B&N removed download option on all books in "My Nook" library

[Dob43]

I recently subscribed to a Nook magazine. In the past I never had any problem and could download them with nook study or nook PC (then remove the DRM if need be). But this gives me a error that it can't read that type and fails to download. :/ I know grease monkey no longer works due to the recent site changes.

Any ideas?

Edit:
Ok I tried with my rooted Nook NT (second tablet they made, right after Nook Color). While I can download and read the magazine fine I can't seem to offload it. I went digging and I THINK I found where it is stored /data/media/Barnesandnoble/Magazines at least all my other magazines are there. In order to access this path I had to turn on root explorer on ES File Explorer.

However when I either email, dropbox, or otherwise send this 20mb file, when I open it in Calibre I only get the cover, nothing else. 20mb and just the cover?? Very strange, never saw this before. I looked around and so far I haven't found anything else. Usually when you get the epub you are good to go.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by conan50

My big concern is that in 5 years or less we will be left with only Amazon for ebooks and subject to their whims as to whether drm-free ebooks are possible at all. Look at B&N as a terrible example of how quickly you can potentially lose purchased ebooks or the ability to control what you do with them.
I wish we had more Independent ebook sellers like Baen, but across a broad spectrum of ebook genres with a focus on the open Epub format. I fear Amazon's Kindle store has made things so convenient that we will one day look back at embracing them solely with serious regret. And no one with power to change things like a Google has stepped up to the plate and addressed the problem of DRM, but rather has embraced it.
http://publishingperspectives.com/20...drm-dictators/

What open EPUB format? Or at least, who has implemented such a thing?
Every device/app has their own odd violations of the EPUB spec, or the spec just doesn't cover important rendering details.
Ah, the myth of the universal EPUB strikes again...

KF8 is just as robust a format as EPUB(3?) -- although it doesn't support internal filenames, big tragedy there -- but wrapped in a Palm database instead of DEFLATE compression. While I suppose you could argue the Palm database wrapper is less "open" than a ZIP wrapper, what does that mean in practice, and does anyone care?
As with most file formats implemented by in-house solutions, mobi7/8 have both been fully reverse-engineered. The full specification can be found as independent implementations in calibre or KindleUnpack, both of which are open enough even for Richard Stallman... so if you are worried about the freedom of your books, don't be.
If that isn't your concern, can you please tell me what is. I've never really understood the "support Open EPUB format" movement.



Basically, what I'm saying is: don't confuse a distaste of Amazon-Kindle-the-store policies for a reason to not use a book that has been converted to(/from) the same format as the standard Amazon-Kindle-the-store product format

While there is certainly a problem if Amazon becomes the single vendor for ebooks, I don't see that it has anything to do with the format.

Edit: can you imagine if Google or Kobo or anyone seriously involved in this industry said: "We refuse to sell any book with DRM in our store. Remove the DRM or we remove your books".
Amazon changed the course of mp3 digital music going DRM-free. They could do the same for ebooks, maybe they are the only ones who have the power at this point, but format-device lock in is working in their favor now.

Publishers are flirting with ebooks, but they really prefer pbooks (for some odd reason...).
They would probably just pull their ebooks altogether.

[odamizu]

More doom & gloom on BN from The Digital Reader

Barnes & Noble has decided to get serious and do something about the bungled relaunch of its website. The retailer has appointed Frederic Argir as chief digital officer ...

A hundred bucks says that he is the hatchet man who will be tasked with shutting down the Nook platform ...

And what with B&N already having announced that they were giving up on the global ebook market, I think they have telegraphed their intentions. Had B&N intended for Argir to save the Nook, they would have kept the international Nook Store just in case he thought it was salvageable ...

The Nook is doomed. Get your ebooks out while you still can.

[eschwartz]

Working link: http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/0...commerce-nook/

[ZodWallop]

If Barnes and Noble does shut down their e-book business, it's tantamount to saying they won't be in business in a few years. E-books are clearly the future.

[Dob43]

Okay I did a bit more digging and it would appear that this magazine only views the book via images with a DRP app instead of the usual book reader (I had a feeling since the interface was different but wasn't sure). I found the images to the book in /data/books/nameofmagazineinquestion. In that folder (which you need root to find) is all the images to the book (all pages converted to images). So it is in two pieces, the epub and the images/pages themselves. Rather odd method to not even have the images in the book file? I also didn't like how you can't zoom in enough in the DRP app. You could zoom but not enough for my tastes. They advertise "high resolution" but I got a different issue as a pdf (also no DRM) direct from the publisher's website and that has much better resolution and I can zoom in further. Very odd B&N couldn't do better.

Well they could, they just chose not to. I am just going to dump the subscription from B&N and go with a direct subscription. Cheaper, and the quality is better. I liked B&N and the nook, a shame they can't get their act together. I would have stayed if I could have archived the magazines easily and they were all in one book file not as a bunch of lower resolution images in a folder. While I could stitch the images together into a PDF, the quality would still be less than what the publisher offers. :/ I don't know why they just didn't offer the nice PDF or the choice. Granted on the surface their DRP method looks fancy, but it does not have the resolution. And they even advertise high resolution.

[RHWright]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Working link: http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/0...commerce-nook/

This seems rather doom and gloom. There would seem to be little advantage to this unless they were also shuttering B&M stores, as getting entirely out of the e-book market would be tantamount to getting out of the book market.

I can see them getting out of the device market and focusing on the mobile app. I can easily see them shuttering the B&N app store.

