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_Dan_Semaya_
Participant
December 6, 2008
Question

Reading eBooks without Digital Editions?

  • December 6, 2008
  • 8 replies
  • 10441 views
I purchased three eBooks from Peachpit online that claimed they were for use with Adobe Reader, however I can only get them to work in Digital Editions (Reader complains about the DRM and prompts me to open DE).

Digital Editions is a horrible application and I dread launching it. It has awful keyboard navigation and makes reading the using these eBooks extremely difficult. While I'm no fan of Acrobat or Adobe Reader (I prefer Preview) it at least only sucks half as much.

I purchased eBooks that are supposed to work in Adobe Reader but yet they don't. Should I be asking for a refund?
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    8 replies

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    Fudus
    Participant
    April 12, 2009

    I really wish they'd let Adobe Reader open the files, as it is a much better viewer than DE is. So many problems with scrolling, and Reader works fine. Why did they have to make another program when they have Reader already?

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    _Margaret_Mills_
    Participant
    March 29, 2009
    Are there any plans to add support for Palm devices in Digital Editions? My online Library system just switched all their Adobe e-books to DE, and now I can't read any of them. I'm really angry about this!
    J
    JulieMercier17
    Participant
    April 11, 2009

    Ditto.  I enjoyed many months of reading my ebooks on Palm using the older Adobe Reader.  Why screw things up for everyone? I certainly don't plan to read these books at my computer.  That's what I carry the Palm for (among other things).  Thanks, Adobe, for leaving us out in the cold.

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    _Jayaram_Rajaram_
    Participant
    March 5, 2009
    I think its time that all of us start boycotting Digital Editions! I was happy publishing eBooks in PDF from word Docs and now have no idea as to how I can create eBooks for Digital Editions from MS Word master files!
    A
    Anonymous
    January 15, 2009
    There is currently no Palm devices support Adobe DRM (or ePub viewing in particular).

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    Jim Lester
    Adobe System
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    _terririchardson_
    Participant
    January 15, 2009
    Hi

    Ok i have just discovered the wonders of digital editions. I got a zire 31 palm for christmas and just bought two books from waterstones which were in epub format. I was told on the site i would need to install digital editions which i did. When i looke at the digital editions website it said i would be able to transfer my ebooks to my palm and read them using adobe for palm os as long as i activated both my computer and palm on their website which i did. However when i try to put my new ebboks onto my palm via adobe for palm os (latest edition) it says it does not support this format. Is this something i am doing wrong of is there still problems with digital editions which is preventing me from doing so?

    Is there any way of getting my ebooks (epub) onto my palm or is it just waiting for adobe to get their act together?

    Thanks is advance for any responses
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    _Elle_Ricci_
    Participant
    January 5, 2009
    Well i have many books in the digital editions format. I had no choice. When I went to down load the adobe book it made me download DE first.
    So I hope they keep it around as I am not sure if the vendor will let me re-download purchases made several years ago in another format.

    Also, is there some way to create an APP for Iphone so that I can read DE on it? Several other secured formats are readable on the iphone, such as secured ereader docs. While I like the way they read on the iphone, I do not like the way they read on my desktop.
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    _Dan_K__Thomson_
    Participant
    January 2, 2009
    It appears Adobe has no clear concept of DRM, Security and Licencing. I haven't used ADE before but having bought a eBook (ACSM) recently. Few things observed about ADE.
    (1) It doesn't even recognized the orginal machine on which the eBook was first downloaded and authorized.
    (2) The choice during installation of ADE to use Authorized or non-Authorized user on the machine has to be eliminated. It seems ADE is very strict on using Authorized account. Any previous protected items will not be accessable if the authorized user changes.
    (3) There is no distinct anonymous user identity on the same machine. If you change from un-Authorized (anonymous) to Authorized account and later de-Authorize. Don't assume de-authorization of ADE restores back to anonymous account. It doesn't mantain any footprint on the machine.

    Looks like there are some knuckle heads who have design this product.
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    _Daniel_Crichton_
    Participant
    December 9, 2008
    If you have Digital Editions already installed then you won't be able to open them with Reader. If you have only Reader 6 or Reader 7 installed then it might work if they are distributed using the older ACS that uses the etd files, if they were delivered using acsm files then they will only work with Digital Editions. Adobe removed all ebook handling from Reader 8 onwards and forced the use of Digital Editions - as a retailer we're not happy about this as it has caused huge numbers of technical support queries over the past year, and killed a number of features that Reader 6/7 supported like Read Aloud and cross PDF hyperlinking. I often feel that Adobe are trying to kill of PDF ebooks by getting everyone to hate the interface so much that they no longer buy them, and then silently close down the DE section without any uproar from their former customers.
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