Buy DRM'ed ebooks not from built-in store and without using ADE?

[chlorine]

I own a pocketbook sold under the brand Tea for the French market (Tea has now become vivlio if I understand correctly).

It is associated with a built in store (decitre in my case) which allows me to buy books directly from the device. I can also buy books from a windows computer, download them with ADE and transfer them on the device.

Unfortunately the built-in store does not contain all the books I'd like, and I'd like to not use a windows computer as I mainly use Linux.

Is there a way to buy ebooks from elsewhere than my built-in store AND without using ADE, either directly from the device or from a Linux computer?

I doubt that the customer service would let me change my built-in store and anyway I think I would need several as I read both in English and French. I am also unwilling to physically open my device, and would like to avoid rooting it for changing the built-in store.

This question must have been asked several times but I was unable to find an answer, sorry for asking again.

ETA : running ADE from Linux with wine doesn't work for me.

ETA : I'm also not willing to buy from amazon.

[ps67]

Pocketbook can open directly ACSM files without ADE, as I read in their site. I don't know if it is the same for TEA (now there is Vivlio) but why not?

https://www.pocketbook-int.com/fr/pr...specifications

Check it for Your specific device but I don't think that there is a difference.

Anyway You can do these things to try:

1. If You have or You can obtain a account to a library You can download a book into Your device and try if it works
   
2. If You find a free book with ADE (there are some, for example in Kobo site) do the same thing
   
3. If the first two option are not satisfied You can buy a economic book, at € 0.99, and try if it works

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by chlorine

Is there a way to buy ebooks from elsewhere than my built-in store AND without using ADE, either directly from the device or from a Linux computer?
...

This question must have been asked several times but I was unable to find an answer, sorry for asking again.

ETA : running ADE from Linux with wine doesn't work for me.

If the Vivlio's firmware works the same as PocketBook's then it just a matter of downloading the ascm file with the built-in browser and then clicking on that file, it will download the ePub from wherever the ascm feature downloads its ePubs.

You can also use the Send-to-PocketBook feature to send the ascm file to you device and then (again) download the book directly from the PocketBook (again, don't know if the app exists in the Vivlio or works the same).

You can also download the ascm file on your computer and then move it to your device's SendToPB folder via the USB cable. I just tested that and it also works. (Assuming the Vivlio's firmware has the same features as the PocketBook's.) (EDIT: It doesn't have to be your SendToPB folder, it can just be your Download folder.)

I use Linux also and haven't any luck setting up ADE via Wine on it either.

EDIT 2: Taking a quick look at the Vivlio manual, it doesn't appear they have all the apps that are on a standard PocketBook (like Send-To-PocketBook or Dropbox). It also appears they may not have ADE built-in (they don't show ascm as a supported file format). Hopefully I'm wrong about this.

You may be able to install the PB firmware (not sure, but it looks like it's been done), but then (I'm guessing) you lose your direct integration to your bookstore and Vivlio support.

[chlorine]

Thank you so much to both of you for your answers!
The firmware version numbers for my device are exactly the same than the pocketbook ones so I suspect that there are very few differences except the French language and the specific store.

I created a @pbsync.com email address and sent to it an ascm downloaded from my public library. It almost works but somehow doesn't: the book appears on the device with the correct author and title and a 0% in a circle, which seems to indicate that it wants to download the book. When I click on it it activates the network but then nothing happens and it stays at 0%.

I'll try to contact vivlio's support.

[nhedgehog]

The problem you are describing has something to do with certificates that are not updated by the public library software. I read somewhere that setting the date of the pocketbook to May or June often solved it.

Edit: With other words, Pocketbook or Vivlio can't do anything about this problem.

[Lykke]

You can buy and read books from any store that uses Adobe DRM, such as Kobo and Google Play.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Lykke

You can buy and read books from any store that uses Adobe DRM, such as Kobo and Google Play.

But do not buy from B&N.

[chlorine]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

The problem you are describing has something to do with certificates that are not updated by the public library software. I read somewhere that setting the date of the pocketbook to May or June often solved it.

Edit: With other words, Pocketbook or Vivlio can't do anything about this problem.

Thanks for this answer. The behavior has now evolved and the download fails with the error code e_auth_bad_device_key_or_pkcs12.
I have contacted vivlio. If the problem comes from the ascm I hope they will be able to tell me.

I also changed the date on my device and still have the same error message.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by chlorine

Thanks for this answer. The behavior has now evolved and the download fails with the error code e_auth_bad_device_key_or_pkcs12.
I have contacted vivlio. If the problem comes from the ascm I hope they will be able to tell me.

I also changed the date on my device and still have the same error message.

The error means you need to deactivate your Vivio's Adobe registration and reactivate. How you do this on a Pocketbook, I have no idea.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The error means you need to deactivate your Vivio's Adobe registration and reactivate. How you do this on a Pocketbook, I have no idea.

just go to Accounts and Synchronization, Adobe DRM, then click on your Adobe account (you can have multiple ones) and it will prompt you to deactivate it. Then you'll have to sign back in to reactivate your account. (This works on PocketBook, I assume it's the same on the Vivlio.

[chlorine]

Thanks to both of you, that did it! Out of curiosity, is it an ADE bug? I'm curious to know how deactivating then reactivating the same account can solve what seems to be an authentication issue.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by chlorine

Thanks to both of you, that did it! Out of curiosity, is it an ADE bug? I'm curious to know how deactivating then reactivating the same account can solve what seems to be an authentication issue.

I'm guessing it is an ADE bug, because this has happened on my Tolino a couple times. So far it hasn't cropped up on the PocketBook Touch Lux 3, but I've been resetting it, replacing the battery and (generally) trying to figure out why the battery is discharging — so it may not have had a chance to get buggy yet.

So now everything is working properly on the Vivlio?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by chlorine

Thanks to both of you, that did it! Out of curiosity, is it an ADE bug? I'm curious to know how deactivating then reactivating the same account can solve what seems to be an authentication issue.

Another thing to do is copy the activation file if there is one so if you ever do need to reactivate, you can copy the file back.

[chlorine]

Originally Posted by rcentros

So now everything is working properly on the Vivlio?

Yes everything is working fine, thanks!

FTR the fact that it's a Tea and not a vivlio makes a big difference apparently as the vivlio web site says that the main difference between Tea and vivlio readers is that they dropped the send to pocketbook and Dropbox functionalities in the vivlio ones.
They don't mention explicitly the ascm support but they mention focusing on the reading part so I'm really not sure that the vivlio firmware downloads epub from ascm.
I'll have to be careful not to accidentally install a vivlio software when upgrading.

FTR also I've looked it up and installing a pocketbook firmware on a Tea device seems as simple as on a pocketbook device.

[chlorine]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Another thing to do is copy the activation file if there is one so if you ever do need to reactivate, you can copy the file back.

Thanks for the advice. What is the activation file and where can I find it?