Adobe Digital Editions--Aaaarrrr!

[gentlemanbeggar]

Originally Posted by Killing Floor

Quite frankly, if I was in that situation, I'd just strip the DRM.

I have no qualms about stripping the DRM from a file I've downloaded, my biggest problem comes in with the fact that I don't seem to be able to download the file at all unless I have an activated version of ADE installed and running. Unless I'm missing something?

[Killing Floor]

Originally Posted by gentlemanbeggar

I have no qualms about stripping the DRM from a file I've downloaded, my biggest problem comes in with the fact that I don't seem to be able to download the file at all unless I have an activated version of ADE installed and running. Unless I'm missing something?

If you have the .ascm file, and use a new Adobe ID, you should be able to download the book. To the best of my knowledge, the book isn't tied to a digital ID until after the download.

The books already downloaded will still be tied to the ID it was downloaded under.

Then you'll have to decide whether to strip the DRM on the old books, or wait until you sort things out with Adobe to get the activations reset.

[speedlever]

I don't have a great deal of confidence in Adobe's support. They give me a totally bogus reason for why they can't have an option to change the default download location for ADE.

For example, "It is not possible to move the default location of the books from where these are downloaded by default error will occur and the DRM functionality will not work and Adobe thinks that it would not a preferable by anyone to have his/her purchased ebooks read by someone else who should not be able to do so."

I started to reply to this, and then just figured it's not worth the effort. Their first response was far better than the last one I received (and quoted above.)

[Killing Floor]

Originally Posted by speedlever

I don't have a great deal of confidence in Adobe's support. They give me a totally bogus reason for why they can't have an option to change the default download location for ADE.

For example, "It is not possible to move the default location of the books from where these are downloaded by default error will occur and the DRM functionality will not work and Adobe thinks that it would not a preferable by anyone to have his/her purchased ebooks read by someone else who should not be able to do so."

I started to reply to this, and then just figured it's not worth the effort. Their first response was far better than the last one I received (and quoted above.)

The bold doesn't make any sense. If you can have ADE with the same ID assigned to it on 6 devices, any of the 6 devices can be the "default location." I know the books I borrowed from my library with DRM protection could be downloaded to my work pc, home desktop, then finally my netbook. This was before I got the "too many activations" message, of course.

I don't know about purchased books though. I don't have confidence in Adobe in much of anything.

[speedlever]

I only know that when I d/l an ebook that requires ADE, it comes as an acsm file and ADE takes that and d/l the book. By default the d/l book is stored on my C:\ drive. I merely wish to change the default d/l location. Sure, I can cut and paste, but I'd prefer not to and wouldn't have to if I could change the default d/l location. But Adobe, in their infinite wisdom, refuses to allow the possibility. So I cut and paste.

I despise programs that prevent me from choosing the option where I want my data stored.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by gentlemanbeggar

Well, thanks to Adobe's ineptitude, the ebook reader world has potentially lost a very lucrative customer. TWGW (The World's Greatest Wife) has sworn off e-reading entirely because of a glitch in the Adobe DRM. She bought a book last night from the Kobo site. It was an Adobe Digital Editions ePub. Well, she went to download the file and when ADE came up, it asked her to activate her computer (like it has every time she's opened the program)--so she typed in her adobeID and password...

"Too many activations"

So now, we have to submit a trouble ticket to Adobe and ask them to reset her activations. That will allow her to get the book, but after she logs into the program 5 or 6 times, she's just going to get locked out again. I've searched the web and the only discussion I can find of this same issue had its last post over a year ago. The only solution I've seen thus far is advice from a senior adobe tech saying "create a new user account and reinstall ADE under that user name." ಠ_ಠ

I really despise DRM. It's stuff like this that makes honest people into pirates.

I'm thinking maybe you have some security software and when ADE went to write to the registry, you may have answered the request incorrectly and thus, your security software isn't allowing ADE to work properly. If you did, having Adobe reset your account is not going to truly fix things.

[Killing Floor]

Originally Posted by speedlever

I only know that when I d/l an ebook that requires ADE, it comes as an acsm file and ADE takes that and d/l the book. By default the d/l book is stored on my C:\ drive. I merely wish to change the default d/l location. Sure, I can cut and paste, but I'd prefer not to and wouldn't have to if I could change the default d/l location. But Adobe, in their infinite wisdom, refuses to allow the possibility. So I cut and paste.

I despise programs that prevent me from choosing the option where I want my data stored.

