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Nate the great · 08-20-2007, 10:09 PM

Do you know how Rlauzon says that you don't own a DRMed ebook, you just rent it? Well, that may be the literal truth the DRMed PDFs.

I copied the important posts here because registration is required.
http://bar.baen.com/WB/default.asp?a...=113201&fid=76

First Message:

Simon Horvat
Do a Google on
Adobe "This document cannot be opened on this machine"

It makes for interesting reading

Every once in a while I buy a text, or Fiction, in encrypted PDF, PRC or LIT, 'cause that was the only way an e-Book version was available. ie Hallowed Hunt by McMaster Bujold, Donald Moffitt, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Windows Texts, etc

I won't be making that mistake in future

I have 33 books that I used to be able to open in Acrobat Reader 6 & 7. On my new machine Acrobat 8 won't allow me to open them. I gather because they were downloaded on different machines and there is no way to register the new machine at Adobe with the old UserID/Password. You could register up to 6 Acro 6 or 7 machines but that feature isn't available in Acro 8.

Adobe's solution, re-download them from the vendor. Ha !
-Adobe shut their own shop, so I can't download from them

- Amazon only guarantees the e-Books for a limited period (I think it was a month) but in practice it seems good for one year. I contacted Amazon & they were sorry but they couldn't help me if the download period had expired, I would need to repurchase the encrypted PDFs, except for those that Amazon don't sell anymore/don't sell to Australia anymore

- Fictionwise seem to have similar time issues, encrypted PDFs I bought there two years ago can't be re-downloaded

Luckily I have hundreds of non-encrypted e-Books, it was a rare book that was only available in encrypted format

I won't be buying any more encrypted PDF's, or other formats which can't be decrypted.

There is a product, ConvertLit, to convert encrypted MS Reader files

Simon

Next Message:

Sometime 'round Feb to April this year I had lost a few encrypted PDF e-books from Amazon.

When I went to re-download them
1) I redownloaded them but was unable to activate them on my machine
2) I could not find any encrypted e-books in my Amazon Digital library that I had bought more than 1 year ago

I redownloaded & attempted to activate a Secure PDF from Fictionwise but could not activate it ("The Hallowed Hunt...Last download: 2007-04-10 10:20:20.397")

After a week or so of continued failure, I contacted Amazon about the PDFs I bought from them. Their support staff informed me that e-books were only guaranteed for a month & I would need to purchase any that had dropped off my Library. They were sorry but they unable to help me. I have not found that written anywhere on their site.

In practice encrypted e-Books drop out of my Digital Library after about 1 year. One book was no longer able to be bought because of my geographical location (which is Australia). Later that book was again available.

I also have non encrypted e-books at Amazon. They do not have this 1 year limit.

I did not contact Fictionwise about this because I still had working copies of my e-Books from them.

After reading the above responses I find
1) still no encrypted books older than 1 year in my Amazon Digital Library
2) I AM now able to activate Secure PDFs from Fictionwise from approx 2 years ago (The Hallowed Hunt) in Acro 6

Now that I can activate secure PDFs I will reinstall Acro 8 ADE & re-download a secure PDF from Fictionwise that was failing last night in Acro 8 to see what happens.

I am sticking to .LIT as much as possible as ConvertLit is out there for decrypting them.

thank you to all who advised me on this issue
Simon

Final Message:

Continuing the saga.

This afternoon at Fictionwise I could download & open the secure PDF "Hallowed Hunt" on my old machine with Acro 6 (I bought this book over 1 to 2 years ago). Tonight the required page can't be found when I click "Download Ebook". I've tried on my new machine with Acro 8 & have the same problem. Opening the book from within Acro 8 switches to IE & then nothing happens, I still can't open it.

I have 2 recent secure PDF purchases from Fictionwise, both of which currently DO download from IE into Acro 6 successfully on my old machine. On the new machine they also download from IE to ADE v1.0.467 (Acrobat 8's Digital Edition software) & successfully open.

None of my encrypted PDFs from Amazon are available in my Amazon Digital Library anymore as I bought them more than a year ago. None of them open in ADE. They still open in Acro 6 & 7 on machines which I have registered on the Acro 6 & 7 DRM activation website.

