What I am about to post MAY be controversial….you have been warned! I am not talking about reading “dead tree books” on your kindle…. but ebooks! Many of you may be thinking ….”whaaaaaaa that is possible?” – I am here to tell you that it is! More and more libraries are offering ebooks on their websites available for checkout to registered library patrons. At our library here in Vegas, we can check things out for 21 days in a great number of different formats from ipod compatible audio books to secure epub files to protected mobipocket files. The format you are looking for to read these books on your kindle is the secured mobipocket files.

I have to first explain, you can NOT read these mobipocket (extension .prc) files on your kindle as they are. There are a few steps you need to do that alters the DRM (Digital Rights Management). Before I go any further I need to state that I am in NO WAY saying you should remove or strip drm from these or any other files. What you need to do to these files is not take the drm off, but merely alter it so that your kindle can recognize it. The DMR still functions as usual. I attempted to open a file with the altered DRM on my calibre program and it did indeed tell me it was DRM protected and could not be opened, confirming the DRM was intact and functioning as it was when I “borrowed” it from the library.

If you have a Mac, all you need to do is go here and download the nifty program that this developer has posted. The scripts this program uses were created to run on a Windows system, but unfortunately I could not find an easy script like this for it, so you Windows users may have to do some googling and I imagine would have to have some technical chops to get this script running.

You can find more info on exactly how to work this program on the “Getting Started” page, but I will offer a quick rundown. Once you have that script installed, you can plug in your Kindle and it will give you a “PID” which you then register with your online library account. It will then insert that PID into any secure mobipocket books you download. Once you have the downloaded book you drag it onto your mobi2kindle application and it will alter it so it becomes accessible by your Kindle. Again, I want to mention this specific program does not strip or remove DRM – all it does it make it accessible to your Kindle. You will not be able to share this book with anyone else or with any other device, it will only work on YOUR KINDLE and it will expire and stop working in the specified window (usually 21 days).

Theoretically this same script will work with any protected .prc (mobipocket) file HOWEVER there are some websites that don’t recognize Kindle PIDs numbers properly and therefore the books don’t get assigned the correct numbers. I believe Mobipocket.com is one of these sites. Fictionwise used to recognize the Kindle PIDs but I could not get it to accept mine when I tried last night… so use this with caution if you are purchasing a book and hoping it will work on your Kindle!

Other posts you may like:

• Tuesday Tips & Tricks ~ Custom Kindle Font
• Thursday Tips & Tricks ~ Backing Up Your Books
• Want to read Kindle books but don’t want to buy the Kindle?