Classic Barnes and Noble and epub

pwalker8 · 12-12-2009, 11:49 AM

It seems that B&N now uses epub for some of it's books. Two books that I purchased today were in the epub format. Unfortunately, it appears to be a special sort of epub that can't be read by Adobe's ADE, just by the B&N reader (you need to upgrade to 7.1) and the nook. Am I missing something here? I tried to run it through both the epub decryptor and the pdb decryptor and neither worked.

If B&N has some proprietary epub format then I will have to buy from the Sony store or Amazon rather than from B&N. Given a choice, I won't buy a book that I can't format shift. I don't mind paying for a book, but I do mind paying for it multiple times.

pilotbob · 12-12-2009, 11:53 AM

Yes, B&N uses the old eReader style of DRM which they have implemented on top of ePub. It has also been incorporated in the Adobe stuff, both the Digital editions software, the content server and the Mobile Reader SDK.

However, the only reader that has the newest version of the SDK is the nook. I expect eventually the other readers that use the Adobe Mobile Reader SDK will update it to this newer version so they will all be able to read B&N books.

I think the iRex800 is supposed to include support for this out of the box. That is, if it ever starts shipping... I thought it was supposed to be shipping by now.

BOb

pwalker8 · 12-12-2009, 12:48 PM

I downloaded the latest and greatest ADE from adobe and it doesn't appear to read these epub books either. Is there some special command that I am suppose to use?

pilotbob · 12-12-2009, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I downloaded the latest and greatest ADE from adobe and it doesn't appear to read these epub books either. Is there some special command that I am suppose to use?

Hmmm... have you tried the B&N reader software?

BOb

pwalker8 · 12-12-2009, 01:22 PM

The B&N reader software reads it just fine as does the nook. ADE says that it it authorized to another computer.

wallcraft · 12-12-2009, 02:16 PM

At present, only B&N devices and apps can read the new passworded DRM, see Customer FAQ: Adobe and Barnes & Noble.

Quote:

Q: When will Content Server-compatible devices support this new password protection option?
A: Adobe will deliver later in 2009 an enhanced Reader Mobile SDK that, among other new features, will support the new password-based EPUB protection option. Devices that integrate this enhanced RMSDK will be compatible with EPUB content sold by the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, although the devices may require manual transfer of content until the next major version of Adobe Digital Editions is released. This compatibility may also include firmware upgrades made available for existing devices, as determined by our licensees.

Q: Will Adobe Digital Editions support the new password-based EPUB protection option?
A: Yes. The next major release of Adobe Digital Editions, expected in 2010, will be based on the enhanced Adobe Reader Mobile SDK. Among other new features, it will support the new password-based EPUB protection option.

I don't think the new Reader Mobile SDK is available yet from Adobe (so 2009 becomes 2010), but the good news is that this isn't just a B&N option. All the other ebook stores that provide Adobe ebooks will also be able to supply password protected ebooks if they want (B&N's password is your credit card number, but the password is up to the provider). All new EInk Readers (based on the new version of the SDK) will likely have this option, but existing devices will need a firmware upgrade and I'm not sure some companies (Sony, for example) will do this.

Robotech_Master · 12-13-2009, 07:34 PM

I learned about this over on Baen's Bar, where someone with eReader for his PalmOS device complained about buying an e-book in good faith and expecting it to be in eReader format, but finding it in eReaderPub instead.

I went to B&N to investigate, and wrote my findings up in TeleRead. There is no hint on B&N's e-book pages or in their FAQ that they've shifted away from plain-vanilla Fictionwise eReader, and a couple of hints that suggest to the uninformed that they haven't.

(The name "eReader" is triply confusing now. Not only is it used by the uninformed to refer to e-book readers in general, but now there's Fictionwise's eReader and Barnes & Noble's eReader, which use different formats. Oy.)

phenomshel · 12-13-2009, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

At present, only B&N devices and apps can read the new passworded DRM, see Customer FAQ: Adobe and Barnes & Noble. I don't think the new Reader Mobile SDK is available yet from Adobe (so 2009 becomes 2010), but the good news is that this isn't just a B&N option. All the other ebook stores that provide Adobe ebooks will also be able to supply password protected ebooks if they want (B&N's password is your credit card number, but the password is up to the provider). All new EInk Readers (based on the new version of the SDK) will likely have this option, but existing devices will need a firmware upgrade and I'm not sure some companies (Sony, for example) will do this.

Wallcraft, so does this mean that eventually Adobe Digital Editions will be able to open this kind of ePub DRM too?

wallcraft · 12-13-2009, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phenomshel

so does this mean that eventually Adobe Digital Editions will be able to open this kind of ePub DRM too?

Yes. Adobe says that Desktop ADE will be able to read them "with the next major release", and their mobile ADE SDK will add support very soon - but then licensees will have to (at their option) add it to their devices.