So, there you have it. If you can't re-download/re-activate the encrypted PDFs you can't open them in ADE. I have no interest in re-purchasing my Amazon ebooks, especially as those copies will also expire, so I'll be keeping copies of Acro 6 & 7 alive for now. If I buy encrypted ebooks they'll be MS LIT which I know can be decrypted

Simon

08-20-2007, 10:09 PM	#1
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 11,795 Karma: 14269999 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	Re: Renting Ebooks Do you know how Rlauzon says that you don't own a DRMed ebook, you just rent it? Well, that may be the literal truth the DRMed PDFs. I copied the important posts here because registration is required. http://bar.baen.com/WB/default.asp?a...=113201&fid=76 First Message: Simon Horvat Do a Google on Adobe "This document cannot be opened on this machine" It makes for interesting reading Every once in a while I buy a text, or Fiction, in encrypted PDF, PRC or LIT, 'cause that was the only way an e-Book version was available. ie Hallowed Hunt by McMaster Bujold, Donald Moffitt, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Windows Texts, etc I won't be making that mistake in future I have 33 books that I used to be able to open in Acrobat Reader 6 & 7. On my new machine Acrobat 8 won't allow me to open them. I gather because they were downloaded on different machines and there is no way to register the new machine at Adobe with the old UserID/Password. You could register up to 6 Acro 6 or 7 machines but that feature isn't available in Acro 8. Adobe's solution, re-download them from the vendor. Ha ! -Adobe shut their own shop, so I can't download from them - Amazon only guarantees the e-Books for a limited period (I think it was a month) but in practice it seems good for one year. I contacted Amazon & they were sorry but they couldn't help me if the download period had expired, I would need to repurchase the encrypted PDFs, except for those that Amazon don't sell anymore/don't sell to Australia anymore - Fictionwise seem to have similar time issues, encrypted PDFs I bought there two years ago can't be re-downloaded Luckily I have hundreds of non-encrypted e-Books, it was a rare book that was only available in encrypted format I won't be buying any more encrypted PDF's, or other formats which can't be decrypted. There is a product, ConvertLit, to convert encrypted MS Reader files Simon Next Message: Sometime 'round Feb to April this year I had lost a few encrypted PDF e-books from Amazon. When I went to re-download them 1) I redownloaded them but was unable to activate them on my machine 2) I could not find any encrypted e-books in my Amazon Digital library that I had bought more than 1 year ago I redownloaded & attempted to activate a Secure PDF from Fictionwise but could not activate it ("The Hallowed Hunt...Last download: 2007-04-10 10:20:20.397") After a week or so of continued failure, I contacted Amazon about the PDFs I bought from them. Their support staff informed me that e-books were only guaranteed for a month & I would need to purchase any that had dropped off my Library. They were sorry but they unable to help me. I have not found that written anywhere on their site. In practice encrypted e-Books drop out of my Digital Library after about 1 year. One book was no longer able to be bought because of my geographical location (which is Australia). Later that book was again available. I also have non encrypted e-books at Amazon. They do not have this 1 year limit. I did not contact Fictionwise about this because I still had working copies of my e-Books from them. After reading the above responses I find 1) still no encrypted books older than 1 year in my Amazon Digital Library 2) I AM now able to activate Secure PDFs from Fictionwise from approx 2 years ago (The Hallowed Hunt) in Acro 6 Now that I can activate secure PDFs I will reinstall Acro 8 ADE & re-download a secure PDF from Fictionwise that was failing last night in Acro 8 to see what happens. I am sticking to .LIT as much as possible as ConvertLit is out there for decrypting them. thank you to all who advised me on this issue Simon Final Message: Continuing the saga. This afternoon at Fictionwise I could download & open the secure PDF "Hallowed Hunt" on my old machine with Acro 6 (I bought this book over 1 to 2 years ago). Tonight the required page can't be found when I click "Download Ebook". I've tried on my new machine with Acro 8 & have the same problem. Opening the book from within Acro 8 switches to IE & then nothing happens, I still can't open it. I have 2 recent secure PDF purchases from Fictionwise, both of which currently DO download from IE into Acro 6 successfully on my old machine. On the new machine they also download from IE to ADE v1.0.467 (Acrobat 8's Digital Edition software) & successfully open. None of my encrypted PDFs from Amazon are available in my Amazon Digital Library anymore as I bought them more than a year ago. None of them open in ADE. They still open in Acro 6 & 7 on machines which I have registered on the Acro 6 & 7 DRM activation website. So, there you have it. If you can't re-download/re-activate the encrypted PDFs you can't open them in ADE. I have no interest in re-purchasing my Amazon ebooks, especially as those copies will also expire, so I'll be keeping copies of Acro 6 & 7 alive for now. If I buy encrypted ebooks they'll be MS LIT which I know can be decrypted Simon Last edited by Nate the great; 08-20-2007 at 10:18 PM.