Archive for the ‘adobe digital editions problems’ tag
The Problem With DRM no comments
A few days ago Adobe finally let me back into my Digital Editions account so that I could once again access the content that I had bought and paid for. This after four weeks of waiting and some very irate emails on my part. I only have a few titles in my ADE account as I have not used it since I got rid of my Sony Touch a few months ago, but I did have unread books to get to.
I received no explanation for the problem or advice on how to avoid it in the future, but I presume what happened was that ADE counted the unsuccessful attempts to activate my Bebook Neo ereader as actual activations and after a few tries locked me out of the account with the dreaded “too many activations” error.
I should point out that this is not simply a Neo ereader problem. If you look at Adobe’s Digital Editions forums you will see that a number of people have had similar problems with other devices, including PC’s and quite a few Sony ereaders.
Several years ago when I had about $30 worth of digital music downloads I had bought one day become useless because of broken DRM and could get no help from the seller, I decided that I would have no more DRM’ed music in my collection. Fortunately, Amazon started selling DRM-free music at about the same time.
With ebooks I am more accepting of DRM as, unlike my music which I listen to repeatedly, I will probably read an ebook only once. In the past when I have wanted to reread a paper book after some years, I have usually had to buy a new copy as I had probably given away or otherwise disposed of the original. This could perhaps be seen as a kind of organic DRM substitute for pbooks. After my experience with Adobe I do find myself questioning the wisdom of having a DRM’ed reference ebook that I will want to continuously access over a longer period of time.
I do not advocate piracy. I want the artists who create the content I use and enjoy to be able to make a living from it and to be able to continue to create new work. I always pay for my digital music and ebooks unless it is a free promotional item. I realize that publishers and distributers feel that they need DRM to protect themselves. This is the world we live in.
Piracy is wrong. But when paying customers cannot use content that they have paid for because of broken DRM it is just as wrong. And when is the last time you have heard of a publisher or distributer commiserating with customers who have suffered because of malfunctioning DRM?
When DRM does not work properly and paying customers are prevented from accessing the ebooks or music or other digital content that they have paid for then it can actually encourage piracy. When consumers are faced with this situation they may very well feel that they are justified in removing the DRM or obtaining a pirated copy of content they have paid for but cannot use. When searching for the tools to do this on the Web they are quite likely to come across other items they would like to have that are not yet available in their desired format. Many will feel justified in downloading these pirated copies as compensation for the wasted time and hassle the broken DRM has caused them. Talk about slippery slopes!
The organizations that make and maintain DRM systems also need to stop treating customers who have problems as criminals – they are not! Pirates don’t go to customer service and complain that they are having trouble accessing their content. The argument that DRM does not prevent piracy but instead hampers paying customers from using what they have paid for has more than a little validity.
After my experience, and seeing the experiences of others on Adobe’s and other forums, I would say that avoiding ADE is a good reason for buying a Kindle ereader. If you have a problem with something you buy from Amazon you can call their customer service and usually get it straightened out right away.
To be fair, Amazon only has to handle DRM for one ereader – the Kindle, which is manufactured under their auspices. Adobe on the other hand makes a DRM system that is used by a number of different ereaders made by many different companies. Some incompatibilities are probably the fault of the software used by the various hardware manufacturers. But that is the business plan that Adobe has chosen for themselves, so they need to do it right.
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Bebook Neo Unboxing no comments
Imagine a tech company that not only gets its new gadget out by the
announced date but even manages to fill the preorders a week early. This is what Bebook has done with the Neo ereader, which I received a couple of days ago.
As you can see in the pic, the Neo comes with a USB cable and quick start guide. No sleeve or cover. In fact Bebook does not yet have covers for the Neo. I suspect that nook covers might fit the Neo as the two ereaders are almost the same size, but I have not been able to try that out yet.
I like the Neo, but I have had a couple of problems. First of all, I have not yet been able to make my wireless network available to it so I have so far been
unable to use the Wi-Fi. This is disappointing as one of the interesting features of the Neo is the ebook store portal. I also have a problem with Adobe Digital Editions and have not yet been able to read a book with ADE DRM. More on that later.
Some things I like so far:
- The ereader itself seems to be well built and feels very solid; comes with a 24 month guarantee.
- When you zoom in on PDF documents your zoom is maintained when you turn pages – you don’t have to zoom in again for each page as you do with some other ereaders. There is a panning function as well.
- The Wacom – based display gives you some of the benefits of a touchscreen without sacrificing display quality.
- Both Onyx – which manufacturers the hardware – and Bebook are working to add features. The latest firmware from Onyx has been successfully installed on the Neo, and presumably the Neo firmware from Bebook will also work on the Onyx Boox 60 when it is available for download. If you prefer one firmware over another you should be able to choose.
Everything on the Neo ereader does not work perfectly yet. Unlike the nook, which when released by Barnes & Noble felt barely functional to me, the Neo is quite usable and just feels like most of the foundations of the features are in place but some of them need to be fleshed out more or further refined. Some of the problem areas I’ve found so far:
- The dictionary function needs lots of work.
- Annotation feature is not yet fully implemented. You can highlight, and on PDF documents you can do freehand drawing and notes. There is also a notepad feature where you can draw and write.
There are also a couple of features that may not appeal to some:
- No page turning buttons on the sides of the ereader. The control ring at the bottom is used instead. It works fine for me, even when reading in bed while holding the Neo with one hand, but side buttons would add convenience if you want to change position. You can also use the stylus to do a page turning swipe.
- Some do not like using a stylus. For me the stylus is much better than the screen glare associated with other types of touchscreens.
Overall I like the Neo ereader so far and think that it will be a keeper for me. My biggest problem right now is getting Adobe Digital Editions to work.
When I connected the Neo to my computer ADE asked if I wanted to activate it. I clicked yes and the program seemed to do the activation. There were certainly no error messages telling me that the activation process had been unsuccessful. However, when I tried to open a book with DRM by ADE the Neo was unable to open it. So I reconnected and Adobe asked me again if I wanted to activate the ereader. I went through this process several times, tried deleting the book and reinstalling it with the same result. Then Adobe spit out the “too many activations” error. So I had to submit a service ticket to Adobe and am waiting for them to reset my counter so that I can try again.
When looking at Adobe’s DE forums I find a number of people there with the same problem with various brands of ereaders or with their computers. Many are irate because they are waiting a long time for Adobe to fix their problem by resetting their account and cannot access books they have paid for in the meantime. This is DRM hell of the worst possible kind. Adobe really needs to get this straightened out. One poster even asks if Adobe works for Amazon and gets rewarded for converting people into Kindle buyers.
