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Question

What's the procedure for backing up e-books in ADE?

Forum|Forum|14 years ago
April 11, 2012
1 reply
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Hello!

Well, I have checked the FAQ section about Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) and found no answer to this question. Also, there is no documentation available for ADE. (You need to add this in Adobe.) Thankfully there is this forum available.

I am using Windows Vista Home Premium at the moment. Now, say I want to upgrade to Windows 7. And I want to do a custom, or "clean" install which results in formatting the entire system disk drive. I have 10 purchased books and 5 borrowed books in my library in ADE. How do I save these? If I just copy them over to an external disk drive, can I just copy them back to the system disk after installing Windows 7 and continue to read them? Or will I get an error saying that I don't have the rights, or that they are registered to different user?...

The FAQ can be found here:

http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/faq/

I already have an Adobe ID and I have typed it in the first time I installed ADE, so I guess my computer is considered "authorized" now. What does this mean anyway? Is there some special license file that is downloaded to my computer or what?... In that case I assume I would need to backup this file for later use when restoring e-books and installing ADE. Or is this false?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Sameer GAuthor

Known Participant

No answers yet?

When borrowing e-books from libraries I always get new files titled URLLink.acsm, URLLink (1).acsm, URLLink (2).acsm, etc. When I double-click on them Adobe Digital Editions opens up and downloads the actual e-book as a PDF file. But what do you do with the URLLink.acsm file? Is it safe to delete it? Is it required if you for example want to download the same book but on a different computer or another device? This type of book can be downloaded on up to five devices, right?

Frustrated in AZ

Participating Frequently

Hi Sameer

.ascm files contain information ADE uses to find the ebook, plus

information from the publisher/distributor about the ebook's digital rights

management. Once the ebook has been downloaded, ADE should be deleting the

.ascm file. If you have any 'left over', then it's possible that the ebook

was not downloaded. Use your computer's utility program to find the file

and then open it with ADE and see if that's the case. If it's already

there, ADE will tell you.

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

Sameer GAuthor

Known Participant

Sameer and Wanda, you've both provided additional information that does

make a difference.

Rest assured that what I said about ADE and its interaction with .ascm

files is correct. What is happening is probably at the source. Sameer

said that he's downloading files from his library. While Wanda hasn't said

that, I'm going to go out on a limb and 'assume' (a dangerous thing to do)

that the source she's using does the same thing as Sameer's library.

That's what it sounds like from reading the posts.

Libraries and many other download sites often use the Overdrive Media suite

of programs for their downloading. That suite needs to be configured to

operate with other software, and that's not required by the programs. The

simplest configuration does NOT look at your computer to determine whether

you have ADE installed or not. That means the technical support function

at the source can just slam in the software and walk away. In those

instances, Overdrive just asks you where to put the download, downloads the

.ascm file, and then closes. Sounds to me like this is happening to both

of you.

Sameer, I was telling you indeed that you should have registered with Adobe

and obtained an Adobe ID BEFORE you downloaded Digital Editions, so that

your copy of DE would have the appropriate information embedded in it, and

the Adobe server would have information about your copy filed on it. And,

because it's possible to bypass this process, ADE could be installed

without registration. And there are 'issues' at times if the ADE copy is

not registered. For example, your download site may be looking for ADE

during the download process, but does not find a 'registered' copy, and

thus assumes that you don't have ADE, downloads the .ascm file and closes.

Both of you may benefit from contacting the technical support function of

your download sites and discussing with them how their sites are supposed

to interact with Digital Editions. If it's a library, then their tech

support can configure Overdrive to interact directly with ADE - IF they

want to do that. A source like B&N already has configurations that support

ADE - I've downloaded many ebooks from them and it operated seamlessly, as

I described. So, Wanda, if you're having these issues with B&N, I'm

thinking that it might have to do with their interface and how it works

with a Mac.

Wada, you mention 'disappearing' ebooks. And you mention not being able to

copy ebooks to your Nook. Mac software upgrades or security settings may

be responsible in part. B&N also upgraded their Nook software - and the

Nook Simple is not on the list of supported devices. You can check THIS

LINK <http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/supported-devices> to see

whether any of the other ereaders you mention are on the list. If the

ebooks are disappearing only on the Mac, I can't help you beyond this

point, because I'm really a PC guy. Takes all kinds.....

