I’ve been using the Kindle ebook reader for over a decade now, and I’ve accumulated quite a big digital library from Amazon. However, now I’d like to move away to another ebook reader, preferably Kobo, but I don’t want to leave my Kindle ebooks behind. I’d like to bring them with me.

Does anyone have any advices or tools that they can recommend that will allow me to move my Kindle ebooks over to Kobo or some other ebook reader (e.g. Nook)?

P.S. Sorry if this post has nothing to do with this community. Out of all the communities I follow, this one seemed to be the most appropriate for such a question.

  • FlareHeartEnglish
    30·
    10 months ago

    I think (but I have not tested) that if you can use the DeDRM plugins to import your books into Calibre… You might be able to use Calibre’s conversion function to make them all ePubs (which are Kobo friendly). I don’t have a Kindle but I do use a Kobo and have had to run DeDRM and some conversions to make books compatible.

    Good luck!

    • ursakhiin
      00·
      10 months ago

      This works for me. So long as you have a Kindle device registered on Amazon, you should be able to download directly to a desktop. The DeDRM plugin mentioned removes the DRM during ingestion into Calibre and requires an actual token from Amazon which is linked to the Kindle device you downloaded from.

      I use this to get Amazon eBooks into my Remarkable 2 which requires DRM free.

      • dr_robot
        10·
        10 months ago

        It’s worth noting that you don’t even need to still have the Kindle device physically with you. I had to throw mine out (I still had the original first ever model), but it’s still registered and the token is valid for Calibre’s DeDRM.

      • jlow (he/him)
        10·
        10 months ago

        Yeah, +1 for Calibre amd DeDrm, recently I needed to jump through some more hoops since Amazon stopped delivering to that old Kindle Desktop version for PC and needed to use the Android version but generally works pretty well. I’m also surpised how many of the books I read actually don’t have DRM at all but that is obviously down to my obscure taste (mostly indie SFF).

        If all else fails I just buy the book with DRM and then pirate it from the high seas, no harm done (except for the harm supporting big platforms like Amazon does 🤷‍♀️).

  • senseamidmadness
    10·
    10 months ago

    Personally I just abandoned my Kindle library when I bought a Nook. That’s not particularly helpful, of course, but it’s what I did as part of kicking Amazon out of my life entirely. I started buying my books from non-DRM sources.

    I will say this: you may have paid for “licenses” for those books, but you don’t actually own them. Amazon can rip away your access to them at any time. Were it me, I’d simply pirate DRM-free copies of the same books. Though if you can successfully strip off the DRM and convert them to open-source formats, that’s just as good and carries less risk. Every time I’ve converted ebook formats with Calibre it’s done weird stuff to the text: letters incorrectly interpreted, missing punctuation, page breaks in odd places, and enough of them to be annoying. Something to consider. Maybe that kind of thing can be corrected but I haven’t yet figured out how.

  • BetoEnglish
    00·
    10 months ago

    I bought a Mobiscribe recently, for the same reasons. It’s an eReader with an eink display, but it’s an Android tablet. I installed F-Droid, and then NextCloud (to access my ebooks) and Librera Reader. I also use it for listening to podcasts (via Bluetooth, since it’s an Android tablet) and taking notes with the stylus.

    • NaateEnglish
      00·
      10 months ago

      This little thing looks very interesting. What is the battery life like? Is the handwriting-to-text stuff only viable in specific apps, or can it be used in place of keyboard input?

      I would probably use it just like my Kindle, keeping it in airplane mode until I actually need to download something (or in this case, upload notes).

      • Beto
        10·
        10 months ago

        Battery life is good, I use it with the wifi off and only had to charge it once, and I read a full book on it.

        I haven’t played with the handwriting recognition yet, let me take a look and I’ll report back.

        • NaateEnglish
          10·
          10 months ago

          Awesome, thanks!

          • Beto
            10·
            10 months ago

            Ok, I played with it and it seems like the recognition only works in the “Notes” app. It doesn’t work as a general text input for applications.

            It works pretty well, though. You select the text with the pen by circling it, and then you can copy it to the clipboard or replace the drawing with the actual text.

            • NaateEnglish
              20·
              10 months ago

              Interesting. Thanks for the extra effort to help out an internet stranger!

              I’ll dig some more into these little buggers!