# Downloading DRM-free books from Amazon account (no DRM-breaking discussion!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2023, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180 "2023-07-17T23:32:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/1 "2023-07-17T23:32:56Z")
I prefer not to buy DRM-ed books, because I like the flexibility of being able to back my purchased books up myself and view them on whatever device I’d like ( **I have no interest in breaking DRM and do not want any discussion of that in this thread** ). Up until recently when I bought a non-DRMed book on Amazon, I could use the Kindle for PC app to download the book and had no trouble loading them into Calibre for backup and conversion, but now, when I download a book I get files that open fine in Kindle, but apparently can’t be usefully loaded into Calibre. Any suggestions? If it’s flatly impossible, I’ll just buy the books on Smashwords, Kobo or GooglePlay from now on and forgo using Amazon, but if there’s a technique I’m missing, I’d like to know it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/2 "2023-07-18T00:10:51Z")
I’ve been looking for a way to do that too. I haven’t found one yet. My solution was to transfer my business to [ebooks.com](http://ebooks.com). You can still download an epub from them that can be imported into calibre, if it is DRM free. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/3 "2023-07-18T01:18:10Z")
Thank you ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/4 "2023-07-18T03:30:35Z")
I found the following article which talks about how “newly-published Kindle ebooks can no longer be downloaded using older versions of Kindle for PC/Mac.” The article is about removing DRM, which I know you said you didn’t want to talk about, but I can’t help wondering if it’s relevant to the difficulties you’ve been having with non-DRM books. > **[Amazon Making it More Difficult to Remove DRM From Kindle eBooks](https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2023/01/07/amazon-making-it-more-difficult-to-remove-drm-from-kindle-ebooks/)** > > I saw this post over at MobileRead with a discussion about how Amazon is making it harder to remove the DRM from purchased Kindle ebooks. Apparently, newly-published Kindle ebooks can no longer be downloaded using older versions of Kindle for PC/Mac,... ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/5 "2023-07-18T03:52:57Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > If it’s flatly impossible, I’ll just buy the books on Smashwords, Kobo or GooglePlay from now on and forgo using Amazon, but if there’s a technique I’m missing, I’d like to know it. I’m not familiar with Smashwords, but Kobo, GooglePlay, and Barnes & Noble have their own versions of DRM. I think the best you can hope for is to download your library onto your device and then disable wifi so that the Kindle app won’t be able to communicate with Amazon’s servers. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/6 "2023-07-18T04:01:51Z")
[ebooks.com](http://ebooks.com) still works, for the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/7 "2023-07-18T10:35:16Z")
Kobo and Googleplay still (as of this month) allow me to download books that the publisher decided not to use DRM on. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/8 "2023-07-18T10:43:20Z")
Useful - thanks! > Moving forward, you can still get the older format for Kindle ebooks when using the download option from the [Manage Your Content](https://www.amazon.com/hz/mycd/digital-console/contentlist/allcontent/dateDsc?&linkCode=ll2&tag=ter000-20&linkId=137c8b208b158d33219d2c56bec33955&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl) page at Amazon, but that **requires having an E Ink Kindle registered to your account**. Some people choose to buy an old cheap Kindle just to get the option to download Kindle books that way. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/9 "2023-07-18T11:50:19Z")
Did that even work? I was under the impression that Amazon simply did not care to provide DRM-free books. I have not purchased any books from Amazon for a long time: I cannot condone that policy. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/10 "2023-07-18T11:52:06Z")
Yes it worked - I have a bunch of books I downloaded from Amazon from publishers that don’t use DRM (Tor/Baen etc). But looks like no more ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/11 "2023-07-18T12:23:04Z")
I have one of the oldest Kindles, and the Wifi no longer works. I’ve tried the latest firmware update for that version, but it doesn’t seem to work. I load my (no DRM) books via USB. Books I email to Kindle for download, I receive a notice that MOBI files will not be accepted soon, send EPUB (which I gather will be converted to AZW?) I asssume file type is not the OP’s problem? I have noticed that the latest version of Paperwhite Kindle seems to make it as difficult as possible to manage a larger library. What would I do without Calibre… ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/12 "2023-07-18T12:41:19Z")
I had this problem some time ago. The Kindle app was downloading the books to my PC in different formats that were not compatible with Calibre. I downloaded an older version of the app [Kindle for Windows 1.17.0 Build 44170](https://filehippo.com/download_kindle-for-pc/1.17.0.44170.0/) and turned off automatic updates. It gets the files in the original Calibre friendly format. However I recently purchased a book that KIndle wouldn’t even download in the app, trying to force me to get the latest version, so this may not last for ever. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/13 "2023-07-18T16:07:11Z")
Yeah, I made the mistake of upgrading because I couldn’t download a recent book and lost the ability to get older books. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/14 "2023-07-18T16:13:18Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Did that even work? I was under the impression that Amazon simply did not care to provide DRM-free books. I have not purchased any books from Amazon for a long time: I cannot condone that policy. It really ought to be the publisher’s/author’s choice, and not the vendor’s. I’ve been enjoying library books on my kindle (I don’t mind DRM on library books, they are going away soon anyway) but I appreciate this thread as I haven’t bought an ebook in a while, not liking to buy DRM products, and having had similar issues with Kindle books. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downloading-drm-free-books-from-amazon-account-no-drm-breaking-discussion/987180/15 "2023-07-18T23:46:54Z")
Thanks all. It’s reassuring that a) other folks have been having the same problem and b) I’m not missing something obvious