Is there a way I can get the HTML files of my ebooks?

October 23, 2018 12:52 PM

I use the Spritzlet add-on for Chrome to read long form articles on the internet and it works really, really well for optimizing my reading time. Can the hive help me figure out how to access my e-books from Amazon in a format that I can read them via Spritz?

Preamble: I don't understand the tech behind this very well, so if you can speak in dumbed down terms around that it would be helpful.

At my disposal: kindle ebooks (and the kindle itself), a PC with various browsers, a mac with various browsers, ipad, and an iphone. Also, the spritzlet add-on for Chrome, sitting on my bookmarks bar.

Works fine for long form articles, won't work at all with the Kindle Cloud Reader (in browser), I assume for the same basic reasons that Amazon won't let me copy/paste the text of my books for use in other applications.

I'm willing to source my books from somewhere else if I can get them in a fashion that I can display them in my browser and use Spritzlet to read them. Doing it via my ebooks already purchased for my kindle, however, would be ideal.

TIA.

posted by allkindsoftime to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Best answer: I suspect that the answer is going to be the incredibly powerful free software called Calibre. Calibre should let you strip the drm from an amazon kindle book and then convert it to a format called "epub" which should be compatible with the Spritz application. You could also convert it to an html format or pdf and then open it using your browzer. This walkthrough for how to do the first step (converting amazon format books to epub or html format books) looks current. That website also sells a software product to streamline this process. I see some other companies make a similar product.
posted by muddgirl at 1:10 PM on October 23, 2018 [4 favorites]

You'll probably need to create a DRM-free copy of the kindle works that have DRM. I'm not going to link that here to protect metafilter but you can search for it.

Calibre can handle many conversions and serve as a front end to the DRM-stripping process. It looks like some of the Spritz apps take epub.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 1:14 PM on October 23, 2018

Best answer: Sorry for using an acronym - DRM means "digital rights management" and it is a piece of code embedded in the book that you buy from amazon that prevents you from copy-pasting it or taking screenshots or emailing it to a friend. I believe it is ethical to strip DRM for the purposes of private use to read a book in another format, but whether or not it is legal in your jurisdiction is a question for a lawyer.
posted by muddgirl at 1:16 PM on October 23, 2018

Response by poster: It's dumb that I can't get access to something I paid for in a format that allows me to digest it in a way that's optimal for me. Particularly when I'm willing to pay extra for doing that.
posted by allkindsoftime at 1:54 PM on October 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: muddgirl, your 2nd link didn't work, FYI. Thanks for the help!
posted by allkindsoftime at 1:57 PM on October 23, 2018

Best answer: I'm sorry the link doesn't work for you. The basic process is (1) upload the books to the Kindle Reader for Desktop (mac or pc), (2) use de-DRM software for ebooks to remove the protection (there is a lot of this out there - you will need to find one that is up to date as amazon changes their formats constantly) (3) use ebook conversion software to change it to epub for the desktop Spritz program, or pdf/html for a web browser.
posted by muddgirl at 4:42 PM on October 23, 2018