What should you use for your Adobe ID?

[jusmee]

When I go to their website to establish an ID, it suggests that it is usually your email address that is used as an ID. If I am going to spend good money on books, I don't want to lose them because I change ISP and hence my email address changes.

So what is the best thing to do here - just invent an obscure ID? Does it let me configure an email address later that I can use in case I lose my password or they need to contact me (and can I change that address when I change ISP)?

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by jusmee

When I go to their website to establish an ID, it suggests that it is usually your email address that is used as an ID. If I am going to spend good money on books, I don't want to lose them because I change ISP and hence my email address changes.

So what is the best thing to do here - just invent an obscure ID? Does it let me configure an email address later that I can use in case I lose my password or they need to contact me (and can I change that address when I change ISP)?

You can change your ID / Email address if you want to.

Or, get a permanent address like a gmail or live addy and set it up to forward email to your ISP account. I haven't used my ISPs email account for over 10 years.

BOb

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

You can change your ID / Email address if you want to.

Or, get a permanent address like a gmail or live addy and set it up to forward email to your ISP account. I haven't used my ISPs email account for over 10 years.

BOb

So if you change the ID, won't all the books you bought with the old ID be unreadable?

[edembowski]

Two things:

-As Bob siad, don't use an ISP's email address. I have my own domain that's hosted with Google (for free) and I get my email there. Even if Google decides to get out of the email business, I still keep the same email address. I have never needed an ISP's email address. Ever.

- You should decrypt all of your purchases as soon as possible. Most major formats, including ePub, have been broken. As much as I'd like to buy non-DRM'd books, it's not always possible. If you decrypt your books, you won't need to worry about an email address change.

I really don't know if the keys change if you change the address, but I would be very surprised if that was the case. This isn't like the eReader encryption which was tied to the credit card. With ADE the keys are kept seperately, so an email address change (or even a name change) should not be a problem.

- Ed

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by edembowski

Two things:

-As Bob siad, don't use an ISP's email address. I have my own domain that's hosted with Google (for free) and I get my email there. Even if Google decides to get out of the email business, I still keep the same email address. I have never needed an ISP's email address. Ever.

- You should decrypt all of your purchases as soon as possible. Most major formats, including ePub, have been broken. As much as I'd like to buy non-DRM'd books, it's not always possible. If you decrypt your books, you won't need to worry about an email address change.

I really don't know if the keys change if you change the address, but I would be very surprised if that was the case. This isn't like the eReader encryption which was tied to the credit card. With ADE the keys are kept seperately, so an email address change (or even a name change) should not be a problem.

- Ed

OK thanks.

You know, if Adobe really think the DRM issue is settled, they need to address all these niggles with the way they do it now. Without (or even with) the help from people here, how would I (if I was a non-computer person) deal with it. I'd probably not even be aware of possible issue - and might well lose my purchased books at some future time.

but again, thanks for the help

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by jusmee

So if you change the ID, won't all the books you bought with the old ID be unreadable?

No... I am guessing (assuming facts not in evidence just my history in designing databases and such) that your provided ID not the actually encryption key. I would expect that a key is generated when you create your ID and that is in fact what is used. So, when you change your ID your are just changing the value you use, not what the computer uses.

It is like changing your cell phone number. Your phone still works because it still has the same electronic serial number. The just associate your new phone number with the same ESN and everything still works.

BOb

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

No... I am guessing (assuming facts not in evidence just my history in designing databases and such) that your provided ID not the actually encryption key. I would expect that a key is generated when you create your ID and that is in fact what is used. So, when you change your ID your are just changing the value you use, not what the computer uses.

It is like changing your cell phone number. Your phone still works because it still has the same electronic serial number. The just associate your new phone number with the same ESN and everything still works.

BOb

This is quite interesting. How, then, does a 3rd party website/bookstore, deliver me an ebook with DRM in it based on the Adobe ID? They might know my ID, but since they don't have the password not the "electronic serial number", how do they obtain the necessary info to lock the ebook to my ID?

[charleski]

Originally Posted by jusmee

This is quite interesting. How, then, does a 3rd party website/bookstore, deliver me an ebook with DRM in it based on the Adobe ID? They might know my ID, but since they don't have the password not the "electronic serial number", how do they obtain the necessary info to lock the ebook to my ID?

I'd think that the actual encryption is done by Adobe. The website's servers just feed Adobe with your ID and the unencrypted content, and Adobe sends back the DRMd ePub.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by charleski

I'd think that the actual encryption is done by Adobe. The website's servers just feed Adobe with your ID and the unencrypted content, and Adobe sends back the DRMd ePub.

Really? What a messy convoluted system! Really ties you into Adobe too. Lucky my eReader is an Astak, open source and they can change the DRM they use if Adobe becomes a problem. They've already changed once, away from Mobipocket DRM.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

You can change your ID / Email address if you want to.

Or, get a permanent address like a gmail or live addy

Hrmp. "Permanent"

I'll stick with my own domain name, registered via GoDaddy...

[pwarren]

As far as I can tell, Adobes ADEPT DRM is based on publick key cryptography, so when you generate an ID, you get a public key, and a private key. When the bookseller receives your public key (via Digital Editions, the UrlLink.asc file tells DE where to send it), it can then encrpyt the file so that only you with the private key can decrypt it. This public/private key pair would not necessarily rely on any particular email address.

Have a read of wikipedia for a more detailed insight http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Key_Cryptography

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by jusmee

How, then, does a 3rd party website/bookstore, deliver me an ebook with DRM in it based on the Adobe ID?

The bookstore gives you a "permission slip" to download the ebook. It is Desktop Adobe Digital Editions that actually initiates the ebook download, based on the permission slip and your AdobeID. So the bookstore does not need to know your AdobeID.

[edembowski]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

No... I am guessing (assuming facts not in evidence just my history in designing databases and such) that your provided ID not the actually encryption key. ...

It's not. You can see the key in the registry [for windows] or the activation.dat [for mac]. If the key were based on the ID, tehn regenerating the keys for arbitrary ID's would be trivial.

Originally Posted by jusmee

This is quite interesting. How, then, does a 3rd party website/bookstore, deliver me an ebook with DRM in it based on the Adobe ID? They might know my ID, but since they don't have the password not the "electronic serial number", how do they obtain the necessary info to lock the ebook to my ID?

OK, to answer this, let's get into a little crypto, but in English:

There is a key pair that's generated, one is a public key, and the matching one is the private key. What one key does, the other undoes. If I want to send you something that only you can encrypt, I will encrypt it with your *public* key. You (and only you) can decrypt it with your private key. The reverse is true as well.

Now, Adobe uses what's called a "key escrow system". That means that they hold a copy of both the public and private keys. When you log in to ADE fro the first time with your ID, it downloads the private key from Adobe to your computer (maybe the public too, I'm not sure about that). We can prove that this is true by going to another computer and setting up ADE there as well. The key is the same.

When you buy a book, the seller gets a copy of your public key and encrypts the book before sending to you. Since they encrypted it with your public key, you (and only you) can decrypt it with your private key.

I hope this helps.

- Ed

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by edembowski

When you buy a book, the seller gets a copy of your public key and encrypts the book before sending to you. Since they encrypted it with your public key, you (and only you) can decrypt it with your private key.

Bottom line, changing your ID will not make all your previously d/l-ed books no longer work.

So, no worries.

BOb

[Jim Lester]

Changing the email address used for your AdobeID will not cause your problems or lose access to your books (the association happens through an account ID that you never see). But you do want you AdobeID to be valid email address. If you forget your password, the only way to reset it is by getting a reset email send to the current registered email address.