Still, future-proofing as much of my content as possible is on my scopes. Back in the Calibre pool for me, as well as brushing up on some of the approaches to deal with B&N's challenges to managing my content.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by RHWright

This seems rather doom and gloom. There would seem to be little advantage to this unless they were also shuttering B&M stores, as getting entirely out of the e-book market would be tantamount to getting out of the book market.

I can see them getting out of the device market and focusing on the mobile app. I can easily see them shuttering the B&N app store.

Still, future-proofing as much of my content as possible is on my scopes. Back in the Calibre pool for me, as well as brushing up on some of the approaches to deal with B&N's challenges to managing my content.

The problem is that B&N drm books can only be read on a B&N reader or app. You used to be able to read them using the Mantano app, but since they changed the drm key you can't do that anymore. If I buy at Kobo or any other ADE epub seller I can read on any device or app that uses standard ADE drm. And there are plenty of them.

[AnemicOak]

B&N should just offer the Pendergrast brothers a bunch of money to leave their new company and come in a fix things for them.

I miss Fictionwise sometimes.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

The problem is that B&N drm books can only be read on a B&N reader or app. You used to be able to read them using the Mantano app, but since they changed the drm key you can't do that anymore. If I buy at Kobo or any other ADE epub seller I can read on any device or app that uses standard ADE drm. And there are plenty of them.

I didn't realize they'd actually changed the DRM key, good thing I backed up all of my stuff a while ago.

Then again apparently they put the encryption key in plaintext

Like they're not even trying. Or maybe they've laid off too many of the techies in the company.

http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/0...your-business/

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

I didn't realize they'd actually changed the DRM key, good thing I backed up all of my stuff a while ago.

Then again apparently they put the encryption key in plaintext

Like they're not even trying. Or maybe they've laid off too many of the techies in the company.

http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/0...your-business/

You can still dedrm, but you can't use the new key to input username and password in the Mantano app. So they made it harder to read the drm copy legally, but still easy to remove drm. I haven't bought from them in a long time and definitely won't buy anymore.

[DBDigital]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

I didn't realize they'd actually changed the DRM key, good thing I backed up all of my stuff a while ago.

Then again apparently they put the encryption key in plaintext

Like they're not even trying. Or maybe they've laid off too many of the techies in the company.

http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/0...your-business/

Yes that changed hmm last September or so. It use to be based on a hash of your name and credit card number. But then people started noticing that dedrm tools didn't work anymore if they had changed their credit card number. That changed them to the new key system. However now I think they have rolled out new keys for everyone if you changed your credit card or not based on what others have experienced.

You can get the new key from Nookstudy, in one of the log file it is there in plain text but in with a mess of other data. Still not hard to find. Now though Alf's tools can get the key for you, but it requires giving your B&N email address and password so it can log into your account and download the key. Some people might prefer the Nookstudy method. Good we have a alternate method though as who knows how long Nookstudy will keep working.


One reason I went with the Nook in the beginning (with Nook Classic) is the DRM was based on name and credit card number. Therefore I could always read my books even if B&N went down. I had been burned in the past with formats or companies going poof along with my library. A few old Microsoft lit books I lost before I managed to dedrm the newer ones. At one point they were changing the app/DRM system every week or less. And often it wouldn't read the older books....their OWN software couldn't read it! That is when I jumped ship on anything DRM based and went with Ficionwise DRM free books (or the few I bought with DRM were name and credit card based).

If B&N didn't use the name and credit card method at the start, I never would have went with them. When they changed the key system, I removed the DRM from all of my library before I got burned again. I have almost 1,000 books from them. It is ironic that they bought Fictionwise for the DRM system and now abandon it. Well at least the part that key was based on. The system itself must still be the same or the Nook Classic wouldn't be able read downloaded books now.

It is a real shame, I liked the Nook itself. But I am ready to jump ship now if I ever get to the point where I can't download or remove the DRM from their books, they won't get another $ from me. Although I doubt I will be buying much from them here on on out anyway due to the recent developments.

[pdurrant]

I wonder if Kobo or Amazon (or Google, or Apple?) would be willing to take over B&N accounts if they do get out of the ebook business. My B&N account now has all my Fictionwise and Sony ebooks in it, as well as the few I bought at B&N. It would be a shame to lose the on-line access and history. Not that B&N's on-line access for UK accounts actually works for my account with 1400+ books in it.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I wonder if Kobo or Amazon (or Google, or Apple?) would be willing to take over B&N accounts if they do get out of the ebook business. My B&N account now has all my Fictionwise and Sony ebooks in it, as well as the few I bought at B&N. It would be a shame to lose the on-line access and history. Not that B&N's on-line access for UK accounts actually works for my account with 1400+ books in it.

If Apple took over B&N accounts that would be the same as no one taking them for me. I don't have an iTunes account and don't intend to get one.

Edit: I would lose my books even if I did get an iTunes account wouldn't I? Don't you need an iThing to read iBooks? And drm can't be removed either.

Also, I thought Kobo took over Sony accounts. That went much smoother for me than when B&N took over Fictionwise accounts. I didn't have many Sony books, but I didn't need to take multiple steps to have my books moved over. I can't imagine B&N handling it well no matter who would take over the accounts.

[Ripplinger]

I never bothered transferring my Sony books over to Kobo. On purchasing a book, no matter from what online source, I always download it and add it to Calibre stripping the DRM, and the Calibre library is backed up on several hard drives. I doubt I'll bother transferring my B&N books as well. I never had much faith in a store not screwing up what books I own or keeping them forever available for me.