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

[lkmiller]

Woo hoo! Thanks so much, Difflugia.

I still won't be making new purchases at B&N, but it's nice to know I can get updated copies of my previous purchases and liberate them if necessary.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

I did some fooling around with the NOOK applications this weekend and learned a couple of things.

First, NOOK Study can be used to retrieve your account's DRM key. I left details in the comments at Alf's blog.

Thanks it worked for me. I had to redownload the titles first.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

NOOK Study can be used to retrieve your account's DRM key. I left details in the comments at Alf's blog.

Thanks! A very interesting discovery. It also works on Macs, once you've found the relevant file.

[Purple Lady]

Now we just need to know what to enter in Mantano to be able to read.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Now we just need to know what to enter in Mantano to be able to read.

It's not (practically) possible to determine the name/number needed to generate a particular key hash. I'd recommend just removing the DRM so that you can read the ePub in Mantano or whatever's your favourite reading application.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It's not (practically) possible to determine the name/number needed to generate a particular key hash. I'd recommend just removing the DRM so that you can read the ePub in Mantano or whatever's your favourite reading application.

I do remove drm, I was just wondering what people who don't remove drm and want to read as they have always done should do.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I do remove drm, I was just wondering what people who don't remove drm and want to read as they have always done should do.

They can complain to B&N. There's nothing else. The hashing function that the name & number go through to get the encryption key is one-way. There's no practical way to get back to the original data. (Which is a good thing, otherwise the (old) encryption keys would give access to people's name and CC#!)

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I do remove drm, I was just wondering what people who don't remove drm and want to read as they have always done should do.

If you could figure out where Montano stores the resultant hash, you could perhaps manually enter it. Or if you just happen to guess correctly what is now used to create the hash.

I'll be curious to see if this key continues to work. Or if B&N will change it every so often. I was pleased to see that it currently works for all books I was previously unable to unlock. Those downloaded today, yesterday, and even last week.

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

If you could figure out where Montano stores the resultant hash, you could perhaps manually enter it. Or if you just happen to guess correctly what is now used to create the hash.

I'll be curious to see if this key continues to work. Or if B&N will change it every so often. I was pleased to see that it currently works for all books I was previously unable to unlock. Those downloaded today, yesterday, and even last week.

Current NOOK apps only have one key at a time and any books that NOOK Study can read will work with the key. You can repeat the process if the key changes, at least until NOOK Study is blocked from connecting to the B&N server.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

First, NOOK Study can be used to retrieve your account's DRM key. I left details in the comments at Alf's blog.

Second, NOOK Study installs and runs for me in Linux with a vanilla build of wine 1.6.2. The only problem is that it times out if your library is too large. Mine is apparently too large at ~1000 books.

Thanks! Good news on two counts for me -- since I use Linux but do not have a huge Nook library. Maybe Barnes & Noble will keep getting some of my business despite themselves.

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

If you could figure out where Montano stores the resultant hash, you could perhaps manually enter it. Or if you just happen to guess correctly what is now used to create the hash.

/data/data/com.mantano.reader.android/.adobe-digital-editions/activation.xml is where it's stored, but it's encrypted.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

Current NOOK apps only have one key at a time and any books that NOOK Study can read will work with the key. You can repeat the process if the key changes, at least until NOOK Study is blocked from connecting to the B&N server.

Just wondering how often we might need to repeat the process.

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Just wondering how often we might need to repeat the process.

That's up to Barnes & Noble. I don't expect them to change the key that often because customers need to redownload their books on every device when that happens.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

That's up to Barnes & Noble. I don't expect them to change the key that often because customers need to redownload their books on every device when that happens.

I thought that for Nook hardware and Nook apps at least that wasn't true. I don't have any hardware and don't use their apps often so I don't know.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I thought that for Nook hardware and Nook apps at least that wasn't true. I don't have any hardware and don't use their apps often so I don't know.

Barnes and Noble bought Fictionwise and get the encryption scheme that uses a name and number as a base for the encryption key, meaning that DRMed ebooks could be used on any device independently of any central server, so long as the name and number were known.

They now seem to have decided that this kind of encryption is a bad idea, and have changed things so that an encryption key is used that does not seem to be based on name and CC#, but is possibly random.

They can do this because all their own software and devices obtained the encryption key from the B&N server, and so it's just a case of sending a different encryption key at the next opportunity. It was only third-party software using the ADE kit that required the user to enter their name and CC# manually, and that will no longer work.