skindle - remove DRM from KindleForPC ebooks (mobi and topaz)

[rickh]

Got "missing exth header" trying to remove DRM from a mobi .prc file.
Worked fine on others. Bought books in protected mobi format, removing DRM before I suck into Calibre.
skindle -i xxxx.prc -o xxxxx.mobi -p mobipidxxx
Worked fine on others.

[rickh]

Simple cmd or bat file
name it sk.cmd or sk.bat

cd \skindle
skindle -i %1 -o %2 [optional: -p mobipid or other pid)

usage: \skindle\sk newbook.prc newbook.mobi

You must first copy the .prc/.azw files to the \skindle folder.

Can be run from command prompt or the Start-Run command in Win XP/Vista/Win7 (might need to configure later versions to show the Run command in the menu)

[foghat]

I get the following error when trying to run skindle:

Attempting to locate kindle.info
Found kindle.info location
Using UserName = "myUserName"
Using SystemDrive = "C:\"
Using VolumeSerialNumber = "NNNNNNNNNN"
Device PID: XXXXXXXX
PID for is: /plba2XN
No valid pids available, failed to find DRM key
An error occurred, unable to process input file!

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Edit: I figured it out. I just had to delete and then re-download the book in k4pc. Then all was well.

[scott blake]

Hello all,

First post so please be gentle

I bought the latest Kindle. I bought one book for it and it all worked no problem (and I downloaded some books free from the Gutenberg Project). Catch is, I am not living in the US and when I looked closer I noticed that one of three issues were coming up:

1-ebooks 'not available in your region' a bit too frequently
2-ALL the books that are available generally cost $2 to even $5 more
3-not all books are available in ebook format

So we can't do anything about #3. For #1 I am going to use a US address from a family member and gift card that new account money to buy books with. Catch is, that first book that I bought on the Kindle is now 'gone' since I had to deregister the Kindle to try and use this new US account.

Thats when I got introduced to the 'joy' of drm for things you have already bought and paid for. I still have that first book of course (the file on the computer) but have no way to read it on my Kindle. This little issue has motivated me to prevent getting locked in down the road with a ton of books in a format that can't get moved to the newest/latest/greatest reader when it comes along. As such I want to learn how to get this book (and all the others I buy) 'fixed' so I can read them on whatever reader I want.

So I downloaded Skindle and extracted it (uh, did that twice before finding the .exe). Moved all the files into the same directory (c:\skindle) and brought over the book I bought to that skindle directory. I renamed it 'book.azw' from the long name that Amazon had given it with all kinds of spacing. I then ran in the command prompt module in windows 7 (haven't done this in years) this:

c:\skindle\skindle -i book.azw -o bookconvert.tpz

This gets me 'Success! Enjoy!' at the bottom of some notices about serial numbers, device pid's etc.

I go into Calibre and it can 'add' this file but it can't convert it "because no suitable source format was found" nor can it send it to my Kindle for the same reason. And of course, I can't send the original version of the book to the Kindle having deregistered it from my international account to get to try the US account to save money - it says its unauthorized or somesuch and that I should buy it if I want to read it (uh, which I already did).

I think I must be close to 'success' but am missing a step or two. I suspect there are others this close so I posted in the sticky to try and keep it up near the top (where I found the thread).

So, what am I missing? Is this .tpz format the end goal? I opened the bookconvert.tpz with notepad in Windows and it looks like a scrambled mess but that may or may not mean its been 'fixed' yet for all I know; just wanted to add that info.

I just want to be able to have all my books rid of this problem right from the onset of buying ebooks; if I can't really get it sorted I might just give this reader away and go old school and buy books....printed on paper!

Regards and thanks.

Scott

edit....

I got it to work - I used:

c:\skindle -i b1.azw -o b2.azw

The catch...that 'fixed' the book I bought at Amazon originally. I just bought a second book with a gift card on the US account and downloaded the file to the computer. Same process as the step I just metioned but now I get 'PID for book is xxxxxx No valid pids available, failed to find DRM key An error occurred, unable to process input file!'

So the only differences -

I downloaded it from the US on a US account
This book had a long name-with-dashes like I just wrote there; I renamed it to b1.azw in the skindle directory for ease but this is pretty much what I did before
The biggie (?) - the Device PID is different now than what it was when I did that initial conversion on my first book because I registered the Kindle to the US account; still not sure this would matter

Any ideas? I thought the python/unswindle thing no longer worked and this skindle seems to be the replacement (and so easy) - well easy, when it worked for my one book - and a second one actually that I bought for zero beforehand but forgot to mention that one converted as well.

edit edit - well, I retried to convert an original drm file (the first book) now that I have a different registered Kindle and that file still converted. Sooo uh, hmmmm???

Originally Posted by scott blake

I get 'PID for book is xxxxxx No valid pids available, failed to find DRM key An error occurred, unable to process input file!'

skindle error: No valid pids available, failed to find DRM key

[scott blake]

Originally Posted by Stream Recorder

skindle error: No valid pids available, failed to find DRM key

I think I have it all sorted (well nearly). What I was doing wrong was trying to Skindle non Amazon Kindle for PC books.

So I have now got the system;

1 - Buy Amazon book and have it sent to Kindle for PC

2 - go to users folder\my documents\my kindle content and cut book from there and paste into the c:\skindle directory

3 - rename it to something short like book1

4 - run 'skindle -i book1.azw -o bookdone.azw' where bookdone is a name you want to keep and easy to remember

5 - cut bookdone.azw to your 'drm free books' folder you made somewhere else and delete the book1.azw file if you like

6 - open Calibre, add bookdone.azw to your collection, connect kindle, add bookdone.azw to Kindle main memory

7 - done

Or at least, that has worked so far.

[dare05]

My main problem is, everything worked fine. I entered .awz file and skindle found the kindle.info, devide PID and the DRM key. Everything was successful and the output file produced.

The problem is...what now? I want to be able to PRINT those awz books so want to be able to convert them into PDF. I've tried doing that using Calibri but it produced error 'this is amazon file blah blah', also tried to open it with Mobipocket reader (by changing the extension to .mobi), nothing happened.

How do I convert now the decryped azw file into PDF or something similar?

[slayda]

Originally Posted by dare05

My main problem is, everything worked fine. I entered .awz file and skindle found the kindle.info, devide PID and the DRM key. Everything was successful and the output file produced.

The problem is...what now? I want to be able to PRINT those awz books so want to be able to convert them into PDF. I've tried doing that using Calibri but it produced error 'this is amazon file blah blah', also tried to open it with Mobipocket reader (by changing the extension to .mobi), nothing happened.

How do I convert now the decryped azw file into PDF or something similar?

Try changing the extension to .prc instead of .azw and then use Calibre to convert it to PDF. However I would convert to .rtf instead and use MS Word to print if I were doing it.

[dare05]

Originally Posted by slayda

Try changing the extension to .prc instead of .azw and then use Calibre to convert it to PDF. However I would convert to .rtf instead and use MS Word to print if I were doing it.

I tried that already and Calibre says this is Amazon Topaz book and cannot be converted...and I've decrypted it already.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by dare05

I tried that already and Calibre says this is Amazon Topaz book and cannot be converted...and I've decrypted it already.

You say you tried to open with Mobipocket Reader & nothing happened. Are you sure it was actually decrypted? If so, how do you know? Sounds like maybe it did not decrypt.