DRM is used by publishers to restrict what you can do with your ebooks. DRM controls which devices you can use to read your ebook, and stops you converting your ebooks from one format to another. There are several different DRM schemes. Amazon's MOBI format uses a certain DRM scheme that differs from the one used by Barnes & Noble for their EPUBs, which is still different from the DRM that other retailers (or Overdrive) might use if they offer EPUBs or PDFs in Adobe Digital Editions.
Ebooks with one DRM scheme can’t be read on a device that uses a different DRM scheme. Some DRM schemes limit ebooks to one device only, or block the ability to convert the ebook to another format, or even limit how (or how long) you can open the ebook on your device.
So to be able to read your ebooks on all the devices you have now, and to be sure that you will still be able to read your ebooks in the future, you will want to remove the DRM.
How To De-DRM EPUB, MOBI, and PDF books in Windows/Mac with Calibre:
If you have ebooks bought at the Apple iBooks store, it may be possible to deDRM them by using Requiem, but personal identifying information may still be embedded.
If you have Microsoft LIT ebooks, there is no Calibre plugin that can remove the DRM.
1) Get your tools ready. Depending on the format of your ebook and/or where you got it from, you might need some different bits. The main three applications most often used for downloaded ebooks are listed below.
Adobe Digital Editions [ADE]: handles EPUBs/PDFs from Overdrive, Google Books, other retailers. Installer available here.
ADE saves downloaded ebooks to:
"~My Documents/My Digital Editions" [Win]
"~Documents/Digital Editions" [Mac]
Barnes & Noble Nook application: handles EPUBs from B&N. Installers available here [Win], or here [Mac].
B&N Nook saves downloaded ebooks to:
"~My Documents/My Barnes & Noble eBooks" [Win]
"~Documents/My Barnes & Noble eBooks" [Mac]
Kindle4PC/Mac application: handles MOBIs/PRCs for the Amazon Kindle. Installers available here [Win], or here [Mac].
Kindle4PC/Mac saves downloaded ebooks to:
"~My Documents/My Kindle Content" [Win]
"~Documents/My Kindle Content" [Mac]
Regardless of which above application you are using, you will also need:
Calibre: ebook manager, which will perform the actual deDRM'ing. Installers available here.
Calibre deDRM plugins: included in Apprentice Alf's pack of deDRM'ing utilities (we only need the Calibre plugins), available here.
3) Extract the Calibre plugins folder to a location of your choosing (somewhere you can easily access through your file manager).
4) Install the plugins in Calibre:
• Open Calibre, and click Preferences -> Plug-ins.
• Click on the large “Add a new plugin” button.
• Navigate to the folder where you extracted the Calibre plugins (step 3).
• Select one of the zip files within the "Calibre Plugins" folder.
• Click on "Open" (or "Add" ).
• Click on the "Yes" button in the warning dialog that appears. A confirmation dialog will state that the plugin has been installed.
• Repeat this step for each of the five zip files within the "Calibre Plugins" folder.
Even if you currently don't need certain plugins, adding them now will cover you in the future, if you need to deDRM in those formats.)
5) Configure the plugins in Calibre.
Which plugins need configuring, and the information you will need to enter, will depend on the ebook formats you have from certain retailers. If your ebooks don't match the description of any one of the following items, ignore and move on to the next.
To configure a plugin, you must find it in Calibre's list of plugins. All the DRM removal plugins (installed in step 4) are in the "File type plugins" drop-down section of Preferences -> Plugins. Click on the plugin in the list to select it, and then click on "Customize plugin". In the dialog that then pops up, enter the required information, detailed below.
K4MobiDeDRM
• If you have Mobipocket ebooks, where you either entered a PID on the retailer's web site (such as Mobipocket.com or Overdrive), or you must read them in Mobipocket Reader, you must enter the PID you entered on the retailer’s web site, or the PID of your installation of Mobipocket Reader into the customization field of the K4MobiDeDRM plugin. The PID will be ten numbers and letters, with * or $ as the eighth character. If you have more than one PID, enter them separated only by commas (no spaces).
• If you have Amazon Kindle ebooks that were downloaded to your actual Kindle device, you must enter your Kindle’s serial number into the customization field of the K4MobiDeDRM plugin. If you have already entered a PID there, add the Kindle serial number as well, separating it from the PID with a comma (no spaces). Please note: all PIDs and Kindle Serial Numbers are **case-sensitive**.
• If you have Amazon Kindle ebooks that were downloaded to your computer installation of Kindle for PC / Mac, you do not need to add anything extra into the customization fields.
Inept Epub DeDRM
• If you have ePub ebooks that can be read in Adobe Digital Editions, you do not need to add anything extra into the customization fields.
Inept PDF DeDRM
• If you have PDF ebooks that can be read in Adobe Digital Editions, you do not need to add anything extra into the customization fields.
