Simon & Schuster gone epub only? - Page 2

DoctorOhh · 10-24-2009, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avarwen

Sony is still converting its books to epub format so it's most likely on their end, I bought four books from them and one was still in BBeB so I can't get it to download to ADE let alone put it on to my device. I'm assuming this could be a problem if you use other ebook stores as well. The software might not yet be able to read all epub formats.

FYI this thread is discussing problems with Simon & Schuster not Sony.

Solicitous · 10-24-2009, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwanthny

FYI this thread is discussing problems with Simon & Schuster not Sony.

Would making the point of their price comparison of paperback and ebooks being the same (and high at that) constitute discussing Simon & Schuster's problems? I had never heard of them until this thread and when I took a look at their site to check out some ebooks I was astounded by the price they are charging for ebooks, especially as they are the same as paperbacks.

kennyc · 10-24-2009, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Perfect example of why I unDRM and keep a backup copy, or three, of everything I buy.

three is best, preferable on different types of storage media.

Glad to see them converting. Hope they get it figured out. Definitely sounds like the problem is on the server end.

wallcraft · 10-24-2009, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solicitous

I had never heard of them until this thread and when I took a look at their site to check out some ebooks I was astounded by the price they are charging for ebooks, especially as they are the same as paperbacks.

One problem with publisher's web sites is that they charge list price. Retailers, like the Sony Store or Amazon, typically pay 50% of the list price to the publisher - so they have significant room to discount. Amazon even looses money (charges less then 50% list price) on bestsellers.

I don't have a problem with ebooks being priced the same as paperback books, but I agree that even paperback books can be pricey these days.

AnemicOak · 10-24-2009, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

One problem with publisher's web sites is that they charge list price.

Yeah, but S&S used to discount better than the retailers at one time.

jeankap · 10-24-2009, 01:37 PM

Update: Still haven't heard back from S&S tech support.

BBeB was not offered as a file format option. Neither was eReader or plain old PDFs. EVERYTHING in my account is now epub. I can only see the download links for this particular order if I go to the order itself - not to my bookshelf. I haven't tried to download any of the other stuff, because I already have it, and have it backed up.

There is only one epub standard, and if everyone else's stuff works and S&S's fails, then the problem is definitely not with everyone else's stuff... Knowing a thing or two about how this is supposed to work, I can definitely say that the problem is with S&S's servers and the encryption file that ADE is supposed to be able to decrypt.

The only reason I went back to the site was because I had that 40% off your entire purchase coupon. For a while you could only buy eReader or true PDFs there. Then the pricing went nuts. I was hoping that they had maybe found their sanity by putting everything out there in epub, but I guess not.

S&S Customer Service=FAIL.

I'm going to challenge the charge on my Amex and buy the books elsewhere.

Jim Lester · 10-24-2009, 08:03 PM

S&S is very definitely aware of the problems and we (Adobe) are working with them to identify and solve the problems. Unfortunately at this point there is not much that you guys can do other than be patient with them, and give their tech support information when they ask for it (it does help).

JSWolf · 10-24-2009, 08:22 PM

I've just downloaded 3 of the 4 eBooks I purchased from S&S. They are all now in ePub. Before they were MS Reader. 1 of them did give me...

Error getting license
Server communication problem: E_ADEPT_INTERNAL

AnemicOak · 10-24-2009, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Lester

S&S is very definitely aware of the problems and we (Adobe) are working with them to identify and solve the problems. Unfortunately at this point there is not much that you guys can do other than be patient with them, and give their tech support information when they ask for it (it does help).

Thanks Jim

jeankap · 10-25-2009, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Lester

S&S is very definitely aware of the problems and we (Adobe) are working with them to identify and solve the problems. Unfortunately at this point there is not much that you guys can do other than be patient with them, and give their tech support information when they ask for it (it does help).

Oh, I was willing to be patient until it became apparent that they were not reading the tech support information I provided. Two times. I made my decision to challenge the charge based on their communications issues - they didn't read what I provided, and they were less than timely about resolving the problem.

Meanwhile, I went over to the Sony store and everything just worked...

I'm a technical person and I work with software. Even so, sometimes it's just nice to have something "just work."

kennyc · 10-25-2009, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeankap

....

I'm a technical person and I work with software. Even so, sometimes it's just nice to have something "just work."

++++ Me too and I have very little patience with on-line systems that don't work (particularly for the simple stuff).

AnemicOak · 10-26-2009, 04:50 PM

Just heard back from S&S support asking for error logs and stuff. Unfortunately ADE isn't producing an error log in this case (yes I have error logging enabled), but they do seem to be trying to get to the bottom of it.

kennyc · 10-26-2009, 04:57 PM

That's good to hear.

jeankap · 10-26-2009, 06:52 PM

Yeah, they finally got back to me, too. I was able to download 3 of 9 files into ADE (5 of the total amount of files were from previous purchases). None of them will open in Sony eReader Library, let alone sync over to my 300.