The copy problem may be something else. Publishers, distributors,

libraries and authors have the ability to set up 'digital rights' for their

ebooks. Those rights - labelled DRM for short - can prevent you from

copying and printing their works. ADE, just as the other ebook management

systems, has to use these rights to manage the ebook. If you're getting

messages from ADE telling you 'no right to copy here' or something like

that, then it's the digital rights that won't let you do it. There's

nothing wrong with ADE. You can try going back to your source and

discussing this with them.

There's more that we can discuss, but this is a pretty lengthly post, so

let's cut off here and resume if necessary.

All that said, yes 'AZ' is the abbreviation for Arizona.

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

Well, first of all, I am using Firefox 3.6.28 on Vista 64-bit SP2. The ADE version is 1.7.2.1131.

In ADE, when I click the Library menu and then Authorize Computer, I get a message saying "this computer has been authorized to" followed by my e-mail.

So ADE was already activated and authorized on the current computer.

But I decided to install it again.

1. I uninstalled ADE.
2. Reboot!
3. www.adobe.com
4. Logged on with Adobe ID.
5. Installed ADE from "http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/#fp".
6. ADE was downlaoded and installed with all the components.

ADE started automatically after install. All the previously downloaded books were present in the ADE library.

Now, the source I used for the e-books was E-lib. It's one of major distributors of e-books in Sweden, and the major one used for borrowing e-books in Swedish libraries.

Link: http://www.elib.se/

After authentication and chosing the book, the download link looks like this:

(do not click it, it's not valid)

https://www.elib.se/webservices/fulfillment/?datax=

It's followed by a 104 character long string.

I decided to borrow a new book. The borrow link looks like this:

http://ebok.gotabiblioteken.se/LoanBook.aspx?isbn=

It's followed by the ISBN number of the book and then &format=## which specifies the format (if the book is available in more than one format).

After clicking on the download link Firefox asks what I want to do with the file.

"Opening URLLink.ascm
You have chosen to open
URLLink.ascm
which is: Adobe Content Server Message
from: http://acs.elib.se
What should Firefox do with this file?"

I chose to open with Adobe Digital Editions from the list of programs.

The file was downloaded, ADE started, it downloaded the book and placed it in its library.

But if I right click the URLLink.ascm item from the list in the Downlods (Ctrl+J) window in Firefox, and then pick "Open Containing Folder", it takes me to following directory:

C:\Users\Sameer\AppData\Local\Temp

So from this I can conclude that...

1. The ASCM file type is properly associated with Adobe Digital Editions on the computer. Although for some reason this file type has no icon of its own, like one of those files that don't have a program association.

2. The file is apparently just downloaded to the Temp folder if I chose to open it right from the browser window, and it is not deleted by Adobe Digital Editions afterwards.

After viewing the Temp folder and then clicking the ADE program button on the task bar to view the book again ADE crashed for some reason. It was alright just seconds ago, and it showed me the front page of the book right after downloading it.

So that's that...

Perhaps ADE was trying to delete the above mentioned file but failed to do so because I was viewing it in Windows Explorer? Although I was only viewing its folder, the Temp folder. I was not actually opening the file. So I wouldn't expect it to be related to "file already in use by other program" kind of thing (conflict).

Whatever...

I did repeat the steps again and borrowed and downloaded a second e-book in the same file format (PDF) from the same source. However, this time it all worked perfectly. ADE did not crash this time. Although it didn't delete the ASCM file this time either.

So there you have it...

I don't think I can test this any more thoroughly. But I will check to see what happens if I download from a different source. I will try buying an e-book from some e-book store. I might give you feedback on that too.

So the simple solution here appears to be to simply chose to open the file in your browser when it asks you what you want to do with it. Or you may as well save it like I do, to your desktop for example. This gives you an easier way of deleting the file manually after you have downloaded the book in ADE (by double clicking on it). It's easier than going to the AppData\Local\Temp folder.

At some later point I might do a binary comparison of the ADE installer downloaded without logging in to Adobe website with Adobe ID, and the one downloaded without logging in. I will use a comparison tool, not just look at the file sizes. I would not expect it to be any different.

The key here appears to be the activation of ADE and authentication of the device. And you can do this the first time you install it on the computer. ADE will ask you the first time you start it if you would like to authenticate your computer or not. And if you chose to do so you will have to give it your Adobe ID and password. In other words, you will not have to go to the Adobe website and log in, and then download and install ADE to get your device authenticated. You can do that right in the ADE program.

If you have not done the authentication the first time you installed ADE, you can simply click the "Library" menu in the top left corner next to the view modes buttons, and then click "Authenticate Comptuer" and follow the on-screen instructions.

I will get back to you after purchasing some e-book from a different source or store.

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