Credit Card needed on account even if Gift Card balance?

[spedinfargo]

I loaded up my mother's account with a 25 gift card because she's a bit wary about adding her credit card to her BN account. She tried to purchase a book this afternoon and it said she needed a credit card. Is this accurate?

You'd think I'd know the answer to this one...

[GhostKobold]

probably, I think you need a CC to even register the device fully.

[mastermesh]

need cc to even download free apps... sad, but true. Number one reason Amazon is better, among many other reasons.

[FizzyWater]

The B&N DRM uses the credit card number (and name of the purchaser) as part of its encryption.

For Adobe ePub, whenever you download a book, it "pings" the Adobe servers and confirms you have the right to the book. B&N ebooks don't work that way. The purchaser's information is used to unlock the book.

So there has to be a credit card number tied to the account. What I can't tell you is, if you entered an old credit card number (one that no longer exists, for example), whether it would accept it, or if you have to use a working card number.

[geertm]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

The B&N DRM uses the credit card number (and name of the purchaser) as part of its encryption.

For Adobe ePub, whenever you download a book, it "pings" the Adobe servers and confirms you have the right to the book. B&N ebooks don't work that way. The purchaser's information is used to unlock the book.

So there has to be a credit card number tied to the account. What I can't tell you is, if you entered an old credit card number (one that no longer exists, for example), whether it would accept it, or if you have to use a working card number.

B&N verifies the credit card, so it needs to be an active credit card.
You can use a cheap pre-paid card (if you can register a billing address for the card).

[geertm]

Originally Posted by mastermesh

need cc to even download free apps... sad, but true. Number one reason Amazon is better, among many other reasons.

You need to have a credit card registered to buy apps from Amazon, even free ones. Because of geo restrictions apps are only available to people with an US credit card.

B&N's social DRM allows you to copy your ebooks as many times as you want, to as many devices as you want. After downloading an ebook once, no DRM server is needed anymore.
Kindle ebooks are tied to the hardware ID of the device. You need Amazon's DRM server to download a copy for every device you want to read an ebook upon, and that device needs to be tied to your Amazon account.
B&N's social DRM is the least restictive one available.