MobiDeDRM for Kindle backups

I just spent my afternoon in some weird state. I heard about a takedown notice by Amazon on kindle DRM tools , tracked down a link to an excellent overview article, and then momentarily lost my mind. I didn’t download MobiDeDRM.zip. I backed away from the site, and started thinking about how to anonymize my access to it (I know plenty of ways, never fear). All over tools that I simply want in order to backup my Kindle purchases against the possibility of something happening to Amazon! I don’t want to rip the DRM and upload books to Usenet…I don’t want to even give them away to friends. I WANT the authors to get paid; I love authors. I even like publishers, some. *grin*

But on the off chance something happens to Amazon or the DRM service for AZW, I want accessible backups. I really like this Kindle2, and I’m investing in books on it. We’re finally at the edge of something big wrt electronic books, and I’m on the bleeding edge…I don’t want my bookshelves to end up on the bloody side. So after I realized how goofy I was being, I downloaded the damn zipfile (just like I did with the Hymn project’s iTunes cracker years ago). I’m going to crack all my books, stick those files in a couple of my backup repositories, and sleep well at night. Both because my books are safe, and because I’m not doing anything wrong. There’s nothing for me to be afraid of, and I’m ashamed of myself for worrying about it for a couple of hours this afternoon.  My penance will be to re-read the Microsoft Research DRM talk from my (non-DRM’d) copy of Cory Doctorow’s ‘Content‘!