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Is it possible to read files protected with ADE on an Android phone? My local library has an ebook service, but they're all ADE ePub or PDF. I'd really like to borrow them. I have fbreader, but it won't touch Adobe's drm, obviously.
Suggestions?
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I also have the Aldiko app and again I cannot get the app to find the
books. I may be doing something wrong with it, as I only drag and drop
the files into the Aldiko folder on the phone...
Sorry but I forgot about this part of the message. Aldiko is indeed an Android reader that supports epub books. What you need to remember when dealing with this whole thing is that "epub" books are based on the epub specification and will be readable in any software that supports it; But (and this is a big but) not all DRM (digital rights management) is supported by each reader. Many of the books in epub format are protected so you can't read them without the permission of the DRM software. That is why you pay for some and others you can get from a library for a certain period of time. The DRM software "is not standard" and can be a problem as pointed out in this quote from a wikipedia article:
"The EPUB specification does not enforce or suggest a particular DRM scheme. This could affect the level of support for various DRM systems on devices and the portability of purchased e-books. Consequently, such DRM incompatibility may segment the EPUB format along the lines of DRM systems, negating the advantages of a single standard format and confusing the consumer." --Full article at this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB
This is the problem you are running into. Your reader must also support the type of DRM that is used by your book and for Overdrive that DRM is "Adobe Content Server". Aldiko does not support "Adobe Content Server" DRM as far as I know. Esentially what you download at first is a license file and then when you import the book into your reader it looks for the license file and if it is in the right place and active you can read the book, otherwise you can't.
Hope that helps more than confuses you
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Yea, I was hoping to be able to use what I already had on my Droid, instead of downloading TXTR and having to go through the enormous hastle it is to get books on there.
I talked to support at Overdrive, and their software does not support the PDF books from the library. (or PDF books in general)
In the end, I did end up getting TXTR and putting my PDF books on it and they seem to be working well.
Thanks for the help everyone. 🙂
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Audio 2 will support the DRM of Adobe Digital Editions, I don't think anyone
(including Aldiko) knows when that will be
-bc
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I recently discovered that Aldiko Premium was available in the Android Market. It lets me transfer epub and pdf's with drm from ADE to my galaxytab. I use the "mass storage" mode on the usb connection between the galaxytab and the PC with ADE -and the Aldiko app pops up on the ADE screen.
The only drawback is that the zooming-function in pdf-files is slow. And the 3$ 😉 but compared to the hours I've spent on drm-files that didn't show up on the tab -the two minutes and 3$ are nothing...
For the moment, I'm happy to read files I bought two years ago 🙂
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It sounds like Aldiko will be the answer when they come out with 2.0 if it works as advertised. This is a snippet from there website:
December 8th, 2010
We have been working on Aldiko 2.0 behind the scene for awhile already, a lot of you have been asking us what Aldiko 2.0 will bring. So, what’s new? Let us share some of the highlights: in Aldiko 2.0, you will be able to
What SOON is who knows? But it could be a winner if it is soon and works well which I have no idea since I don't have or use it. If you want to read more the link is http://www.aldiko.com/blog/
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Andiko 2.0 is available on the Android market and does work for me for
downloading protected epub's. The Andiko app is a good reading app, better than
OverDrive. They do say on the App that it can handle PDF's with DRM but I don't
know how to get them into Andiko.
Since my Library uses OverDrive and OverDrive's App only deals with epub, I
could not send PDFs with DRM
Neal
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Vomonte wrote:
I also have the Aldiko app and again I cannot get the app to find the books. I may be doing something wrong with it, as I only drag and drop the files into the Aldiko folder on the phone... pretty new to this stuff.
Wrong folder. Aldiko will import your books if you put the epub files in a subfolder named 'import' under the 'ebooks' folder in your Android.
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Thanks for posting this new info!
I'm typically a linux user. Checking out library books with ADE has been one of the things that requires me to boot into Windows, but no more. With overdrive on my nexus one, I can now browse to the library's web site and check out the books directly onto my phone. This is the way it's supposed to work.
txtr was good when it was my only option, but overdrive is far superior.
