I bought an ebook from Amazon and it’s in .AZW3 format but that file type isn’t supported by LingQ. I’ve watched a bunch of tutorials, downloaded older versions of Calibre, Kindle etc. But nothing can get rid of this DRM. At this point I’m willing to pay someone to do it for me because I don’t want to waste more hours running into dead ends. If anyone wants to do it for me I can Venmo or PayPal you for a converted version that is compatible with LingQ. Let me know if you’re interested!
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Have you tried epubor ? They have a trial so you should be able to test it out. I think most people have been able to use this software successfully for Amazon books.
Having said that, when was this book published? I know on newer books (published some time this year I think), have been getting a newer DRM type that the typical calibre method can’t solve yet. I think epubor may have had issues initially, but maybe has since resolved?
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I’ve found that Epubor works great as long as you have a Kindle reader. If the book was published before 2023, then you may not need an e-reader.
An e-reader may be required because books published beginning this year have a different encryption. I’ve had to go to the Digital Content page that lists the ebooks I’ve purchased and then click the “More actions” button and then “Download and transfer via USB”. This makes the file compatible for decrypting via Epubor.
This video demonstrates the steps if you have Epubor Ultimate and a Kindle reader.
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Don’t know much about the subject, but I guess I just desperately wanted to help someone this evening :]
I found this forked version of the opensource plugin for Calibre, which is still being maintained for newer versions of DRMs and Calibres.
https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools
This ‘Issue’ seems related to your case, you may want to read replies down below the report:
https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools/issues/322
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Any chance they sell the book on Kobobooks?
I stopped being able to remove DRM on kindle books using epubor on a mac about 15 months ago. DRM removal for kobo books is much easier, and they read pretty well on Kindle once converted to the right format.
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Epubor should be fine, they just sent an email saying you are ok with the latest Amazon books.
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Epubor worked for me last night but it didn’t work for me the last time I tried it which was sometime during the last year. I have a few kindles actually. They mention having a kindle helps but I’ll have to check the above video as I tried just plugging it in and opening a file on it with epubor and that didn’t work.
What worked for me last night was this option where it downgraded your kindle for windows version and then you can download ebooks it can decrypt. In the past this didn’t work for me as the kindle for windows forced updated itself to the latest one before I could download any ebooks but for the time being it’s working. Not sure how long that will last.
Epubor hasn’t had any problems ever with GooglePlay books. Just download stuff there instead.
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Or you can use an OCR tool and create your own file with the text. You can use your phone with the free Google Lens App for example. Just scan some pages of text copy it into a note and then import it in a lingq lesson.
I know it is not optimal but better than nothing. If you want to automate that, you can do it on PC with an OCR tool of your choice and a macro generator. I did that with some spanish kindle books back than.
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How to remove DRM from amazon books with Calibre:
-You can use the latest Calibre version
-Install DeDRM: https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools/releases/download/v10.0.3/DeDRM_tools_10.0.3.zip
-Add your kindle serial number:
-To find Kindle serial number, go to you Kindle: All settings → Device options → Device Info
-Go to amazon: Open side menu → Kindle E-readers & books → Manage Your Content and Devices
-Download book from this page with More actions → Download & transfer via USB
You can now just drag the book to calibre and it will remove DRM.
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I use ePubor Complete on a Mac to remove Kindle and Kobo DRM, it works perfectly.
FYI, the free options discussed here (i.e. Calibre) will not work on newer Kindle.
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@bstein I wish I had read your comment sooner. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out Calibre, and then it kept crashing. Finally, I bought Epubor Ultimate two days ago, and that has worked great. I am also using a Mac.
I recommend Epubor to anyone less tech savvy, like myself, than many people on here. Yes, there is cost, but I will get plenty of use out of it, and it will transform my learning experience. So it is definitely worth it.
I am now trying to figure out how to edit the lessons, etc., to make the book format on LingQ mirror the original chapters, if that is possible. I will inquire about that in a separate post, although that issue is more cosmetic than anything. Simply getting DRM-protected content into LingQ was the big battle.
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Donny, sorry you missed the original post. Check out Roosters editor tools for LingQ to manage your chapters.
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Thanks. I’ll check it out. Appreciated.
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Calibre is the best option, but at this point you might as well get a free DRM copy of the book from Zlibrary… you paid for it after all
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