I've "liberated" my Nook books

[ownedbycats]

Note that the Nook app will not appear in Microsoft Store outside of the US. Here's a method you can use to get it:

https://www.makeuseof.com/download-m...crosoft-store/

It does complain that the application is discontinued but so far I've been able to download all my books with it.

For the key: Get the latest version of DeDRM (the noDRM fork) and check the settings. It can import your key from the app.

[Cactus Chef]

B&N does not require owning a physical Nook device for this method to work, does it? My wife is considering getting a Nook to replace her Kindle, but I'd like to make sure we'll be able to backup her books before we take the plunge. If a physical device is not needed, I'm thinking of buying a cheap, $1 book from the Nook store with DRM on it so that we can configure and test the Nook->Calibre->NoDRM workflow beforehand on her laptop.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

B&N does not require owning a physical Nook device for this method to work, does it?

Nope. You can use the app for at least Windows. Use this method if you don't see it in the MS Store (outside of the US).

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

B&N does not require owning a physical Nook device for this method to work, does it? My wife is considering getting a Nook to replace her Kindle, but I'd like to make sure we'll be able to backup her books before we take the plunge. If a physical device is not needed, I'm thinking of buying a cheap, $1 book from the Nook store with DRM on it so that we can configure and test the Nook->Calibre->NoDRM workflow beforehand on her laptop.

A Kobo is a better replacement for a Kindle. I've had all three.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Quoth

A Kobo is a better replacement for a Kindle. I've had all three.

I have enough Kobo's in the family for the both of us. She wants to support B&N as we go to their brick-and-mortar stores frequently and she used to buy a lot of physical books from them, but she's slowly turning to digital only for everything other than comics and manga. So the Nook would let her maintain that trajectory while still feeling like she's keeping B&N afloat. Kobo doesn't really have a presence in the US--Wal-Mart is the only remaining partner, and AFAIK that partnership is dead.

She also tends to buy more books for list-price. I'm a cheap-ass who only buys e-books when they go on sale for $5 or less.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

She wants to support B&N as we go to their brick-and-mortar stores frequently and she used to buy a lot of physical books from them, but she's slowly turning to digital only for everything other than comics and manga.

I have Nooks and Kobos and yeah, the Kobos are better once you have them patched.

But I reallly do enjoy reading on my Nooks as well. If the only device I had was a Nook, I'd be fine.

She also tends to buy more books for list-price. I'm a cheap-ass who only buys e-books when they go on sale for $5 or less.

Books go on sale at B&N just like they go on sale at Kobo and Amazon. I've been trying to post links to them when I find something on sale.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Books go on sale at B&N just like they go on sale at Kobo and Amazon. I've been trying to post links to them when I find something on sale.

Right, I just mean that if she decides she wants a book, she'll go buy the book immediately, at list price. I have such a large backlog of books to read already that with very few exceptions, if I want a book, I'll go see what its price history looks like on eReaderIQ, setup an alert for that price, and wait up to a year to see if it goes on sale again. I have plenty of stuff I can read in the meantime.

[HLS]

i don't bother stripping drm. It stopped working on all platforms and it's too time consuming.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by HLS

i don't bother stripping drm. It stopped working on all platforms and it's too time consuming.

Interesting. I import the books into calibre and the DRM is removed. It did take about 5 minutes to configure the plugin but I really don't see any delays during the import process. Admittedly I am only removing DRM from 6 possible platforms.

I dug out my notes from when I did a quick test importing a mix of 400 epub and Amazon ebooks into a new calibre install in a SUSE Tumbleweed Linux VM (copied the calibre setup from another VM and then snapshotted the install to save time). The difference between the time I started the import and the end of the import for those 400 ebooks with and without DRM being removed was approximately 8 seconds averaged over 5 runs for each. So approximately 20 milliseconds per book additional time. That is truly time consuming.

BTW, the main reason for doing this test in a VM was that I could revert to the snapshot after each test so I had a consistent starting position.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by HLS

i don't bother stripping drm. It stopped working on all platforms and it's too time consuming.

Works for me on Windows 10, both epubs from various stores and Amazon.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by HLS

i don't bother stripping drm. It stopped working on all platforms and it's too time consuming.

Maybe you don't know, but in the newer deDRM/noDRM tools, Nook deDRM is back, baby.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by HLS

i don't bother stripping drm.

I mostly don't anymore, either. The vast majority of my purchases are from the Kobo or Kindle stores and I just direct download to the relevant devices. I strip the DRM from Google Play books, as I'd rather read on eink than on a tablet.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I mostly don't anymore, either. The vast majority of my purchases are from the Kobo or Kindle stores and I just direct download to the relevant devices. I strip the DRM from Google Play books, as I'd rather read on eink than on a tablet.

I couldn't read without fixing the formatting, but even apart from that, there often are other things in need of fixing. For example, I'm just reading a novel from a major publisher where the TOC consisted only of major sections (Part I, Part II, Part III) without any individual chapters (which were present in the book) in it. This sort of thing makes it very hard to go back and forth between previously read parts to look something up and the page you're currently on. Fixing the TOC in Calibre to add all individual chapters took maybe 5 minutes, tops.

I guess the TOC was also fixed in later editions (I checked with the current Kindle edition), but the edition I have was purchased years ago and had a defective TOC, as described. So the only remedy would have been purchasing it again. Waste of money for something that I could fix so quickly and easily myself after removing the DRM.

Of course YMMV, as always.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by HLS

i don't bother stripping drm. It stopped working on all platforms and it's too time consuming.

I'll often read a book with DRM intact (if the format is good), but I still strip DRM when I back up my books. It doesn't take long at all with Calibre in Linux.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by issybird

I mostly don't anymore, either. The vast majority of my purchases are from the Kobo or Kindle stores and I just direct download to the relevant devices. I strip the DRM from Google Play books, as I'd rather read on eink than on a tablet.

I download and remove the DRM from every book I buy. But then, I enjoy managing my Calibre library almost as a separate hobby. I enjoy checking the formatting and TOC and finding a good cover.

Since I'm doing the work anyway, I sideload everything.

Except on my Kindle. When I do read on that, I just read the book that downlods. If it is too poorly formatted, I just won't read on the Kindle. I guess it's because the Kindle feels like more of a pain to sideload to than my Nook or Kobo.