PRS-900; can I buy ebooks from B&N?

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

How do you know, which format you get from B&N? I've bought 2 books yesterday for testing on my iRex 800. Both ended up being .pdb.

For the past couple of weeks, you only get the ePub if you download within the Windows B&N Reader. Otherwise you always get the eReader version. This assumes that there is an ePub version, which may not always be the case.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

How do you know, which format you get from B&N? I've bought 2 books yesterday for testing on my iRex 800. Both ended up being .pdb. That's okay, iRex 800 can read it, even with DRM. But I haven't found a way to tell before purchasing, could have been .epub as well.
Do you have to download a sample? Are samples available for all the books and are they always the same format you'll get later on?

I think that answers the question.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I think there is a pretty good chance that the Daily Edition will work with the B&N store (because it has Reader Mobile 9.1 firmware). I know it has the latest firmware because without it the Daily Edition couldn't do OTA downloads. And we can guess that the Epub sold at B&N need the latest firmware.

It's worth a shot, at least.

I doubt it will work. Adobe have stated that the new B&N DRM system will be incorporated into the next major release of ADE, which is due for release later this year.

[Latinandgreek]

There are many other bookstore that you CAN buy from, so try some of them out. www.booksonboard.com seems to have good prices.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I doubt it will work. Adobe have stated that the new B&N DRM system will be incorporated into the next major release of ADE, which is due for release later this year.

Later this year or later last year?
That release might be RM 9.1, which actually came out _after_ the Nook.

[HarryT]

This year. First quarter 2010, I think it was scheduled for. Perhaps Jim Lester, our friend from Adobe, could tell us for sure.

[sirmaru]

I downloaded a SAMPLE of the book, "Every Man Dies Alone," from BN and it was compatible with both my Sony Desktop Reader and my Sony PRS 900 and PRS 505. It was ePub without DRM.

However, the full epub file for that book was not compatible with Sony.

Thus, I have to read it with my BN PC software.

It would be nice if all the BN, Amazon and Sony books get published with the same DRM ePUb files so we can read them on any eReader.

Right now, I compare prices for titles I want and buy the cheapest. However, if the choice goes to BN or Amazon, I must use their PC readers to actually read the books.

I usually read two books simultaneously and always leave one in Sony format.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Adobe have stated that the new B&N DRM system will be incorporated into the next major release of ADE, which is due for release later this year.

This is the case for Desktop ADE. The Mobile SDK 9.1 (released last month) includes passworded ePubs (e.g. from B&N), but so far the OTA (over the air) download capability for existing Adobe ePubs and PDFs has been given higher priority from ebook reader vendors (e.g. Sony, iRex, and Onyx) than implementing passworded ePubs. So far, no device except the Nook supports B&N ePubs.

[HarryT]

Thank you for the clarification, Wallcraft.

[Jim Lester]

Buried in a thread on an AdobeID problem was this comment from me:

Originally Posted by me

The only thing that's been said officially is "sometime next year." Personally I would expect later rather than earlier.

To make a few things clear:

• The "next year" means 2010, and yes it will be in a major release.
• RMSDK 9.1 which added support for password encrypted ePub documents (this is the same thing that B&N is using, but a more general version), was released to the device manufacturers in Dec, 2009.
• eReader (.pdb file) support is not being considered as a feature for either ADE or the RMSDK.

[HarryT]

Thanks, Jim!