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I thought I knew what there was to know about DRM, epub, Adobe, eBooks, etc., but was I evidently way off base. Someone let me know otherwise.
I presumed that since Aldiko is listed as supported app on the Adobe digital list, that I could purchase a book from Feedbooks (which was a link from the Like Android app); however, I am unable to authorize my Motorola Xoom tablet and read the $9.00 book. I went with the Aldiko app because it is the most customizable for the visually impaired (or anyone else, for that matter).
Adobe has a 30-minute telephone wait time; Feedbooks says "Not our problem, contact Aldiko," so I submitted a lengthy ticket to Aldiko and await their response. Quite frankly, there are too many cooks in the kitchen and something that should be very simple is becoming frustrating and a real pain in the arse!
I know I have an Adobe ID, because I needed to get one to post in this forum. Entering my username (email) and password has no effect on being able to read the book on my tablet!
I hate doing business with the major folks (B&N, Borders, etc.), but if that is what I have to do to read a DRM protected epub book on my tablet, so be it.
Feedback much appreciated from anyone else with an Android tablet that has the same problem.
Thank you!
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If you use the overdrive media console and get the epub edition by downloading directly from your phones browser it works but the one labled pdf will not work.
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Help! It's been a while since any posts but this discussion is excellent, hopefully I can get a solution here.
Hope things haven't changed too much, but I've tried almost all of the methods here and they didn't work. I'm hoping it's my device (Asus TF101) and not something Adobe have done to encumber all the great various solutions listed above.
I've tried Overdrive, Txtr, ADE (via usb), aldiko, and every other ereader app to open both the ACSM and PDF file from my local library.
The library uses Overdrive, but I've had problems with this:
(1) normal browser only gets the mobile version of the overdrive/library website, cannot download because it says something like "cannot download from mobile website".
(2) with firefox, I get the desktop version but can't download either. Just get some XML gobledegook garbage code in the browser when I click the download link that says "download PDF file". (Although what I get in windows from clicking this same "PDF" link is an ACSM file, not PDF.)
Would this process work if it was EPUB instead of PDF I was trying to get? (Sounds silly but I see above many say overdrive can't open PDF. However the Tech guy at the library says Overdrive can. So maybe a device issue.)
This is really a case of having tried everything, but no luck. Am tempted to abandon ebooks altogether (for life) and unless I can find a fix, and am inclined to suggest all users do the same.
(Ebooks officially suck balls.) Please help if you have some better suggestions.
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I have been reading ebooks for years, as soon as they were available on the Dell Axims and Palm handhelds... it seems like you have to relearn how to get the things onto your device everytime you get a new one. I get frustrated because I'm constantly getting the "too many devices activated" message. The only books I read anymore are library books. I used to love Overdrive, but the last few months I've had the same problem, you can't just download to your device anymore. It seems like you have to go to a PC download it, open it in ADE then hook up your device and transfer it. But not every device is recognized by ADE so then you are stuck.
Have you tried the Kindle app on your device? It works the best for me. You still have to use a PC but on the PC you can tell it to send the book to your device. It's very simple and slick... most of the books are available in PDF and EPUB as well as Kindle.
Hope that helps!
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Hi, thanks for the replies. I have not managed to get ADE (on PC) to connect to my android device, probably because it isn't on the device list and the apps installed on it didn't help either - very unfornately. A real shame to ease of use and flexibility.
However, I was able to get access to it AFTER the library tech guy clicked onto what some of you guys said above - that epub can be used with overdrive on android (but I found PDF didn't work). However, it worked by direct download to my android tablet (Asus TF101) after he made that change to epub.
It's a shame that the same overdrive approach has turned out not to work for you DL. But it fortunately worked for me, maybe for a reason? (see below) A couple of pointers I found in being able to download direct from my browser on android via overdrive:
(1) I had to access it through overdrive by going to "libraries", finding my local library and only THEN did it let me access the site and download. Was quite convenient too.
