number

anonymous1234

03-30-2010 05:54 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Can anyone walk me thru converting a pdb ereader file please? I was able to convert my mobipocket files successfully but the pdb directions are not as detailed. I tried following the same basic idea but got error messages. Thanks

johnr267

04-16-2010 03:03 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Hi, I feel like a real idiot, but have been trying for ages to remove the follow the instructions above, however, i just can't get it to work. As per the post before me, can someone please help and provide say, an example of the input - inclusive of dummy details.

Stream Recorder

04-16-2010 05:46 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnr267 (Post 18236)

Please be more specific.

johnr267

04-16-2010 03:09 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Sorry for that, OK I followed the steps above up to Point 10, where I just couldn't get the terminal input correct and kept getting an error message "ereader2html is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file". I've then played around with the other inputs and got the same message.

Overall my input was as follows (details changed of course):
ereader2html good life.pdb outdir "john dow" 123456789012345

Not sure if this is correct - ie have I put spaces where I should, or inadvertently excluded spaces etc.

Stream Recorder

04-16-2010 11:38 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnr267 (Post 18251)

Make sure it has the .py file extension. Then try to launch it like this:

Code:

ereader2html.py good life.pdb outdir "john dow" 123456789012345

johnr267

04-17-2010 04:48 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Worked like a charm. Thank you so much

Samcro

04-17-2010 08:33 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

PDB ebooks with filenames like e.g Name_Title_Title.pdb worked like a charm, but I get an error trying to remove the DRM on titles with filenames like 9781101186855_Title_Title.pdb.

Any solution?

Stream Recorder

04-18-2010 10:24 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samcro (Post 18270)

PDB ebooks with filenames like e.g Name_Title_Title.pdb worked like a charm, but I get an error trying to remove the DRM on titles with filenames like 9781101186855_Title_Title.pdb.

What kind of error exactly? Did you buy these PDB ebooks from B&N as well?

nieve899

04-25-2010 05:54 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

On both types Name_file.pdb and 129384984_Name_file.pdb, no matter what syntax I use, I receive the error message:

Code:

File "C:\Documents and Settings\user\My documents\My BN eBooks\my@mail.com\ereader2html.py[/email]", line 420

    print "Flags: 0x%X" % self.flags

                      ^

SyntaxError: invalid syntax

The command I ran:

Code:

ereader2html.py changesdresdenfiless_9781101186305.pdb outdir "My Name" 1111222233334444

I don´t know anything about python, but if I just block it out with # I´m forwarded to a syntax error at the next instance of a closing parenthesis in a print statement.

Stream Recorder

04-25-2010 10:22 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by nieve899 (Post 18561)

no matter what syntax I use, I receive the error message:

Code:

File "C:\Documents and Settings\user\My documents\My BN eBooks\my@mail.com\ereader2html.py", line 420

    print "Flags: 0x%X" % self.flags

                      ^

SyntaxError: invalid syntax

The command I ran:

Code:

ereader2html.py changesdresdenfiless_9781101186305.pdb outdir "My Name" 1111222233334444

ereader2html.py error: print "Flags: 0x%X" % self.flags". SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCUC (Post 18765)

I followed the steps mentioned up to Point 10, where I just couldn't get the terminal input correct and kept getting an error message "ereader2html.py is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file".
My input was as follows :
ereader2html.py Bill_America_s_Finest_Compa.pdb outdir "MyName" 1234567812345678

Would you help me please?

error: 'ereader2html.py' is not recognized as an internal or external command...

Graymayre

04-28-2010 12:38 AM

Re: How to remove DRM protection from B&N (Barnes & Noble) EPUB ebooks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stream Recorder (Post 17559)

Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

I got the same error, resulting in my following down this thread to this last post. The reference thread sent me down to the Dark Reverser Blog which referred me to download xpml2xhtml.py at pastebin.com and the link turned out to be invalid, showing Unknown paste ID, it may have expired or been deleted!

Well I've generated the key, got the PDB file ready, I just need the decrypting script to process the file and all I'm lead down is dead ends.

Just need a link, file, script, whatever to continue so I can read my Clive Cussler on my Motorola Droid.

Much appreciation for the real work our dear source code developers do.

Stream Recorder

04-29-2010 01:04 AM

Re: How to remove DRM protection from B&N (Barnes & Noble) EPUB ebooks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graymayre (Post 18619)

What error exactly do you have? What version of xpml2xhtml.py are you looking for?

spunky

04-29-2010 02:49 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Not sure if this helps put I was told to put in only the last 8 digits of my credit card and it worked.

CCUC	05-05-2010 05:20 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

I have the same problem. Any tips?

