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_MikeRichards_
Participating Frequently
September 14, 2008
Question

Sony Reader - Adobe Digital Editions DRMed books causing crashes

  • September 14, 2008
  • 41 replies
  • 11058 views
Hi,

Hopefully someone has seen this behaviour before and knows how to solve it.

I'm in the UK with the UK version of the Sony PRS-505 eBook Reader which runs software version 1.2.00.18050. I've installed the Sony eBook Library and the Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) software on Windows XP and they both worked perfectly. The 'free' books that came with the Reader install just fine as do free books from places like feedbooks.com.

However, when I want to buy a book, things go badly wrong. ADE sees the Reader and I can register it. I then tried to download a book from the Waterstones online store (Waterstones are the UK partner for Sony). The file transferred and looks fine inside ADE.

However, when I copied the file to the Reader's internal memory and unplugged it from the computer, things began to go wrong. The spinning refresh icon appeared and the Reader reset, rebooted, up came the refresh icon, reset, reboot - and so on and on and on...

I performed a hard reset on the Reader, re-registered it with ADE and tried installing the DRMed book on the SD card. After unplugging the Reader, it began to endlessly reboot just as before. Removing the card stopped the rebooting and the Reader behaved as normal. Delete the book from the card, plug it back in and the Reader is happy - so it's definitely something to do with the book or the DRM on the book. I've tried a couple of titles and each of them do the same thing.

After pleading for help on a mobileread forum, another UK user has had exactly the same problem. He has had his Reader exchanged for another one but that too is crashing when he tries to use DRMed content.

So has anyone here seen this problem? I'm completely stuck as Waterstones, from whom I've bought it are passing the buck to Sony and they are almost certainly going to pass it on to Adobe.

Any help would be HUGELY appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike.
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    41 replies

    Show previous replies
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    _JamesEdmond_
    Participant
    October 4, 2008
    I had my reader replaced today. The new one is working fine. Good advice on the consumer rights, Mike - they put up a bit of a struggle and did their best to avoid giving me a replacement (Sony shop), but they gave in in the end.
    _
    _MikeRichards_Author
    Participating Frequently
    October 4, 2008
    Hi folks,

    My new Reader is still working perfectly. I spoke to Sony a couple of days ago and they are trying to find out what is wrong with the faulty Readers. So if you have one that is not working with DRM content, take it back to the store where you bought it and get a replacement. The guy from Sony is convinced a bad batch slipped into the country on the date of release, but they are unsure if it is a hardware or software fault on the machines. The sooner they get them back, the sooner they can find the cause of the problem.

    So if you are in the UK, remember you have an absolute right to a replacement because the Reader is not working as advertised - in the words of the all-important Sale of Goods Act 1979, the readers are neither of 'satisfactory quality' nor 'fit for purpose'.

    Within the first six months of purchasing the Reader you will not have to prove a fault (though if you can show a Reader crashing, that should be all the evidence anyone would need), just return the Reader to your retailer as soon as possible. You do not have to claim on the warranty; nor, if you bought it from Waterstones, do you have to go to Sony. You also do not need to produce a receipt - although it makes life much easier if you have one or a credit card receipt.

    I'm sure that Sony and Waterstones will be more than willing to assist, but you do sometimes find a shop assistant who doesn't know what they are obligated to do under the law. If you do find an assistant who is unwilling to arrange an exchange, don't get angry or upset, just ask to see the store manager.

    If you are unsure of your rights under the Sale of Goods Act, you can find them here:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/guides_to/law_goods.shtml

    I recommend bookmarking that page and having it in mind any time something goes wrong with a purchase!

    Mike.
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    _Alan_A_Taylor_
    Participant
    October 4, 2008
    After reading about Mike's replacement I returned to Waterstones in Ballymena who replaced mine with the last of their second batch. Works perfectly with DRM books and I have also noticed that it immediately recognises my SD card where the original took over a minute. I would recommend a call to the store before you visit to check that they have had a second delivery. Thanks to the guys at Waterstones Ballymena for their help.

    Alan
    A
    Anonymous
    October 3, 2008
    As far as I know there's no new info on this situation. I'll see if I can get an update from Engineering on Monday..

