Adobe Digital Edition 1.5 final is available

[Hadrien]

Adobe released a final version of Digital Editions 1.5 yesterday.

According to the DE official blog:

Adobe has updated its popular Digital Editions software, a lightweight, rich Internet application for reading, acquiring and organizing digital books and other publications. Version 1.5 features enhanced DRM flexibility through named activation so that users can move content across platforms and mobile devices using an Adobe ID. In addition, ADE 1.5 is localized in French and German and has support for Mac® OSX 10.5 (Leopard). Adobe Digital Editions supports both PDF and IDPF EPUB, a standard format designed to reflow for the screens of mobile reading devices, which has gained broad acceptance among book publishers.

Adobe Digital Editions has over 1 million installations since the June 2007 launch. The new software will be automatically provided to users who have installed Digital Editions 1.0, and is available at the product site .

Adobe has also released an updated Digital Editions installer and launcher for distributors of eBooks. The installer is used to detect and install the latest version of ADE for retail or library customers of Adobe eBooks. The software is free to use and available with implementation instructions .

I've experienced some troubles updating DE on one of my computer, and a few users are experiencing the same bug: http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b53d03

To fix this:

Originally Posted by John Kendall

I've found a workaround. I downloaded the zipped exe file available from the following link and replaced the existing digitaleditions1x5.exe file.

http://www.adobe.com/go/kb403051

I assume that this exe is designed Vista, but it works fine on XP Pro.

Any thoughts on DE from Mobilereaders ? Now that DE 1.5 is ready, when can we expect support on mobile devices ? Will publishers start to massively support ePub now ?

[ProfJulie]

The quote you posted seems to indicate that mobile devices are supported in this version:

. . .features enhanced DRM flexibility through named activation so that users can move content across platforms and mobile devices using an Adobe ID. . .

By your question, this makes me think it Adobe Digital Editions still does not support mobile devices....so which is it?

I tried the first version, which messed me up quite a bit....I won't install this software again to my computer and attempt to use it with any DRM books until I am also able to use it on my Pocket PCs.

[Hadrien]

Well according to the features list, the desktop version of DE 1.5 can sync content to a mobile device.

But no mobile device has for the moment proper support for DE. Obviously, if they already added a way to sync content to mobile devices, support on mobile devices shouldn't be too far away...

[Steve Jordan]

If you're asking about hardware support for DE... like, on the Kindle or Sony Reader, etc... I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

It seems like the most the hardware companies only see their own proprietary formats as in their best interests, and don't seem to be too hep on supporting anything other than their own format (and perhaps PDF, as it is already ubiquitous). So they're not jumping on the ePub bandwagon... and DE is essentially a whole new interface for files, in formats they don't really want to support.

I don't expect any hardware makers to support DE until after they wholeheartedly support ePub, when and if they see ePub as within their best interests. Even then, if they don't see any benefit to their hardware for the DE interface, and their hardware will run ePub files without it, they might not support that.

[jplumey]

Check out Nate's post on the Sony DE announcement...

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

If you're asking about hardware support for DE... like, on the Kindle or Sony Reader, etc... I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

It seems like the most the hardware companies only see their own proprietary formats as in their best interests, and don't seem to be too hep on supporting anything other than their own format (and perhaps PDF, as it is already ubiquitous). So they're not jumping on the ePub bandwagon... and DE is essentially a whole new interface for files, in formats they don't really want to support.

I don't expect any hardware makers to support DE until after they wholeheartedly support ePub, when and if they see ePub as within their best interests. Even then, if they don't see any benefit to their hardware for the DE interface, and their hardware will run ePub files without it, they might not support that.

Nate just saw a live demo of DE on the 505. Guess you're wrong ;-)

[wallcraft]

What the DE Help says:

If you have authorized your computer, Adobe Digital Editions does not "lock" your eBooks and other digital publications to that computer — they are assigned to you through your Adobe ID. This means that you can transfer library items to up to six computers or supported mobile devices.

I assume the PRS-505 may be one of the first mobile devices, however the help implies that this transfer is a 5 step manual process.

[ProfJulie]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

What the DE Help says:


I assume the PRS-505 may be one of the first mobile devices, however the help implies that this transfer is a 5 step manual process.

