What if you want to read e-Books but you don't want to be tied to Amazon.

Amazon Kindles let you read a variety of formats but most (especially any you buy from amazon) are protected from copying by digital rights management software (DRM). Now I understand the desire to stop people copying your hard work when you write a book, and selling it on, or even making copies for mates. BUT DRM means you can't even load the copy onto multiple devices that you own. And I've even heard of Amazon just no longer hosting a book you bought and own! So unless you downloaded it, it has just gone!

Kobo let you read even more formats. Though not Amazon because, as we said, it's DRM protected. So what to do.

You can use software to strip the DRM, then other software to convert the file to a nice one for Kobo (other e-readers are of course available but I have a Kobo so it's what I know) then use a USB cable to transfer the book file onto the Kobo.
Doing this enables you to read books bought via Kobo, Amazon books you previously purchased, and other books you find (legally) online, such as out of copyright books on the Gutenberg Project website (check it out all the classics are there for free).

How to download and convert Amazon ebooks.

I used DeDRM - www.dedrm.com

1. First you download the ebooks.Open your account and navigating to your digital content page (click account and lists, and choose Manage your contant and devices fromt he amazon home page).Select a book from the content list and click ' More actions, then select Download & transfer via USB '.

Then you need you Kindle serial number.Go to Manage Your Content and Device then select Device and check the kindle serial number.

Upload each book into DeDRM to strip the DRM protection.

2. To convert the now unprotected file use Calibre (apparently there is some way to do everything in Calibre but I didn't do that. You can use that method if you don't own an actual Kindle device. ) https://calibre-ebook.com/download

More info on all of this here https://www.cloudwards.net/remove-drm-from-kindle-books/

Download Calibre and convert the new unprotected AZW3 file to an epub or epub3 file and pop it onto the Kobo via USB. Sorted. There are lots of demos on site https://calibre-ebook.com/demo

 

 also check out Project Gutenberg for free ebooks

A useful checklist for those that are prone to impulse purchases

 A useful checklist for those that are prone to impulse purchases

Memory One. April 2023. A trip to Devon, a small church and a drink.

 

Back to April 2023 when I visited a friend (on online friend, for those people that insist online friendships aren't real - turns out they are). I visited my friend in Devon and while there I saw a postcard in a touristy shop, a postcard for Hope Cove. Hope Cove was a place I used to go to as a small child with my grandparents and it had such happy memories, I bought the card and insisted we drive there as it was relatively close. 

Amazingly it had not changed much. The beach in the little cove was just as I remembered. There was also a nice pub where we sat outside and looked at the view. It was a glorious trip down memory lane, and my friend, seeing how happy the visit made me, even bought me a souvenir Hope Cove mug. Happy times. 

But that wasn't all that April brought. 

There was also plenty of dog walking. (I now have two dogs again, Fizz the most adorable border terrier, and rather fancy but hellishly disobedient fox terrier. To be fair to Ted, being a nightmare does seem to be in the fox terrier job description). Anyway, on one walk we wandered in the grounds of the local church and found this small insect hotel. Rather adorable.

And to round off the month, and as an attempt to regain the sense of taste lost to COVID, I had one or two cocktails.

It's been a while

When I started this blog over 20 years ago it was as a simple online diary. And no one read it but that didn't matter because I read it, I could share things with family, friends and weirdos I met online and it was my tiny bit of the web.

Back then I didn't have my own domain and I had zero clue about the best way to edit and add images. But I took an evening class (remember them!) in web design and passed with distinction so felt a tad more comfortable with html and all the elements of a webpage. I bought a domain (or 5) and carried on. 

While my daughter was young 'mummy blogging' suddenly became a thing and I sort of fell in to it, reviewing items, visiting shows and festivals, writing posts in exchange for goods. But I was hardly one of the big players, though briefly shortlisted for an award which meant I did get to attend a fancy reception in London, I didn't win anything and gradually I went back to just waffling (like now). Slowly I just blogged less and less. 

When I changed jobs, after 27 years in the NHS I thought I would have more time but I seemed to fill that with other things and blogging took a very, very back seat. And then COVID happened. Like millions of others I was forbidden to leave the house for weeks and months on end...surely I would blog now! Guess what, no, no I still didn't really blog.

The last post here was in 2023 just over a year ago when COVID finally found me. (I still don't have all my sense of taste and smell back)

But today here I am! And I have a plan. I will once again blog for me. And to start with I will blog for the 12 months prior to the previous post. I had the cunning idea of finding a photo on my phone for each month and blogging about it. 12 posts to get me back into the habit of blogging. 

So this rambling introduction doesn't count. But here's an image anyway, because every post needs a focus and AI needs something to steal (more of that in another post later) 

COVID-19 comes for us all

So on Monday 20 March I woke up with a slightly sexy gravelly voice and a mild tickly cough. Because of my work in healthcare I always have a few COVID-19 tests knocking about. "I'll just test to rule it out" I thought optimistically.

The fact this this is a blog post means the reveal here will come as no surprise. No one blogs about not getting COVID-19.

Since COVID-19 first became mainstream news I have followed all the rules and then some. I have stayed home,  worn masks, not shopped except via internet and always made drivers leave deliveries on the doorstep. We washed our hands. I have hand gel around the house. 

I had to go out for work in the early days, high risk places where I used full PPE and wore scrubs that could be boil washed while I showered as soon as I got home before joining the family again.

I continued to mask after the rules relaxed, I continued to stay home, I'm practically a hermit! I didn't see my parents for over a year, I missed a Christmas with my daughter as she was awaiting a test result. I have every vaccination possible as soon as it's available. I have stayed COVID-19 free all this time.

And yet here I am.

This sneaky bastard virus has invaded the temple* of my body.

*Like the temple in jungle book, falling down, crumbling and full of monkeys