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

[eschwartz]

Also, 2.8<6.0.9

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

I always had to re-download the ebooks to get a file that unlocked with a newly added CC#. The older downloaded file still unlocked with the card data that it was purchased with. So far my current purchases are unlocking with the purchase details shown for the order number. The new purchase details show the name with my middle initial dropped, from what is on my card and what I typed in at the original purchase using that card.

Luck;
Ken

That was how it used to work for me as well. Every since I added a new credit card and made it the default, my account seems to have been switched to a different system. Now the encryption on the epub no longer changes when I change my default credit card.

Yesterday I switched back and forth between 3 different credit cards downloading a copy of the same book after each change (via the Tampermonkey script). I looked inside the epub/zip files at the encryption (rights.xml), and it was exactly the same each time.

Today I downloaded it again and the encryption HAD changed. However switching my default credit card once again had no effect.

From here I can only guess what might unlock these books now. I just know it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the default credit card number anymore. I did try some variations of my B&N account sign in, but no luck.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

From here I can only guess what might unlock these books now. I just know it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the default credit card number anymore. I did try some variations of my B&N account sign in, but no luck.

That seems to be my impression also. Nook for PC hasn't been updated in years so probably doesn't know the new DRM scheme. It keeps telling me my card is invalid or expired. I just purchased a book so I know and B&N knows the card is valid.

It could be as DD said; B&N may be using a multiple & random process.

Or it's a B&N-wide glitch.

[Ken Maltby]

I guess I am just lucky? All my recent B&N ebook purchases have unlocked with the data shown in "My Account">Order Number>Billing Information.

Luck;
Ken

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Fbone

That seems to be my impression also. Nook for PC hasn't been updated in years so probably doesn't know the new DRM scheme. It keeps telling me my card is invalid or expired. I just purchased a book so I know and B&N knows the card is valid.

It could be as DD said; B&N may be using a multiple & random process.

Or it's a B&N-wide glitch.

I'm not having any trouble with Nook for PC (other then the usual slow and buggy). And the latest update to any device/app is August. Others haven't been updated since long before I saw people finding it completely impossible to unlock their books.

I think it is like DD said that it is using something that the Nook apps and devices would already know. But since we don't know what it is, we can't put it into 3rd party readers or Alf's plug-in.

Looks like a deliberate effort to toughen their DRM and pull the support for sideloading of B&N books. In other words, they've learned nothing. They are giving up an advantage they had over their competition. And they are hastening the day of their demise.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

I guess I am just lucky? All my recent B&N ebook purchases have unlocked with the data shown in "My Account">Order Number>Billing Information.

Luck;
Ken

I just think your account hasn't been switched over to the new system yet. I had no problems until a couple days ago when adding a completely new credit card seemed to break the connection been my cc and the encryption. Switching back to the card that previously worked (which was still in there just not the default) didn't help. And the encryption remains keyed to whatever account info they are now using.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

I just think your account hasn't been switched over to the new system yet. I had no problems until a couple days ago when adding a completely new credit card seemed to break the connection been my cc and the encryption. Switching back to the card that previously worked (which was still in there just not the default) didn't help. And the encryption remains keyed to whatever account info they are now using.

My recent purchases were with a new CC # that has the same name imprinted on it as my old CC. In the processing of these purchases (all after this thread started) B&N decided to drop my middle initial. This was enough to make it so the unlocking would not work for these purchases, (using the name on the CC) until I corrected my reader and tools to have the name as B&N changed it to.

The files for older purchases/downloads still unlock using the data that was in effect at the time they were downloaded. Once the file is downloaded, no change at B&N's servers or your account, can effect how that file unlocks. The "hash" that is created when you enter the proper data is what the book file needs to unlock the book, it won't unlock with any other than the one it is expecting.

The "Seed" that the reader and the tools need to generate the "Hash", (that is used to unlock the file, if it matches what is in the file) can not be changed for those readers or tools, without loss of the ability to unlock the files. The problem isn't that as they would have to change the code of the readers and the tools, to make it so.

Luck;
Ken

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

The "Seed" that the reader and the tools need to generate the "Hash", (that is used to unlock the file, if it matches what is in the file) can not be changed for those readers or tools, without loss of the ability to unlock the files.

Not if there's already backup/alternate methods for encrypting/decrypting built into the device/application--and have been for a while. There's no reason to assume that there's one key, and one key only, that will unlock each book (nor that the devices/apps don't attempt those keys sequentially until one works).

Readmill used a VendorID to unlock uploaded Adobe encrypted epubs without having access to a user's Adobe ID. Yes B&N's passhash method is a different variation than the "usual" Adobe Adept encryption, but it's still provided by Adobe.

But all that would still suggest that reading on approved devices probably wouldn't be affected--only that current DRM-removal procedures might fail upon downloading new files/purchases.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Not if there's already backup/alternate methods for encrypting/decrypting built into the device/application--and have been for a while. There's no reason to assume that there's one key, and one key only, that will unlock each book (nor that the devices/apps don't attempt those keys sequentially until one works).

Readmill used a VendorID to unlock uploaded Adobe encrypted epubs without having access to a user's Adobe ID. Yes B&N's passhash method is a different variation than the "usual" Adobe Adept encryption, but it's still provided by Adobe.

But all that would still suggest that reading on approved devices probably wouldn't be affected--only that current DRM-removal procedures might fail upon downloading new files/purchases.

