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I have a bunch of ePub files that I have bought from Barnes & Noble that I'd like to be able to read in my Kindle App. Is there anyway to do this?
UPDATE for those who are lecturing me on the law and morality:
Simply breaking DRM is not illegal in the US according to 5th Circut Court of Appeals (see this article for a quicker analysis). Basically it's legal to remove DRM on your own files as long as you don't then use them to violate the copyright. Even if you disagree with the decision, at the very least it's debatable, not illegal.
I do not download pirated music or movies. I don't pirate software. I don't even use a copy of software that a friend "lends" to me.
I purchased these books (originally as pdb files) to be used with eReader for Android (when it still worked). Later, when B&N released the Nook App, they deleted my .pdb files and replaced them with ePub files that only worked with their App, which is terrible compared to the Kindle App. I wouldn't have purchased them if I knew they'd do this. Were they within their rights? I don't know but probably. Honestly, I don't care, I just want to read my books. I have no intention of violating the rights owner's copyright.
matt
Posted 2010-11-08T17:14:04.937
Reputation: 1 331
This would be going against the terms and conditions of the purchase, and would therefore be considered illegal. – None – 2010-11-08T17:29:32.780
Actually, breaking a DRM is illegal on its own under both US and EU legislature, while violating TOC is not. But yes, reading ePub books on Kindle is illegal. So nobody is publishing a slick application which can do the conversion with one click. I've heard of a way to do it by manually starting some obscure perl scripts from command line and then switching between several transitional formats, but it is a pain and lots of formatting is lost. It is also an ethical and legal quagmire. Conclusion: it is possible to do it, but probably more convenient not to. – rumtscho – 2010-11-08T18:02:07.837
14It is not illegal. Please see the update to my question. – matt – 2010-11-08T18:43:43.390
It really is illegal. You commit no copyright infringement (which you would do if you hadn't paid for the books or if you intended to break the DRM and put them on bittorrent). But you want to break the DRM and this is illegal in itself despite the fact that no copyright infringement follows. Not very logical, but this is how copyright law works. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1025-5162749.html?tag=rb_content%3Brb_mtx for proof. Besides, I don't know exactly how to, because I don't buy DRM stuff, but Google is your friend, start here: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51721.
– rumtscho – 2010-11-08T20:40:57.6239@remtscho, No it's not illegal, at least not by the 5th District Federal Courts interpretation, which until overturned, is the law of the land in the US. That article you cited is from 2004. That Federal Court decision is from July 2010. Further more they are different scenerios. That case ruled that the software copying the DVD was illegal. A more reasonable comparison to what I want to do would be a cracking a DVD that can only be played in a Sony DVD player, so it can be played in my Toshiba DVD player. – matt – 2010-11-08T22:43:51.950
13Even if it was illegal in the US, which it seems not to be, who cares? US law doesn't dictate what you're allowed to do in other countries, and this is an inherently international site. It's a valid question and a common problem. – Neil – 2010-12-05T20:55:44.913
5Also, going against the "Terms and Conditions" of a purchase isn't necessarily illegal, if the terms aren't enforceable. If the terms said you had to take off your pants every time the CEO of the company tells you to, you could agree to those terms and you wouldn't be breaking the law if you failed to comply. – Neil – 2010-12-05T20:58:34.617