    Regards,

    Bentley Wolfe
    Senior Support Engineer, Flash/Flash Player/Digital Editions
    Adobe
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    _TimAshdown_
    Participant
    October 3, 2008
    Hi everyone

    Just got a reader yesterday and I'm having the exact same problems. Obviously Mike has managed to sort his out via a replacement. As there has been no further word for a week now is there anybody thats resolved their issues by getting a new one.

    I don't fancy going all the way back to where I got it from and exchanging it for another faulty one. As I only got it yesterday I have no reason to expect it to be any different to a replacement. Plus I would've thought if there are so many faulty readers around they would sort out a firmware fix. Any more updates anyone...

    Thanks in advance,

    Tim
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    _MikeRichards_Author
    Participating Frequently
    September 26, 2008
    Hi everyone.

    I have some good news - I can read DRMed eBooks - but I needed to get a new Reader. After Peter's exhaustive experiments with my old Reader we came to the conclusion that there had to be something wrong either with the hardware or the software of my Reader.

    Sony UK have been entirely useless, but Waterstones have come up trumps (thank-you Kieren at Midsummer Place) and were able to replace my Reader with a brand-new machine.

    I've just tried reading two books from the Waterstones store that caused my old Reader to crash and they opened immediately.

    I have a working Reader.

    So the question remains, is there a bad batch of Readers circulating in the UK? Enough of us have had trouble to suggest that some of the first machines may have had corrupted firmware. If you haven't had your machine replaced, it might be worth going to your retailer and asking for a replacement.

    The only drawback with this is that the Reader is in VERY short supply in the UK, so please phone them and ask if they have stock before you make a trip.

    Thanks to Peter and everyone here for their ideas. If I can do anything, here's the place to ask.

    Mike.
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    _TGL_
    Participating Frequently
    September 24, 2008
    All,

    It might be worth noting that when I purchased my PRS-505 direct from a Sony Centre in the UK, I was advised during my enquiries about compatibility with ebook stores that Waterstones was a site to avoid. However, they did point me to Amazon, ebooks.com, and some free sites all of which work.

    The explanation the manager at the Windsor Sony Centre gave me was that there were some inconsistencies with the Waterstones ebooks and the Sony Reader.

    Now it could be Sony are trying to fix this in the background, but it's interesting that you folks are having lots of problems with Waterstones ebooks.
    _
    _BobVA_
    Participating Frequently
    September 23, 2008
    Bentley:

    Thanks, will do.

    An update: I just checked in / deleted a single protected file and checked out two protected files and transferred them to the reader via ADE. The Reader crashed when I disconnected it (no memory cards installed/used). After rebooting it took about 15 minutes to index the two new books and de-zombify itself.

    I then reconnected the Reader to the computer to just move the two protected books into a collection on the Reader. It's still stuck on the spinning (or not) arrows after 20 minutes.

    Files look/work fine in ADE on my computer.
    A
    Anonymous
    September 23, 2008
    Bob,

    I think Peter is watching this thread. Let's wait for him to see if he can figure this all out and see if it effects your issue (I'm not sure how long that will take though)

    Regards,

    Bentley Wolfe
    Senior Support Engineer, Flash/Flash Player/Digital Editions
    Adobe
    _
    _BobVA_
    Participating Frequently
    September 21, 2008
    Peter/Bentley:

    After reading some posts from Mike on another forum, I suspect that the problem I'm seeing with my US Reader has similar symptoms but a differing underlying cause. The problem with my Reader seems to be confined to using ADE with an external memory card installed (regardless where the ADE content is installed) as described above.

    I'm certainly not qualified to diagnose the cause, so please accept this as just another way of describing the problem: After installing ADE and putting protected content on the Reader it then starts to act as if either EVERY file is marked as changed every time it gets accessed by either ADE or the Sony desktop software. Alternatively i could be that some cache data that relates to what files have and have not changed is getting destroyed or corrupted. Consequently EVERY disconnect forces the Reader to rescan/index/format EVERY file on both internal and external memory.

    Should I start a new thread or support request?

    Thanks,
    Bob
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