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

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've not seen any retail ePub 3 (outside of Apple) that cannot be converted to ePub 2 without any loss of functionality.

Take the two OPF I posted and do a diff compare of both and you'll see what needs to be done to convert the ePub 3 to an ePub 2. I did also delete the NAV ToC and the internal ToC as they are both not needed (redundant) since we already have the NCX ToC.

Yes, Calibre will take the ePub 3 and convert it to an ePub 2.

I thought you didn't like epub to epub conversions?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I thought you didn't like epub to epub conversions?

Normally I don't. But if it's someone who has no clue how to hand convert the ePub 3 to an ePub 2 and the reading software has a problem with the ePub 3, a conversion should solve the problem.

But I prefer to do the ePub 3 > ePub 2 by hand for my use.

[Jane12]

Thanks JSWolf for the epub3 > epub2 tutorial. I enjoyed it very much.

Back on topic (and sorry to all for going off on tangent):

I'm wondering how much of BN's new policies are driven by publishers. From Publisher's Weekly:

HarperCollins has started using Digimarc Corp.’s watermarking system for e-books to provide an extra layer of security ... Although the system is capable of identifying consumers who download e-books illegally, HC is using it to make sure that its e-tailers “are using the highest degree of security possible,” Restivo-Alessi said. If the Guardian Watermarking finds e-books that are being downloaded illegally, they will ask that e-tailer to either upgrade their security efforts or risk being dropped as an account. [emphasis added]

If recent developments are largely publisher-driven rather than something BN cooked up on their own, are we going to start seeing similar changes at Kobo and Amazon as well?

[JSWolf]

So not only do we get DRM, we also get watermarking. When will publishers learn to stop treating customers like criminals? What ever happened to innocent before proven guilty? Just because I buy an eBook does not mean I am going to be giving it away on the net.

If we are going to be treated like a criminal, we may as well just give the eBooks away on the net just to spite the publisher's sorry a$$. Stop treating me like a criminal and give us reasonable prices and you'll find more happy customers then you do pissed off customers.

[cromag]

I thought I'd put this here since it's a related issue.

I have the combined Analog/Asimov's subscription at Barnes & Noble. The new issues came out today and, as I went to the MyNook section, and then the Product Detail page (via Firefox) I noticed that the back issues seem to be limited. The most current four issues show -- there are left and right scroll arrows, but they're grayed out and don't scroll.

This isn't a big problem for me, since I keep my back issues locally, but I was wondering if anyone can confirm this.

I haven't asked B&N about this.

[murg]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If we are going to be treated like a criminal, we may as well just give the eBooks away on the net just to spite the publisher's sorry a$$. Stop treating me like a criminal and give us reasonable prices and you'll find more happy customers then you do pissed off customers.

I view a significant portion of the 'pirates' as having political motivations for their 'piracy'.

The only way to account for the amount of effort some people take to upload books (and other electronic media) to free sites is to view it as a political act in protest against the publishers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murg

I view a significant portion of the 'pirates' as having political motivations for their 'piracy'.

The only way to account for the amount of effort some people take to upload books (and other electronic media) to free sites is to view it as a political act in protest against the publishers.

I know some people do it to try to get back at the publishers for the high prices and DRM. I cannot say if this is political or not. But it is not just done to just do it.

There are others who just do it because they can and so they do. So scan books not available as eBooks and put them out because they don't exist as eBooks and they think morally it's not an issue.

There are probably other reasons that I am unaware of for doing it.

[bean]

Alternative download worked w/ Tampermonkey and a simple Google for the script name. Now emailed them to close my account.. and now where will I purchase my books? BN was easy to DRM remove.

[FizzyWater]

Google Play? Kobo, if you're willing to deal with some books being kepub format only...

[bean]

Both requires Adobe AFAIK?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by bean

Both requires Adobe AFAIK?

And the problem is that B&N precludes Adobe.

Adobe, for all its oodles and oodles and oodles of flaws, actually decrypts and displays your ebooks, and can successfully yield a decryption key.

B&N doesn't, anymore.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

And the problem is that B&N precludes Adobe.

Adobe, for all its oodles and oodles and oodles of flaws, actually decrypts and displays your ebooks, and can successfully yield a decryption key.

B&N doesn't, anymore.

You can get the key if you install Nook Study.

It's a pain in the butt, and I don't intend to buy any more books at B&N (except. possibly, those that I know to be DRM-free).

[bean]

I am unwilling, in general, to "buy" DRM'd books since as this case clearly shows it's not buying but renting them for an uncertain amount of time and arbitrary corporate events can take them away. I was buying from BN exactly because DRM was trivial to remove with a simple Python script. Right now, the state of the onion:

Kindle -- I can get the book on my Android tablet and strip DRM but it's a major hassle.

BN -- requires a userscript to get a download who knows when they will change things to break that script.

Kobo & most small stores I know of -- requires Windows to deDRM and I don't have that.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bean

Well, the problem is that I don't have Windows And also, I am unwilling, in general, to "buy" DRM'd books since as this case clearly shows it's not buying but renting them for an uncertain amount of time and arbitrary corporate events can take them away.

That is precisely why most of us would recommend removing the DRM as soon as you buy the book.

[bean]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That is precisely why most of us would recommend removing the DRM as soon as you buy the book.

Which is what I did! BN books were the easiest, by a mile, to remove DRM from and now it's gone. This is what I am trying to get through.