Amazon announced this month that they won’t allow users to download the ebooks they bought on Kindle locally after February the 26th. This news highlighted the fact that Kindle users don’t actually own the books they purchase on the platform. In fact, that’s the case with all proprietary format ebooks.
Many tech information blogs and websites advised users to download their library of ebooks before the deadline to keep the ebook files in their possession. As ZDnet, for example, declares, “Vendors make it abundantly clear that we’re licensing that content, and even if we paid full-price money for something, it’s just licensed, and they reserve the right to take it away if the whim strikes.” (Download your Kindle books right now – Amazon is killing this option in a few days, February 21, 2025)
The DRM issue
Even if you downloaded your ebooks and now possess the azw3 or azw files, you’re probably not able to do much with it because of DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection. You’ll be able to read the file with the Kindle application on PC or smartphone, given you’re connected with you Amazon account. However, you won’t be able to export it to another reader, or just open it directly on your computer.
But what exactly is DRM? Simply put on Apprentice Alf’s blog (the maintainer of the DeDRM plugin nowadays), “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.” (Ebook Formats, DRM and You – A Guide for the Perplexed, March 22, 2013)
The issue with DRM is that you can’t freely use what you bought, it often makes it bound to a platform. This is because there are different DRM schemes, to prevent portability. Now, imagine you want to go from a Kindle e-reader to a Kobo e-reader (or the other way around), because you’re dissatisfied with your current reader, or because there is something better about the new Kobo e-reader. Well, you’d loose your whole library. But you paid full price for your ebooks.
This article from Harvard Business Review uses the right words to express how DRM is a problem for consumers: “(…)DRM has been increasingly ineffective at preventing copying. Pirates just pick the locks over the content and share it anyways. So, in many cases, DRM punishes the people who follow the rules. The people who want to backup their files. Or move to a different platform, without rebuying all the stuff they had on the old platform. (…) Making sure an ebook bought on a Kindle stays on a Kindle doesn’t protect authors. It protects Amazon. (…) Because once you’ve purchased a copy of a book, don’t you own that copy? Shouldn’t you be able to read it on another device?” (The weird rules governing what we download, November 3, 2015)
Getting rid of DRM for free
To convert you DRM’ed proprietary format ebooks to a portable open format (like epub or pdf), you can use the Calibre software with an additional plugin, DeDRM.
Calibre is a free ebook management tool for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS. It allows you to organize your digital library, read your ebooks, and to convert non-DRM’ed ebooks, with lot of customization. In order to read protected books or remove DRM, we need to use the DeDRM plugin.
The DeDRM plugin lets you convert books from Kindle, Adobe Digital Editions (acsm), Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Fictionwise… With some additional steps or tools, it can also be used for more complicated schemes like Apple books. Read more on the author’s blog.
Is it legal to remove DRM from ebooks?
It depends on the jurisdiction you’re under. Please check what’s the situation in your country, and be aware of the risk you take if you decide to go further. In any case, if you decide to DeDRM your ebooks, it should be only for your own convenience (for portability, archiving…) and personal usage. Distributing those ebooks to other people is illegal.
Please note I am not responsible for the use you make of this tutorial and you should seek for information before making a decision.
What’s the totally legal alternative?
Since Amazon made that move, I try to find vendors selling non-proprietary ebooks formats. I found sellers providing ebooks in the epub format. Although they’re protected by DRM, I don’t mind because they’re totally portable, whatever the reader I use.
However, be careful that some of those vendors might sell Adobe Digital Editions ebooks. Those can only be read with the ADE reader (not on a Kobo or Kindle for example). Their format extension can be acsm or epub. Read the conditions of sale and to choose portable formats.
There is also no guarantee that those epub formats will always be readable on devices using other DRM schemes in the future. The problem is, if an editor refuses to sell ebooks without DRM and you absolutely want to read their books, you don’t have much choice (maybe go back to paper after all?).
The safest, ideal option, is to find non-proprietary and non-DRM-protected ebooks on legit platforms.
Searching for legit DRM free ebooks
💡 Calibre allows you to search for ebooks on various shops and tells you if the book is DRM free. When the book is DRM free, you can convert it to any format supported by Calibre without the hassle of removing DRM protection, and perfectly legally.
Check Calibre’s recommended websites, like ebooks.com. It has a DRM-Free eBooks category that you can go through directly on their shop.
Removing DRM with Calibre and DeDRM
Let’s dive in the tutorial to use Calibre and DeDRM to remove DRM. First, install Calibre, and download and unzip the DeDRM plugin by noDRM. Currently, the latest stable version (v10.0.3) works for Kindle books, but the RC v10.0.9 is needed for recent Adobe Digital Editions books.
Add the DeDRM plugin to Calibre
Go to Preferences, then Plugins, and select Load plugin from file. You’ll need to upload the DeDRM zip called “DeDRM_plugin” (Obok_plugin is for Kobo by the way). At this stage, you should see a prompt asking if you’d like to restart Calibre. Do so (do it manually if you didn’t get the prompt).
Enter your Kindle or Adobe Digital Editions info
In order to make sure that you own the books you’re trying to read or convert, you’ll need to enter your Kindle serial number (for Amazon ebooks) or your Adobe Digital Editions ID (for ADE ebooks).
Go back to the Plugins menu and search for DeDRM. Double-click on it and add the relevant information. If you already have an Adobe Digital Editions session on your computer (you installed it and logged in), your credentials should be added automatically.
Potential additional step for ADE acsm files
Adobe Digital Editions ebook usually come in acsm format. This is kind of a symlink pointing to the ebook, it’s not an actual ebook by itself. You can either use the “acsm calibre plugin” in Calibre, that turns the acsm file into epub or PDF in Calibre, without the need of ADE, or open the acsm file in ADE, which will produce the epub file (that you can then upload to Calibre).
In both cases, this doesn’t solve the DRM issue on its own, it’s just an intermediary step.
Convert your ebooks
Now you just need to drag and drop your ebooks into Calibre, or use the Add books menu. If everything went well, you should be able to read your books in the Calibre interface. For portability, you might want to convert your files with the “Convert books” menu. The good news is, you can do it in bulk.
A few last words
- I insist again on making sure you have the right to remove DRM.
- Any paid DeDRM tools online is just a packaged, user-friendly version of those free tools. If you’re willing to pay, make the effort of doing it manually and make a donation to Calibre.
- The DeDRM maintainer’s blog, Apprentice Alf’s Blog, provides information about the tool itself and DRM in general.