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What Amazon Kindle? Here's an Open Source eBook Reader

sh.itjust.works What Amazon Kindle? Here's an Open Source eBook Reader - sh.itjust.works
What Amazon Kindle? Here's an Open Source eBook Reader - sh.itjust.works

I hope I've cross-posted this the right way haha. What do you think of this project?

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5 comments

  • It's really cool. Information should be as cheap to access as possible and the platforms for doing so should be available to all.

    I will say that there are two factors I look for in a reading experience that might need improving here.

    The first is ergonomics. If I'm going to be holding an object for about two hours a day, every day, then it needs to feel good in my hand. This model looks a little chunky and unfinished. As a proto-type that's fine, but whilst you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, it helps if that cover isn't made out of sand paper.

    The second is the font. That's the bit that gets the text from the page to your eyes. Typesetters and typemakers have spent an awfully long time figuring out what fonts work well for reading, and I don't think the font being used here is one of them. Also, folk have different requirements for fonts. Can that be changed by the user?

    There's also the issue of format. Right now it appears to only support plain text files which is odd because isn't epub an open format and a pretty good standard?

  • That's fantastic. I loved my ereader (amazon) but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was giving away my data and every purchase wasn't really a purchase. I mean I tried to export my books but it wasn't possible.

    • You can export your Amazon library at the current moment, as long as the books aren't published (or maybe purchased?) after 2023.

      I did this for a friend recently and my steps were:

      1. Started a Windows VM (if you're not using Windows)
      2. Install Kindle for PC app, latest version
      3. Log in and download every book (I didn't know how to do this in bulk so I literally right click -> downloaded every book)
      4. Install Calibre on the same PC (I think this is necessary so it can access the Kindle encryption keys?)
      5. Install a plugin by navigating to Preferences -> Plugins -> Get new plugins: KFX Input plugin
      6. Install a plugin by navigating to Preferences -> Plugins -> Load plugin from file, using DeDRM 10.0.9's "DeDRM_tools_10.0.9.zip"
      7. Restart Calibre
      8. At the top of Calibre, right click "Add books" and pick "Add from folder and sub-folders"
      9. Navigate to your documents and pick "My Kindle Content", then select "Yes" to "All ebook files are multiple formats etc"
      10. Wait for it all to import
      11. Select all books, then right click "Remove books" at the top and pick "Remove files of a specific format from selected books"
      12. Pick "MD" and click "OK"
      13. With all books selected, click "Edit metadata" at the top
      14. Pick "Set metadata (except cover) from the e-book files", then click OK
      15. Done, sort of. The DRM should all be broken, and you can convert the books to EPUB or whatever format using Calibre from this point forward, even if Amazon breaks this method in the future.

    • You can buy books elsewhere without DRM and copy them to the kindle via cable. You can even buy protected books from the Amazon shop and download them for offline installation. If the device never connects to the web, they can't delete anything remotely.

      Mine has been offline ever since I bought it, 8 years ago.