I'm familiar with the Japanese e-book stores Kobo, honto.jp, and Kindle, but all of their books seem to have DRM, and none of them allow you to read books on your computer. Are there any bookstores that sell DRM-free e-books in Japanese?
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2 Answers
You can find gratis, DRM-free versions of older books whose copyright has lapsed at 青空文庫 (additional formats available at Internet Archive).
You can remove the DRM from Kindle books and convert to most major formats without too much trouble using Calibre or other software. I am not a lawyer, but in the US at least, you have the right to do so (cf. decrypting DVDs).
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Thanks! The problem I'm running into is that all the Japanese-language kindle books I've looked at cannot be downloaded to the desktop versions of the Kindle app, and so I cannot get at the AZW file in order to convert it. I've also tried accessing the version downloaded to the iPhone Kindle app, but it seems to be storing it in a different format. If you have any ideas, please let me know! Jan 14, 2014 at 5:45
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Anything related to your country location settings? I remember having trouble getting access to books I ordered depending on the language/region detected on different devices. Jan 14, 2014 at 6:34
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I don't think it has to do with my location, although for what it's worth I live in Japan. The page on Amazon states "Available only on these devices", and doesn't list Kindle for Mac or Windows. The "Deliver To" drop-down has Kindle for Mac grayed out. It's the same on both amazon.com and amazon.co.jp. Here's one example: amazon.com/Give-Regards-Black-Jack-Japanese-ebook/dp/B00BN0R1OO/… Jan 14, 2014 at 8:16
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This looks promising: epubor.com/prc-drm-removal-for-kindle-android-books.html Is the format on mobile PRC, not AZW? Also, nice recommendation! Jan 14, 2014 at 8:19
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Nope, it doesn't appear to be PRC either. It's a folder with three files, book.kcr, book.kcr-shm, book.kcr-wal, and a folder resources with a bunch of binary files in it. It looks like book.kcr is actually a core data database, so I'm pretty sure this is all some sort of pre-processed version specifically for iOS. =/ Jan 14, 2014 at 8:42
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Sorry, I don't have any iOS devices at the moment, but I'll take one more shot: apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/… Jan 14, 2014 at 8:45
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Hmm, at first glance I don't see anything resembling those formats. I'll do some more investigating. Thanks for your help! Jan 14, 2014 at 9:18
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