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May 8, 2011
Question

Alternative to Adobe Digital Ed

  • May 8, 2011
  • 3 replies
  • 8752 views

Is there a working version of Adobe Digital Edition or an alternative?  Some  of the books in my library work fine,others may show the work error in the far  right column but there is no explanation.  I have books which were uploaded to my ColorNook via ADE but now don't work in ADE but work on my ColorNook.  If this is the best Adobe can do, why would I spend  money on their other products?

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    3 replies

    Participant
    June 19, 2016

    It seems that everybody is bitching about the current state of DRM, and the virtual stranglehold Adobe has on the field. With their monopoly, they have no incentive to improve the functionality of ADE. So it is up to us users. Why not crowd source a class action suit, potentially all the way up to the supreme court to break the ADE monopoly. Where are the civil right activists?

    Known Participant
    August 21, 2021

    Rationally, it sounds like a good idea. Practically, with the world struggling with climate change, COVID and political upheavals it's hard to see picking this one as your battle. I'm about as long in the tooth with ebooks as anyone I know, having started 20 years ago, and I'm not willing to take that on. It's so aggravating, though, maybe someone with legal knowledge and motivation would do that.

    Participating Frequently
    May 8, 2011

    This is still a young field, and everyone's product is still developing. I

    would guess that your problems don't have to do with ADE itself, but with

    the way ebooks have been transfered, the digital rights assigned to them, or

    the files themselves.

    ADE and the Nook/Nook color are the subject of several threads in the

    Forum. I don't have one, but it would make sense that setting up the Nook

    has to be done very carefully. I have seen a couple of posts that show how

    to get the Nook to work that tell you to manipulate data on the Nook using

    your system's utilities, not ADE.

    Ebooks are a different subject. ADE supports only a couple of formats. The

    ones that work well are .epub and .pdf - both are formats that Adobe helped

    develop. There are some issues with certain .pdf characteristics, such as

    named pages and native annotations, and certain other anomalies (JPEG 2000

    pictures). Also, ebook publishers can specify how the ebook is managed by

    anyone's software (it's part of the conventions established to conform to

    the Digital Millenium Copyright Act), and that can cause differences in what

    you can do with an ebook.

    ADE itself has some quirks. Sometimes, if you are downloading an ebook, and

    you choose 'OPEN' during the process, rather than 'SAVE', the ebook will

    transfer to ADE in the Reading panel, not the Library panel. You can still

    download the ebook to your Nook while the Reading panel is open, though.

    When it's on the Nook, it might not appear in ADE's Library view. It's

    caught me off-guard several times.

    There are ways to 'fix' some of these problems so that ADE and your Nook are

    showing the same thing. What you can't get around, though, are the digital

    rights assigned to the ebook itself.

    I hope this is helpful background. If you want more, lemme know, and I'll

    give you what processes I have for specific issues. Putting them in this

    post would make it unmanageable.

    ==================

    May 9, 2011

    Yes, I think my frustration is the lack of documentation on the product itself coupled with Adobe's unwillingness to respond to specific questions. Wishful thinking would give it some directory structure documentation so that those of us who are experienced can do some of our own fixes or cleanup. The uninstall/reinstall often gets to be a useless exercise in futility.

    Participating Frequently
    May 10, 2011

    RE: uninstalling. I've learned that you can 'uninstall' ADE on both or

    either your computer or your ebook reader. If you uninstall it on your

    computer (Windows PC), you have to empty the TRASH folder before

    reinstalling because ADE's installation routine will reactivate some of the

    files on your hard drive if they are there. If you uninstall it on your

    ereader, you can clear up some of the issues concerning authorisations.

    ==============

    May 8, 2011

    I agree with your post and share your frustration.  I think the problem is that you're stuck with whatever digital rights management scheme the publisher chooses, which is kind of a dumb model.   It's unclear whether publishers use multiple digital rights management schemes.  Perhaps those of us who are fed up with ADE should voice our opinions to publishers, who may listen because it affects their bottom lines. 

    I think there is a small Scottish company that does digital rights management in a way that sounds reasonable.  Maybe they can offer something that works better.  Hey, maybe Google can do this.  They do everything else ;-).

    Better still, someone can write a specification of how digital rights management programs should behave, to put the horse before the cart.