Thanks for the clarification....seems it won't work on my Pocket PCs until Adobe comes up with a reader for it....so.....Adobe Digital Editions.....no thanks. Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader 7.0 works just fine for my needs.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by ProfJulie

Thanks for the clarification....seems it won't work on my Pocket PCs until Adobe comes up with a reader for it....so.....Adobe Digital Editions.....no thanks. Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader 7.0 works just fine for my needs.

Adobe Digital Edition also supports PDF files so these should go ok to a Pocket PC. Many seem to think that Digital Edition is only ePUB but that is not the case.

Dale

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Adobe Digital Edition also supports PDF files so these should go ok to a Pocket PC. Many seem to think that Digital Edition is only ePUB but that is not the case.

Dale

Yes, DE 1.5 can also display PDF pretty well. And according to Nate, DE on 505 can reflow PDF files too.

[ProfJulie]

Sure Digital Editions supports PDF files, but my issue with it is that it would not transfer DRM books to my Pocket PC so I could read them there. When I installed DE to my computer (well I didn't install it to my computer - it installed itself to my computer, but that's a different issue), DE automatically assigned itself as my default PDF reader. It took me quite a bit of time to get my computer back to normal again - even after uninstalling the software - and then I was locked out of the DRM books altogether! (this was an early version of DE).

I don't want to waste my time again installing this software and then find out that it still will not let me transfer DRM books to my Pocket PC. The library that I use to check out PDF books has pretty good documentation about the software to use to read these books and even includes PDAs. Up to now, the library has advised its patrons to avoid DE. I'll monitor the library's documentation about this and, when they say DE will work with my Pocket PC, then maybe I'll give it another try.

[pilotbob]

Some interesting stuff from the DE FAQ:

What is content portability? Some users have eBooks and other digital publications on their computers that have been licensed with Acrobat, Reader, or earlier versions of Digital Editions using Easy Activation. These items cannot be moved to a new computer and are, for all intents and purposes, locked inside a particular computer. To solve this problem, Digital Editions allows you to convert items to a license associated with a named account. This allows digital content to be backed up, copied, and read on other computers. All items subsequently downloaded to an authorized computer with Digital Editions are licensed to the named account.
Adobe wants your eBook experience to be as easy and seamless as possible. Naturally, this includes protecting your eBooks from being lost or damaged. This is one of the key reasons that Digital Editions features content portability.
This feature also enables a new breed of mobile devices designed to be used with Digital Editions. Furthermore, Digital Editions will be introducing new social features in the future that will enhance the use and enjoyment of the user's eBooks, such as sharing annotations and reading lists. Use of these social features will require that you have a personal identifier, even if you only use one computer.


What are the requirements to get an Adobe ID? An Adobe ID is a free and a nonintrusive way of identifying users — you need only provide a name, country, and e-mail address. You can create your Adobe ID when prompted within Digital Editions as you authorize your computer, or go directly to the Adobe.com membership site.

What is the maximum number of computers and devices that I can authorize? You can activate up to six computers and devices. If you reach the limit, contact Customer Service to increase your allowable activations.
Why do some PDF documents look different in Digital Editions than they do in Acrobat and Reader? Digital Editions utilizes Adobe PDF technology that has been optimized for small code size and lower system requirements. This technology has shipped in hundreds of millions of mobile phones and other embedded devices. It is optimized for performance and onscreen readability, rather than graphic arts or prepress-level fidelity. As a result, some minor differences in graphics and font rendering are to be expected. In addition, the Digital Editions PDF implementation does not support several enterprise-oriented PDF features. These features are not typically used in PDF-based eBooks, and if present, they are ignored but may cause certain documents to render incorrectly.

While we all know how much DRM sucks... having something that can span devices would be nice. Of course, Mobipocket offers this but not all devices support it. The more you see and read about eBook DRM the more you realize its not about protecting copywritten material it's about vendor lockin. So, those reader vendors that also have their own store will generally only support their own DRM. But, in that case it is interesting that it looks like Sony is going to support DE... I wonder if it will support the DE DRM. We'll see.

BOb

[Lemurion]

I still don't trust Adobe for eBooks.

[Steve Jordan]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Nate just saw a live demo of DE on the 505. Guess you're wrong ;-)

Well, shet my mouth and call me corn-pone! Yeah, I'm surprised, all right... didn't expect that from Sony. Hopefully it won't turn out to be a long wait for availability, too.

[Lemurion]

Further, Adobe probably doesn't mind letting others use their DRM as they neither make devices nor sell books directly. I think they're more interested in becoming the de-facto eBook standard the way they're already the de-facto printable document standard.