/ebook-downloader

Primary LanguagePerlOtherNOASSERTION

Ebook Download

Download your Readmoo ebooks as EPUB files.

Installation

  1. Make sure you have a modern version, say >= 5.24, of Perl. You can install one with Perlbrew:

    $ curl -L https://install.perlbrew.pl | bash
    $ perlbrew install 5.24.3	# or anything >= 5.24.0
  2. Make sure you have cpanm and carton installed. Perlbrew installs cpanm for you. If you do not have one, install it with:

    $ curl -L https://cpanmin.us | perl - App::cpanminus

    Install carton with:

    $ cpanm Carton
  3. Under the project directory, install dependencies with

    $ carton install --deployment

Usage

Run the script:

$ ./run.sh
Readmoo account: <your_email@your_email_provider>
Readmoo password: ****

If everything went well, it will list all ebooks in your Readmoo library. Select the ebook you want to download by its number and press ENTER to start downloading. Type q and press ENTER to quit the program.

License

MIT

Questions

Readmoo offers their ebooks with DRM. This tool sidesteps the protection. Is it ethical to release a tool like this?

Like the many DeDRM tools for Amazon Kindle or other ebook shops, this tool has practical uses, which is to backup the ebooks you have bought, and at the same time demonstrates a technical possibility. Since it can only download for you the ebooks you have bought on Readmoo, you have already paid for these contents.

Leaving the customers like you unable to backup and transfer the ebooks to other devices using open formats after buying them creates an unjust lock-in, because Readmoo does not sell their products as subscriptions. This is, however, a controversial point of view.

There are other ebook shops like Kobo which offers largely the same ebook titles under the same prices as Readmoo does, and gives you access to the EPUB files, albeit with DRM.