Julian

05-29-2010 08:17 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

I just got an iPad so I want to move to iBooks for reading all my stuff but I have some old favourites that I bought in eReader DRM format a while back and can't get in ePub so I want to convert them myself.

From reading this thread, and a few things that I've seen elsewhere, I think that the following might work but I'd like to check:

1) Use erdr2pml.py to get unlocked PML files from my locked PDBs.
2) Use Calibre to go from PML to ePub.
3) I assume that the resulting ePub will be recognised by iTunes and the iBook reader.

Will the above work? Is it the most efficient solution and is it likely to get me the best formatting for the resulting ePub or is there a better alternative?

Will I lose anything in the conversion (e.g. cover art)? Some of my commercially purchased books have neglected to fill in the Author field. Will this approach give me the option to add in an author tag for my final ePub versions (or in some cases edit a badly formatted author tag that exist in some of my books)?

- Julian

Stream Recorder

05-29-2010 12:10 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Julian (Post 19234)

You will need an EPUB ebook for your iPad. Calibre is a good program for converting books, and it supports converting to EPUB.

Note that iPad has a screen similar to computer monitors, so if you read a lot or spend lots of time behind a computer screen, it is better to read from an eInk reader.

Julian

05-29-2010 12:32 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stream Recorder (Post 19236)

Thanks. It sounds like I'm on the right track.

Regarding reading, thanks for the advice but I'm actually far more hard-core than was apparent from my last post when it comes to ereading. I also wasn't completely accurate regarding my intentions.

I've been reading ebooks quite extensively since 1999 when I got my first Palm V and have read on various PDAs and smart phones ever since. If my eyes and brain can tolerate those devices then they can tolerate pretty much anything. My inaccuracy was that although I am converting these books for the iPad it's only to play around and test whether it works in preparation for my next real reading device which will be, if all the rumours are true, the next generation iPhone; I'm sure that, compared to some of the other devices that I've used successfully in the past, that will be just fine.

- Julian

nstavrogin

06-13-2010 05:51 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Here's an issue I haven't seen addressed yet:

I followed all 10 steps as outlined, but I keep getting "Error: Incorrect Name and/or Credit Card." The e-book was purchased by my girlfriend with a B&N gift card, not a credit card, so I don't know if that affects things at all.

I've tried putting in her full name, part of her name, her email address, the words "gift card," with no success. I've used the full gift card number and the last 8 digits with all of the above options. Has anyone used a gift card before and successfully removed the DRM?

any ANONYMOUS forum user

06-14-2010 04:53 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by nstavrogin (Post 19582)

A couple of people mentioned in the The Dark Reverser blog that they were able to remove DRM from PDB ebooks purchased with gift cards from B&N. Ask your girlfriend about the name she was using to purchase and make sure you enter the card number correctly.

Julian

06-20-2010 03:58 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

I'm trying to use erdr2pml.py to crack a legally purchased ereader book but I seem to be failing at the very first step. I run the command and it seems to be processing for maybe 2 seconds and then I get the following error:

Code:

File "E:\Temp\Books\eRdr2Pml.py", line 1

   {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang2057{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Aria

l;}}

   ^

SyntaxError: unexpected character after line continuation character.

I'm running on Windows XP Pro and my language is UK English.

Any ideas?

- Julian

Stream Recorder

06-20-2010 04:32 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Julian (Post 19692)

Code:

File "E:\Temp\Books\eRdr2Pml.py", line 1

   {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang2057{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Aria

l;}}

   ^

SyntaxError: unexpected character after line continuation character.

I'm running on Windows XP Pro and my language is UK English.

Any ideas?

Try to download the eRdr2Pml.py, not to copy-paste it.

Julian

06-20-2010 04:50 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stream Recorder (Post 19693)

Try to download the eRdr2Pml.py, not to copy-paste it.

Fantastic! Thanks so much for the quick help, on a weekend too; that worked perfectly, the decode happened with no errors. I now have images from my book in the _img directory and I've quickly opened the .pml file in wordpad and it's all readable text so this is 100% mission accomplished as far as my first objective is concerned. Now I need to go and play with Calibre to do the final conversion to epub.

Thanks again.

- Julian

55kevy

12-11-2010 11:02 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

I have downloaded erdr2pml.py, downloaded and installed python, and from the command prompt set at the directory where the .pdb I want to convert and the erdr2pml.py are located I enter:

c:\users\me\my docs\my ebooks\dir erdr2pml.py samedir\book.pdb samedir "My Name" mycreditcardnumber

And get a nice message that erdr2pml is from Dark Reverser and is to convert .pdb to .pml and the syntax and that you only have to enter the last 8 digits of cc number. But there is no conversion. I've tried this without the full directory path in front of the book file and get the same message. Should the erdr2pml.py file be stored in the same directory as the python? or what else am i doing wrong?