Oohhh- when you say default location, do you mean My Digital Editions, within My Documents? Yeah, I know what you mean, as I like to store data on a separate partition. Guess you could always create a shortcut you can put in your Send To menu to make the process a bit easier, if you haven't done so already.

[Jim Lester]

Originally Posted by speedlever

I don't have a great deal of confidence in Adobe's support. They give me a totally bogus reason for why they can't have an option to change the default download location for ADE.

For example, "It is not possible to move the default location of the books from where these are downloaded by default error will occur and the DRM functionality will not work and Adobe thinks that it would not a preferable by anyone to have his/her purchased ebooks read by someone else who should not be able to do so."

I would say confused (as is most of our admittedly poor tech support, when you get beyond the script).

There are a few reasons we haven't moved from the default locations of (My) Document/(My) Digital Editions:

1.) The location for the manifest (the metadata about the library) is fixed in case other RMSDK customers want to use it (so far none have, Sony, Kobo, and B&N prefer to maintain their own separate libraries for instance).

2.) Simplicity - You will notice that in ADE there are no preferences/settings, as the UI designers were trying to make the application as simple as possible to use. With no settings there is no way to change anything from the default.

3.) Time/Budget for adding new features. Because of 1 and 2, allowing users to change the download location is not a high priority feature (and to be blunt, probably never will be).


As for the quote itself:

Originally Posted by Nameless Adobe Tech Support

It is not possible to move the default location of the books from where these are downloaded by default

True, mostly, see below

error will occur

ADE keeps the library in the (My) Documents/(My) Digital Editions. If you move the location of the My Documents folder on Windows you will also move the location of the My Digital Editions folder. However the User-to-User and mobile read forums are littered with various cases of people who after moving their My Document folder get a can't "Find My Digital Editions folder" error, which results in varying degrees of frustration.

and the DRM functionality will not work

Outright false.

and Adobe thinks that it would not a preferable by anyone to have his/her purchased ebooks read by someone else who should not be able to do so.

Well Yes - that's the point of Content Licensing, but that has nothing to do with the question at hand, and is not the reasons why we are in a non configurable folder.

Also, you can move the files after they are downloaded (remove from library and re-add to the library from new location), but I agree that this isn't the same, and definitely isn't a great user experience.

--
Jim Lester
Engineering Lead - Digital Publishing Services
Adobe Systems

[Dulin's Books]

Thanks Jim for piping in here.

[speedlever]

Jim,

Thanks for parsing that reply for me. I really appreciate your input.

In my case, I use a SSD for my OS drive. I really don't like needless file activity happening on it but I have no choice with ADE. I understand the desire to keep things simple and minimize support issues. But a little flexibility would sure help out.

As you suggested, my work-around it to just move the book after it downloads. It is what it is.

Edit: apologies to the op for the thread HJ.

[Killing Floor]

Hey, where'd Jim go? Maybe he can fix our problems while we have his attention!

[Jim Lester]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm thinking maybe you have some security software and when ADE went to write to the registry, you may have answered the request incorrectly and thus, your security software isn't allowing ADE to work properly. If you did, having Adobe reset your account is not going to truly fix things.

One other possibility that has caused problems for people is the browser sandbox. Try launching ADE from the desktop Icon, instead of launching it from the browser (either using the flash launcher, or from having it auto launch from downloading a .acsm file, will get you in a browser sandbox). The browser sandbox depending upon the Windows version, and IE version (or different browser version), gets you to a point where the program thinks it has write access to the registry, when it doesn't. For ADE this means we think we have stored the activation information in the registry, but actually it's only done in memory. Once the program exits it's gone.

[Jim Lester]

Originally Posted by Killing Floor

Hey, where'd Jim go?

Unfortunately, my attention has been elsewhere recently, and keeping track of MobileRead is like drinking from a firehose. My MobileRead activity of late has been mostly getting my face wet, while missing everything else that is happening (such as not noticing this thread at all)

[Killing Floor]

Well, well- miracles do happen. I just received an email from Adobe, and they reset my ID. I just logged into my netbook, deauthorized the ID there (Ctrl+shift+D) then authorized ADE using the original ID I had.

So, to Gentlemanbeggar, if you haven't opened a web-based case with Adobe, I suggest you do so. I initiated my case yesterday, but wasn't hopeful about anything.

Maybe Jim Lester's appearance here sped things along, lol.

[gentlemanbeggar]

Thanks for stopping in Jim, and I really do appreciate that you take the time to check in on threads like this, it's kind of nice to have "a man on the inside" so to speak. I don't mean any disrespect to adobe, but man this kind of thing is just darned frustrating.