For the files that B&N uses there is one key/hash that is included in the ebook file. The same hash (Generated by B&N using your CC data, and applied to the ebook file/s) can be used in many files/purchases. The readers (such as Adobe Reader Mobile v 9.1.1 and later) can include the ability to unlock B&N files, because they can use the seed provided when the reader program was encoded, to transform the data the user provides into a hash code. If that hash code matches/is acceptable as a match with what is in the ebook file, then the book can be unlocked and read. (Or in the case of certain tools, unlocked for good.) Subsequent ebook files that use the same Hash code, will be unlocked without asking for the user data, as there is no need for the reader/tool to generate the hash code, it already has a matching one.

Luck;
Ken

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Not if there's already backup/alternate methods for encrypting/decrypting built into the device/application--and have been for a while. There's no reason to assume that there's one key, and one key only, that will unlock each book (nor that the devices/apps don't attempt those keys sequentially until one works).

Readmill used a VendorID to unlock uploaded Adobe encrypted epubs without having access to a user's Adobe ID. Yes B&N's passhash method is a different variation than the "usual" Adobe Adept encryption, but it's still provided by Adobe.

But all that would still suggest that reading on approved devices probably wouldn't be affected--only that current DRM-removal procedures might fail upon downloading new files/purchases.

Reading using previously approved apps is affected as well. Mantano can no longer be used to read a B&N book if your key is changed - how would you know what to enter when asked for the key?

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

The "Seed" that the reader and the tools need to generate the "Hash", (that is used to unlock the file, if it matches what is in the file) can not be changed for those readers or tools, without loss of the ability to unlock the files. The problem isn't that as they would have to change the code of the readers and the tools, to make it so.

Luck;
Ken

I'm not just speculating. I know for certain that for my account the default credit card number is no longer one of those seeds. The basic structure of DRM itself is unchanged. The Nook apps and devices continue working with new and old books because they know the proper hash created from the seeds. The program saves the hash for previously opened books and would receive any new hash when it connects to B&N to sync new books. Other readers and tools no longer work for newly downloaded books because I don't know what seeds to give them to create the new hash.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Reading using previously approved apps is affected as well. Mantano can no longer be used to read a B&N book if your key is changed - how would you know what to enter when asked for the key?

That's just it. Approved devices and apps are now only those provided by B&N. They've said they are no longer going to support sideloading. This is how they enforce it. They change what you need to enter and don't tell us what it is anymore. No more sharing books with your family or using other readers.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

That's just it. Approved devices and apps are now only those provided by B&N. They've said they are no longer going to support sideloading. This is how they enforce it. They change what you need to enter and don't tell us what it is anymore. No more sharing books with your family or using other readers.

This sounds a lot like what Adobe was going to do with their new DRM until it was pointed out to them how stupid it would be to have ebooks that will no longer be able to be read on a lot of devices. I guess B&N isn't smart enough to figure that out. I'm not sure how many people read B&N ebooks on non B&N devices without stripping DRM. Their ebooks have been too expensive for me to buy their anymore anyway so it won't affect me.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

I'm not just speculating. I know for certain that for my account the default credit card number is no longer one of those seeds. The basic structure of DRM itself is unchanged. The Nook apps and devices continue working with new and old books because they know the proper hash created from the seeds. The program saves the hash for previously opened books and would receive any new hash when it connects to B&N to sync new books. Other readers and tools no longer work for newly downloaded books because I don't know what seeds to give them to create the new hash.

Ok, the Seed is a very large number that your CC data is manipulated against to produce a new number, the Hash. If you feed the same data to the same Seed it will result in the same Hash. The Seed is not changed. Your CC data is not the Seed. The CC data can change and that would result in a different Hash Code. The CC data that B&N uses to create the Hash Code they put in the ebook file, is the only set of data that will work to create a matching Hash Code so that the ebook file can be unlocked and/or read.

In my case, B&N created a different Hash Code for my recent purchases by dropping my middle initial from the CC data they used. Which meant that when I tried to use the name that has always worked (with the middle initial) a non-matching Hash Code was created, and the ebook failed to unlock. Once I found the CC data that B&N used for those orders, I could again enter the required CC data to generate a matching Hash Code, and unlock the purchases.

In my case, this was totally B&N's doing, but if you entered a new CC you might have entered something in the name field that caused a problem (the CC Number could not be at fault or the purchase would not have gone through) The CC Number field would be checked, when you entered it so that only allowed numeric characters were entered. The Name field would have to allow for a more broad range of characters.

B&N should not be able to change existing files, so that they work with a new/different Hash Code. You would have to re-download the ebook to get a new file, for that file to unlock with the new Hash Code. I have never seen any attempt to change my old files after connecting to B&N, to buy another book or when opening Nook for PC to have a purchase downloaded.

Luck;
Ken

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

This sounds a lot like what Adobe was going to do with their new DRM until it was pointed out to them how stupid it would be to have ebooks that will no longer be able to be read on a lot of devices. I guess B&N isn't smart enough to figure that out. I'm not sure how many people read B&N ebooks on non B&N devices without stripping DRM. Their ebooks have been too expensive for me to buy their anymore anyway so it won't affect me.

Yes, I would imagine that there aren't many people who use other readers for DRM'd B&N books. There are probably more people who used sideloading to share their books with family. But people who do these things would also probably tend to be people who buy a lot of books. In other words, they may be few but they'd make up for it in terms of actual sales. I myself, a once die-hard Nook fan from the beginning, will not be making any more purchases there.