Ignoble Epub DeDRM
• If you have ePub ebooks from Barnes & Noble (for the Nook), you must enter your first and last name, and full credit card number, into the customization field of the Ignoble Epub DeDRM plugin. The name and credit card number should be entered exactly how they appear on your B&N account under "Default Credit Card" on My Account -> Account Settings -> Manage Credit Cards. (This may be different than how your name appears elsewhere on your B&N account.) Separate the name (with a space between first and last name) from the number with a comma, with NO spaces in the card number or around the comma.
eReader PDB 2 PML
• If you have eReader ebooks (PDB format) from Barnes and Noble or Fictionwise, your must enter your name and the last 8 digits of your credit card number into the customization field of the eReader PDB 2 PML plugin. Again, like with the Ignoble plugin, enter the name and credit card number that appears on your account with that retailer, as the DRM key/Unlock code.
After configuring the plugins, click on the "Apply" button, and close Preferences.
6) Disable Calibre's automatic bookmarks and embedded internal metadata.
This is absolutely vital, to ensure your deDRM'd ebook maintains "retail" status on tracker. Otherwise, if you open an ebook in Calibre's "E-book Viewer," the program will automatically embed a small Calibre file within your ebook, saving the page you last viewed. This constitutes as violating the retail status of an ebook, according to trackers. You can disable this feature within Calibre in the following way:
1) Open Calibre's ebook viewer. The easiest way to do this within Calibre is to click the "View" button in the main toolbar (you don't have to select a book to view).
2) Go to the viewer's "Preferences" (with the gears icon, towards the bottom of the icon column).
3) Under the preferences's "General" tab, go to "Miscellaneous options" and uncheck the checkbox for "Remember the current page when quitting."
In addition to disabling Calibre's bookmarking, you also need to disable Calibre's general behavior of modifying an ebook's internal metadata when you "Save to disk." Otherwise, when you save a copy of an ebook from within Calibre (as opposed to, for example, opening the Calibre library folder that holds the original file), Calibre will embed its version of metadata directly within the ebook. This happens even if you've not added any extra metadata to the ebook's listing in Calibre (it'll still add empty metadata details). This can be turned off in Calibre's preferences:
1) In Calibre's Preferences, go to Import/Export > Saving Books to Disk.
2) Uncheck "Update metadata in saved copies"
By deselecting these two options within Calibre, you will ensure your ebooks are left pristine, without Calibre messing with them. Keep in mind, if you make any changes to your preferences (like disabling automatic bookmarking), you'll need to redo the deDRMing of any books you have held in Calibre (it won't work retroactively) - you'll need to re-add the original DRMed copies. If an uploaded "retail" ebook is found to have Calibre-inserted bookmarks or even blank Calibre-embedded metadata, it will be disqualified as a retail upload (and vulnerable to trumping). This may seem nit-picky, but the standards for retail uploads must be kept, to ensure everyone gets the retail-quality ebooks they expect.
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After you've completed step 6, you're ready to remove the DRM from your ebooks. Just import them into Calibre (the default folders/filepaths where different programs store DRMed ebooks are listed in step 1). This will automatically remove the DRM, leaving you with a clean copy of the ebook now saved within your Calibre library. You can confirm that the DRM is removed simply by viewing the ebook within Calibre (provided you have turned off "automatic bookmarking" ). If you can open/view the ebook, then DRM has been removed!
Regarding Personally Identifiable Information
Hybr11, ishkacheckuvleky, skrtsqrl and others have all spent extensive time researching the possibility of any information within deDRM'ed ebooks that might identify who purchased/borrowed the original DRM'ed ebook:
• Hybr11 conducted a test comparing EPUBs of the same book purchased by different people. He concluded "epubs from Sony and Kobo are currently not unique to each purchaser."
• Ishkacheckuvleky and skrtsqrl's investigation, comparing the same books, in EPUB format, borrowed from different Overdrive libraries with different accounts, also found no difference in the Adept/uuid data. Ishkacheckuvleky also compared two copies of a Barnes & Noble EPUB (one that was uploaded here as retail and one that he personally downloaded from B&N), and found their data to be identical.
• thehaggis compared two copies of the same book, purchased by different people, from the UK bookseller Waterstone's. He found that, while there were differences in how the HTML code was structured, the two copies had identical uuid strings.
Most of the findings suggest that there is no perceptible information that would lead back to whoever deDRM'ed the original copy in most, if not all, EPUBs. Much less investigation has been done on Amazon's Kindle MOBI files, which also carry identifiers ("atv:kin" ). Until additional research is done, Hybr11's Kindle Obfuscator is available to strip atv:kin values (see below).
For anyone who still is uncertain or uncomfortable regarding potentially identifiable information, Hybr11 created "obfuscators" that can be used to strip the uuid data from EPUBs or (Kindle) MOBI files. Hybr11 noted that it doesn't cause any harm to use the obfuscators, but he (and others) have decided that the stripped data is not dangerous. The obfuscators can still be downloaded and used, updated so that the EPUB obfuscator will work on older and newer EPUBs alike, available here;
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