Out of curiousity, why would you need ADE activation? NOOK ePub books work without it. NonDRMed PDFs seem to work in QuickOffice, though with next to no functionality. Is it required for DRMed PDFs? Sony DRMed ePubs are easily deDRMED and sideloaded, and don't require ADE on the NC either. Well, I say that since I did not connect the NC, open ADE, then activate it. I assume you have to manually do so.