What to do with this when using ADE?

[greentree]

I volunteer for a micropublisher that sells books online, including some ebooks. We use ADE and there is an issue that comes up that we'd like to try and resolve.

When one of our customers gets a new computer and transfers ADE to it, they get locked out of ADE altogether. They have to de-authorize it and re-authorize it. If all goes well, that works, and then they can use their ebooks again.

Sometimes, though, it doesn't work, and they have to uninstall ADE, and then re-install it, and download all their ebooks again, which can be a substantial undertaking.

Is this a known issue? Do people have suggestions on how to resolve/work with it?

[Sirtel]

Sell the books without DRM.

[DiapDealer]

Nobody should be recommending that one ADE installation be copied to a new computer.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Sell the books without DRM.

Yes. DRM is nothing to do with copyright or content protection, that's propaganda. It's about big corporations misusing content, PD and Copyright, to split markets, force repurchasing etc. Zero effect on real pirates.

What Sirtel says, ditch the DRM. I work for a "micropublisher".

[theducks]

As been pointed out. Each device gets a unique ADE key. As long as the account is the same, the books are usable.
IIRC there is a limit on the number of devices that can be registered, which could be a PITA if you started back in 2010 like I did (my purchases have been mostly Amazon or DRM free)

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by theducks

IIRC there is a limit on the number of devices that can be registered, which could be a PITA if you started back in 2010 like I did (my purchases have been mostly Amazon or DRM free)

Yeah. I have used ADE on 6 computers/tablets since 2011. 6 is the limit, I believe. Of course I didn't de-register before I reset my old devices to factory settings and sold them or gave away. So I would be majorly screwed if I depended on ADE for my ebooks and wanted to read them on a new PC in the future. Fortunately I'm not that stupid.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah. I have used ADE on 6 computers/tablets since 2011. 6 is the limit, I believe. Of course I didn't de-register before I reset my old devices to factory settings and sold them or gave away. So I would be majorly screwed if I depended on ADE for my ebooks and wanted to read them on a new PC in the future. Fortunately I'm not that stupid.

Deregistering a device from ADE doesn’t free up a license. However, you can contact ADE and they will raise your limit.

[DiapDealer]

Pretty sure unused machines fall off of the account list eventually. I've installed/registered ADE (to the same account) on more than 6 machines over the course of years, and I've never been shut down. Nor have I ever had to call them.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Pretty sure unused machines fall off of the account list eventually. I've installed/registered ADE (to the same account) on more than 6 machines over the course of years, and I've never been shut down. Nor have I ever had to call them.

Fair enough. You’d hope so. But it’s still true that deregistering in itself doesn’t free up a license and that if you do bump up against the limit, a call will take care of it.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by issybird

Fair enough. You’d hope so. But it’s still true that deregistering in itself doesn’t free up a license and that if you do bump up against the limit, a call will take care of it.

Oh sure. I wasn't suggesting anything otherwise. I was just commenting that I think it needs to be 6 active accounts before problems occur. Once you've limited out, contacting them is definitely your only recourse.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Oh sure. I wasn't suggesting anything otherwise. I was just commenting that I think it needs to be 6 active accounts before problems occur. Once you've limited out, contacting them is definitely your only recourse.

What makes an account active, though? I use ADE pretty seldom on my tablet, for example. Perhaps only a few times a year or even less, as I buy and download most of my ebooks on my laptop. How long must an account be unused on a device before it's considered inactive? A year? 5 years? If the former, good (for those who need it). If the latter, that can be problematic for people who swap their devices out every couple of years.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

What makes an account active, though? I use ADE pretty seldom on my tablet, for example. Perhaps only a few times a year or even less, as I buy and download most of my ebooks on my laptop. How long must an account be unused on a device before it's considered inactive? A year? 5 years? If the former, good (for those who need it). If the latter, that can be problematic for people who swap their devices out every couple of years.

Not sure, really. I just know that some of the machines that I've registered with the same AdobeID don't even exist any more. And I know that I've registered that same ID on at lease 10 different machines. Some real and a some virtual. I wasn't suggesting that people should wait them out as a viable alternative to calling them. I was only pointing out that I believe the limit of 6 machines is not a hard and fast rule (or at least not 6 for one lifetime).