How To Remove DRM from MOBI and PRC eBooks http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-strip-mobi-and-p...

M obi and P RC are the default ebook formats

us ed by the popular M obiP oc ket. I n 2 0 0 5 ,
the c ompany was aquired by A mazon, s o
yes , even the c elebrated A mazon Kindle
now works with thes e files . When you buy an
ebook online from one of the major retailers ,
you c an be pretty s ure you’re getting a M obi
book.

N ow, don’t get me wrong. I t’s a great format

and I ’ve enjoyed many wonderful books on
my Windows M obile devic e us ing the
M obiP oc ket reader. H owever, mos t of thes e encrypt ed f iles are a real pain if you want to
throw them on different devic es or us e other s oftware.

T oday, we’ll s how you how to c rac k the enc ryption of thes e files , s o you c an enjoy them
however you want. I n other words , we’ll s how you how to remove drm from M O BI and P RC
files . When you’re done, you’ll be able to read them on any s ys tem or devic e, c onvert thos e
M O BI or P RC ebooks to P D F or any other format you’d like and you’ll – onc e again – own
thos e books that you’ve payed for.

DI SCLAI MER – Stripping the encryption of your ebooks might be illegal in your country of
res idence. Dis tribution of decrypted ebooks almos t certainly is illegal. MakeUs eOf is not
res pons ible for any legal problems you might face. Act wis ely, or face the cons equences
pers onally if you don’t.

With that s aid, let’s get going.

MobiDeDRM
A tool that has been able to break nearly every mobi/prc enc ryption is M obiD eD rm,
c ourtes y of pdurrant. T his download c ontains four s imple python s c ripts ; vers ions 0 .0 1 ,
0 .0 2 and 0 .0 5 .

Downloading Python
T hes e s c ripts s hould run on any OS, given you’ve got the right files ins talled. So, before we
c an get s tarted, you’ll have to download P ython and a P ython extens ion module like
wxP ython. What you need to do is to vis it this s ite and you will be greeted by a webpage as
s een below:

I n both s teps 1 and 2 , c hoos e the P ython and wxP ython module ac c ording to your operating
s ys tem.

A fter thes e applic ations are ins talled, P ython s c ripts s hould run flawles s ly on Windows , M ac
and L inux.

Finding Your PID

Y our P I D is the pers onal key that your reader us es to enc rypt and read the file. We’re going
to need this key if we’re to permanently s trip the D RM from the ebook.

Bec aus e M obiP oc ket is des igned to be us ed with different devic es , the P I D s are out in the

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How To Remove DRM from MOBI and PRC eBooks http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-strip-mobi-and-p...
Bec aus e M obiP oc ket is des igned to be us ed with different devic es , the P I D s are out in the
open for the us er to grab. I f your ebook is hos ted on another devic e (i.e. Kindle), s imply
s ync it up with the s oftware before you proc eed.

I n M obiP oc ket on your des ktop, go to Devices , and you’ll s ee the P I D of s aid reader in
Details . N ote that a P I D is both devic e and ebook- s pec ific . U pon trans fering your ebook, the
P I D is als o altered, s o you’ll need the P I D of the right devic e or the dec ryption will fail.

When buying a M obi ebook online, you’re mos t often as ked for your P I D before downloading.
O bvious ly, this is the P I D you’ll need to us e. H owever, s ometimes the proc es s is turned
around.

I f you’re as ked for the s tore us ername and pas s word upon adding the book, it has n’t and
won’t be matched with your PI D. I ns tead, you’ll firs t need to trans fer the ebook to another
devic e (e.g. Kindle or Windows M obile) and us e that P I D . With me s o far?

Removing Encryption
O nc e we have the right P I D , mos t of the work is already behind us . We’ll now deploy the
s c ripts to permanently remove the enc ryption. For ac c es s ibility, it’s advis ed to put your
eBook and the python s c ripts in the s ame folder.

Firs t, open the T erminal or c ommand s c reen.

I n Windows XP, go to Start – Run, type cmd and hit enter. I n V is ta, go to Start, type cmd in
the s earc h box and hit enter.

T he T erminal applic ation is loc ated in /A pplic ations /U tilities for Mac OS X.

A nd if you’re us ing Linux, you’ll probably know the loc ation. I n mos t dis tributions , this will
als o be loc ated at Applications /Utilities .

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How To Remove DRM from MOBI and PRC eBooks http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-strip-mobi-and-p...

N ext, you navigate to the folder c ontaining your files . T o do this , type cd, followed by the full
file path to your folder, and hit enter. I n my c as e, that’ll make for cd /home/s imon/ebook. I f
your filepath c ontains s pac es , put s ingle quotes ( ‘ ) around it.

N ow, all you need to do is run the s c ript. T ype python mobidedrm005.py infile.mobi
outfile.mobi PI D and hit enter. Subs titute “infile.mobi”, “outfile.mobi” and “P I D ” with the
appropriate filenames , file extens ions and the P I D res pec tively. I n my c as e, that’ll make for
python mobidedrm005.py ebook.prc outfile.prc 1234567$ab

I f you’re experienc ing trouble, try putting your P I D between s ingle quotes ( ‘ ) or us ing one
of the previous s c ript vers ions (e.g. mobidedrm0 0 2 .py). Some ebooks refus e to work with
the later vers ions (s trangely) but work perfec tly well with the firs t one.

I f all went well, you’ll now be the proud owner of another, unencrypt ed vers ion of your ebook.

Y ou c an s ync this with any devic e you want without too muc h of a has s le, or c onvert it to an
eas ier to us e format like pdf, rtf or html. C alibre and A BC P alm are great free res ourc es to
help you ac hieve the c onvers ion, and a s imple G oogle s earc h will s how even more.

H ow did that work out for you? D o you like reading your ebooks on one devic e or prefer the
liberty to c hoos e your own? L et us know in the c omments .

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