Comments on: Hidden clipping limits in the Kindle

By: Shelley

Shelley — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:33:59 +0000

I tried mobi2mobi, on several books, and what I’m finding is that the clipping amount is most likely a percentage, not the number of instances.

This matches with our expectations for non-DRM books. Mobi2mobi returns a hex value of 0×64 for all the ones I tested, which is equivalent to 100, or 100% if I’m reading the value correctly.

I also discovered that Amazon has been attaching a 10% clipping rate on out-of-copyright books, which can be downloaded for free.

So one can assume that the clipping rate is a default ten percent, but its 100% for non-DRM books. This is pure guesswork, since this value isn’t documented.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:38:22 +0000

Alan, thanks for pointing out the wiki site. I managed to get mobi2mobi working.

Alex, I think this is more likely to make an opportunity for independent book sellers, who sell the digital books without clipping limits.

By: alex s.

alex s. — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:36:21 +0000

This is also why many of us kindlers are resistent to higher book prices. These books are not ours, publishers and their drm schemes ensure it. Alas, no sort of sense seems to win over some of the most misguided “individual value” people.

By: Alan Wallcraft

Alan Wallcraft — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:09:35 +0000

Shelly: Try MobileRead’s wiki page Install Mobi2Mobi Mac http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Install_Mobi2Mobi_Mac

By: Shelley

Shelley — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:01:15 +0000

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get mobi2mobi to work on my Mac. The tar files seem to be missing contents.

By: Alan Wallcraft

Alan Wallcraft — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:51:16 +0000

A big problem is that a highlight is also a clipping, so this is a highlight limit too. The limit is set by the publisher, and it could be zero (it is zero for samples) although values like 10 or 30 are more usual in DRMed ebooks. DRM-free AZWs, presumably via Amazon DTP, seem to allow 100 clippings.

It is possible to see this limit without removing DRM. Use mobi2mobi from MobiPerl on AZWs and look at EXTH record type 401. It is also possible to change the limit without removing the ebook’s encryption.