Stream Recorder

12-12-2010 04:47 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by 55kevy (Post 23624)

Try to place erdr2pml.py and your book.pdb into the same directory. And use simple names for your ebooks and directories (without spaces, special characters,...) Then it should work as described in the post above:

Code:

erdr2pml.py book.pdb samedir "Name" CCN

or just

Code:

erdr2pml.py book.pdb "Name" CCN

55kevy

12-13-2010 04:12 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

That is what I have done. Both the .py and the .pdb files are in the same directory, I'm running the command prompt set at the same directory, and I'm setting outdir as the same directory. So what now?

55kevy

12-13-2010 04:27 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

OK - tried it one last time: command prompt set at directory where erdr2pml.py and book.pdb are and used the syntax:

Code:

erdr2pml.py book.pdb "my name" ccn

And it worked! So now I just have to tackle the other 300 titles.

Stream Recorder

12-13-2010 09:10 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by 55kevy (Post 23673)

Code:

erdr2pml.py book.pdb "my name" ccn

And it worked! So now I just have to tackle the other 300 titles.

Then it is a good idea to create a batch file for that. I'm not an expert in that, but the following should work:

Code:

for %f IN (*.pdb) do call erdr2pml.py %f "name" ccn

or something like that:

Code:

for /f %%a IN ('dir /b *.pdb') do call erdr2pml.py %%a "name" ccn

The /f flag is used to return filenames (not directories).
"dir /b *.pdb" returns a bare directory listing (no filesize, attributes, etc.) with filenames that match the *.pdb pattern.
"%%a" is our variable.

stehr

02-17-2011 09:18 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

I'm having trouble with this. When I enter:
erdr2pml.py a.pdb "My name" CCN
I receive the error:
File "<stdin>", line 1
SyntaxError: invalid syntax (highlighting the name of the book 'a')

I've tried renaming the files as numbers or all lowercase letters, but to no avail. What am I missing?

Thanks!

Stream Recorder

02-17-2011 10:15 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by stehr (Post 25392)

What version of Python do you use? If you use Python 3.x, try to use 2.x instead. Also try to use eReaderPDB2PML.pyw from the ebook DRM removal tools archive

Quote:

Originally Posted by README_eReaderPDB.txt

Barnes & Noble/Fictionwise eReader, .pdb

Barnes & Noble’s .pdb eReader format is one of the survivors from the early days of ebooks. Internally, text is marked up in PML – Palm Markup Language. This makes conversion to other formats more difficult.

Barnes and Noble .pdb ebooks use a form of Social DRM which requires information on your Credit Card Number (last 8 digits only) and the Name on the Credit card to unencrypt the book that was purchased with that credit card.

There are three scripts used to decrypt and convert eReader ebooks.

The first, eReaderPDB2PML.pyw removes the DRM and extracts the PML and images from the ebook into a folder. It’s then possible to use the free DropBook (available for Mac or Windows) to compile the PML back into a DRM-free eReader file.

The second script, Pml2HTML.pyw, converts the PML file extracted by the first script into xhtml, which can then be converted into your preferred ebook format with a variety of tools.

The last script is eReaderPDB2PMLZ.pyw and it removes the DRM and extracts the PML and images from the ebook into a zip archive that can be directly imported into Calibre.

All of these scripts are gui python programs. Python 2.X (32 bit) is already installed in Mac OSX. We recommend ActiveState's Active Python Version 2.X (32 bit) for Windows users.

Simply double-click to launch these applications and follow along.

polocanada

04-03-2011 06:37 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Worked fine. Thank you. (BTW... if you can't find images... - I couldn't initially.. they will be stored in a newly created folder called "images")..

soCal

07-09-2011 02:45 PM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Ok I don't have windows, but I followed along on my mac and I am familiar with linux.

I downloaded python v2xx
I also downloaded erdr2pml.py AND xpml2xhtml.py
I placed the above files into a working directory
I placed my numbered pdb file into this directory also
I opened a terminal and did the following:
cd into the working directory
then this command:
xpml2xhtml.py #####5_pdv.v1.pdb "My name" CC#######

I receive this as a result:
xpml2xhtml.py: command not found

Is there anyone who can help me with this or knows what may be wrong? Thanks a bunch!

Stream Recorder

07-12-2011 09:56 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Quote:

Originally Posted by soCal (Post 30830)

Have you tried to remove DRM with Calibre plug-ins?

kcl34

10-09-2011 05:03 AM

Re: Remove DRM from PDB ebook from B&N (Barnes & Noble),...

Hi Johnr267, can you please help me remove DRM from a pdb ebook for me? thanks
kcl

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