(2) It only worked on one browser on my tablet. It happened to be the Asus native browser on the TF101. For me it didn't work on Firefox, Chrome (beta) or Skyfire. Each of these gave me the "mobile version" of the webpage = no download!
(3) By trying to access the library's site directly from the brower (not thru overdrive first) it didn't work! I kept getting the mobile version of the webpage. Overdrive directs you to a specially enabled link that allows non-mobile webpage, so download works.
(And (4) it only worked with Epub and not PDF as you guys have said above. For PDF I got a bunch of XML code in the browser once I clicked the download link.)
Thanks for all the great info on this thread! It's still a shame that only the above has worked on my device. I really would have liked it if TXTR worked for me, but no luck I'm afraid.
So I'm stuck with overdrive only, but at least I get to finally read my book! Thank you all!
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dlcullen:
you mentioned using the kindle app. ADE does not recognize my new phone and I've been reading forums for days to try to find how to fix this problem. Everyone who mentions how to do the library books, no matter what app they mention, says that it has to be recognized by the ADE. That doesnt help if ADE cant find your phone. Is there a kindle software to put on your computer that will recognize your phone so that you can transfer library books? or are you just generally talking about bought kindle books?
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This is Debbie (not a he 😉 ) and Kindle is not really welded to Amazon, they want you to buy their ebooks, so they offer the Kindle app for Androids and Apple devices. Hopefully these links work, it will show you what I mentioned. library2go is offered by our local libraries, you just sign in using your library card then you can check books out in different formats, quite often Kindle is one of those formats. When you check it out you'll get a message telling you to go to Kindle to retrieve the book. Then you just log onto your Kindle account online on amazon.com and send the book to your device. Prior to getting the book you'll want to install the Kindle app on your phone and sign in with your username and password that you use for the online Kindle, that will enable your to send the books from Amazon online to your device via wifi. You don't have to connect your device to the computer. As long as you have the same type of library services in your town you should be able to do the same!
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Frustrated:
I've tried Overdrive, but none of the others you've mentioned, so I'll try those for my epub files. Thanks for all your help today!
Dlcullen:
1st off, sorry I called you a he... habit (and I'm a girl so it shouldnt be ). Anyway, I see what you are saying now, it totally went over my blonde head earlier. You are saying that I should download it in Kindle format from the library in the first place instead of epub then use the kindle app on my phone. Gotcha. The reason that never ocurred to me is that I'm a Nook user and so I never download in Kindle format. Only problem there is that it then wont go onto my nook. Oh well, I've been thinking about switching to Kindle anyway, so if I do that I wont have that problem. Thanks!
While I've got you here, it sounds like you are a Kindle user. I used a Kindle (the very first one they ever made) several years ago and at that time, compared to the very 1st Nook they had, I liked Nook better. Now that they've got the new kindles that can do so much more, what's your take on Kindle vs Nook?
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I don't have a Kindle but I did set a friend's up to download the free library books. I've had lots of Nooks, I had the first color and then I got the Nook Tablet, now I have the Galaxy 8.9 Tablet which for me is perfect. I honestly think any of the readers are good. When the Nook first came out it was very simple to root so you could read your Kindle books on it, now I think they've changed that.
You might want to go with something like a Galaxy Tab or the 7 Nexus tablet made by Asus simply because you will be able to have the Nook app AND the Kindle app as well as dozens of other book readers. That would be my choice! I also bought my device as refurbished on Amazon so it was much less than purchasing new, I've had it serveral months and it has been just like a new device.
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You can now use aldiko reader app on android devices to read drm library ebooks. You need an adode ID which you can log in to from the menu>about>adobe ID within aldiko itself. Then when you download a library e-book to your android tablet/phone it should automatically ask you if you want to open it with aldiko. Simple and brilliant. Don't even need to install adobe editions (still just windows and mac versions available for that).
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overdrive only works with select libraries - mostly in the US. For UK library systems you'll need the Aldiko app.
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