I'll give them another 48 hours, but I'm pretty certain that this is going to wind up being a too little too late situation.

For what it's worth, I did some googling, and found a temporary working workaround on the Adobe forums - with ADE closed, go into the ADE folder, delete the restore folder, the error.log, and the import.log, which essentially "resets" the ADE state when you start it back up. This was the only way I was able to import the 3 files that actually worked (in ADE only, though). Unfortunately, the workaround stopped working after the 3rd book. So now I have 3 books that I can read on my Mac, but nowhere else.

Lovely. I'm not calling Amex off them yet.

Jim Lester · 10-27-2009, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeankap

Yeah, they finally got back to me, too. I was able to download 3 of 9 files into ADE (5 of the total amount of files were from previous purchases). None of them will open in Sony eReader Library, let alone sync over to my 300.

I'll give them another 48 hours, but I'm pretty certain that this is going to wind up being a too little too late situation.

For what it's worth, I did some googling, and found a temporary working workaround on the Adobe forums - with ADE closed, go into the ADE folder, delete the restore folder, the error.log, and the import.log, which essentially "resets" the ADE state when you start it back up. This was the only way I was able to import the 3 files that actually worked (in ADE only, though). Unfortunately, the workaround stopped working after the 3rd book. So now I have 3 books that I can read on my Mac, but nowhere else.

Lovely. I'm not calling Amex off them yet.

Yeah... don't use this, it worked but only as a side effect. S&S is still identifying the problems on their servers, but I can attest that they are very definitely actively and frantically working on it.

By the way once you have them downloaded and working you should be able to copy the files to any computer/device that you have authorized and it should work (as long as the permissions don't limit it to a single device).

10-24-2009, 08:22 PM	#23
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,897 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I've just downloaded 3 of the 4 eBooks I purchased from S&S. They are all now in ePub. Before they were MS Reader. 1 of them did give me... Error getting license Server communication problem: E_ADEPT_INTERNAL Last edited by JSWolf; 10-24-2009 at 08:27 PM.

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10-24-2009, 01:37 PM	#21
jeankap EReading Gadget Maven Posts: 36 Karma: 61950 Join Date: May 2007 Device: All of 'em.	Update: Still haven't heard back from S&S tech support. BBeB was not offered as a file format option. Neither was eReader or plain old PDFs. EVERYTHING in my account is now epub. I can only see the download links for this particular order if I go to the order itself - not to my bookshelf. I haven't tried to download any of the other stuff, because I already have it, and have it backed up. There is only one epub standard, and if everyone else's stuff works and S&S's fails, then the problem is definitely not with everyone else's stuff... Knowing a thing or two about how this is supposed to work, I can definitely say that the problem is with S&S's servers and the encryption file that ADE is supposed to be able to decrypt. The only reason I went back to the site was because I had that 40% off your entire purchase coupon. For a while you could only buy eReader or true PDFs there. Then the pricing went nuts. I was hoping that they had maybe found their sanity by putting everything out there in epub, but I guess not. S&S Customer Service=FAIL. I'm going to challenge the charge on my Amex and buy the books elsewhere.

10-24-2009, 08:03 PM	#22
Jim Lester Evangelist Posts: 416 Karma: 14682 Join Date: May 2008 Location: SF Bay Area Device: Nook HD, Nook for Windows 8	S&S is very definitely aware of the problems and we (Adobe) are working with them to identify and solve the problems. Unfortunately at this point there is not much that you guys can do other than be patient with them, and give their tech support information when they ask for it (it does help).

10-26-2009, 04:50 PM	#27
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	Just heard back from S&S support asking for error logs and stuff. Unfortunately ADE isn't producing an error log in this case (yes I have error logging enabled), but they do seem to be trying to get to the bottom of it.

10-26-2009, 04:57 PM	#28
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	That's good to hear.

10-26-2009, 06:52 PM	#29
jeankap EReading Gadget Maven Posts: 36 Karma: 61950 Join Date: May 2007 Device: All of 'em.	Yeah, they finally got back to me, too. I was able to download 3 of 9 files into ADE (5 of the total amount of files were from previous purchases). None of them will open in Sony eReader Library, let alone sync over to my 300. I'll give them another 48 hours, but I'm pretty certain that this is going to wind up being a too little too late situation. For what it's worth, I did some googling, and found a temporary working workaround on the Adobe forums - with ADE closed, go into the ADE folder, delete the restore folder, the error.log, and the import.log, which essentially "resets" the ADE state when you start it back up. This was the only way I was able to import the 3 files that actually worked (in ADE only, though). Unfortunately, the workaround stopped working after the 3rd book. So now I have 3 books that I can read on my Mac, but nowhere else. Lovely. I'm not calling Amex off them yet.