DaleDe · 12-13-2009, 11:59 PM

I wonder what this means for the just released eSlick and jetBook devices that are supposed to support eReader from Barnes and Noble?

Dale

wallcraft · 12-14-2009, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

I wonder what this means for the just released eSlick and jetBook devices that are supposed to support eReader from Barnes and Noble?

It means that they support eReader from FictionWise (and other retailers selling eReader ebooks). Even though B&N owns FictionWise (and eReader) it has never said that their ebooks would run on anything except B&N Reader apps and devices. On the other hand, it is interesting that the eSlick added DRM-free ePub as well as DRM-ridden eReader. I would not be surprised if both formats are using the eReader SDK.

SpiderMatt · 12-14-2009, 10:25 AM

I may be ignorant to this new "password based" DRM but would a person be able to open the epub as a zip file and use the password to extract the contents? If it's the same DRM scheme used for ereader, it shouldn't be hard to make a new script based off the ereader one to strip DRM from the epub files, should it?

wallcraft · 12-14-2009, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

I may be ignorant to this new "password based" DRM but would a person be able to open the epub as a zip file and use the password to extract the contents? If it's the same DRM scheme used for ereader, it shouldn't be hard to make a new script based off the ereader one to strip DRM from the epub files, should it?

It is more likely that a variant of ineptepub.pyw will do the trick. The encryption seems to be similar to that used in standard Adobe ePubs, but with a different way to calculate the key needed to decrypt the file.

DaleDe · 12-14-2009, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

I may be ignorant to this new "password based" DRM but would a person be able to open the epub as a zip file and use the password to extract the contents? If it's the same DRM scheme used for ereader, it shouldn't be hard to make a new script based off the ereader one to strip DRM from the epub files, should it?

Password is a bit of a misnomer. You do not enter a password and then extract the contents like you might for a PDF file. The file is not extracted but the DRM key is entered used to access the file and its data in the same was as other DRM schemes.

Dale

Robotech_Master · 12-14-2009, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

It is more likely that a variant of ineptepub.pyw will do the trick. The encryption seems to be similar to that used in standard Adobe ePubs, but with a different way to calculate the key needed to decrypt the file.

I'm not too sure about that. A year ago, Steve Pendergrast was talking about how they were going to be adopting ePub format using the standard Fictionwise eReader DRM wrapper.

It's probably going to require whoever wrote the script to unlock eReader books modifying it to process ePub format.

12-12-2009, 11:49 AM	#1
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,195 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Barnes and Noble and epub It seems that B&N now uses epub for some of it's books. Two books that I purchased today were in the epub format. Unfortunately, it appears to be a special sort of epub that can't be read by Adobe's ADE, just by the B&N reader (you need to upgrade to 7.1) and the nook. Am I missing something here? I tried to run it through both the epub decryptor and the pdb decryptor and neither worked. If B&N has some proprietary epub format then I will have to buy from the Sony store or Amazon rather than from B&N. Given a choice, I won't buy a book that I can't format shift. I don't mind paying for a book, but I do mind paying for it multiple times.

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12-12-2009, 11:53 AM	#2
pilotbob Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,832 Karma: 11844413 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa, FL USA Device: Kindle Touch	Yes, B&N uses the old eReader style of DRM which they have implemented on top of ePub. It has also been incorporated in the Adobe stuff, both the Digital editions software, the content server and the Mobile Reader SDK. However, the only reader that has the newest version of the SDK is the nook. I expect eventually the other readers that use the Adobe Mobile Reader SDK will update it to this newer version so they will all be able to read B&N books. I think the iRex800 is supposed to include support for this out of the box. That is, if it ever starts shipping... I thought it was supposed to be shipping by now. BOb

12-12-2009, 12:48 PM	#3
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,195 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	I downloaded the latest and greatest ADE from adobe and it doesn't appear to read these epub books either. Is there some special command that I am suppose to use?

12-12-2009, 01:22 PM	#5
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,195 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	The B&N reader software reads it just fine as does the nook. ADE says that it it authorized to another computer.

12-13-2009, 07:34 PM	#7
Robotech_Master Fanatic Posts: 514 Karma: 2954711 Join Date: May 2006	I learned about this over on Baen's Bar, where someone with eReader for his PalmOS device complained about buying an e-book in good faith and expecting it to be in eReader format, but finding it in eReaderPub instead. I went to B&N to investigate, and wrote my findings up in TeleRead. There is no hint on B&N's e-book pages or in their FAQ that they've shifted away from plain-vanilla Fictionwise eReader, and a couple of hints that suggest to the uninformed that they haven't. (The name "eReader" is triply confusing now. Not only is it used by the uninformed to refer to e-book readers in general, but now there's Fictionwise's eReader and Barnes & Noble's eReader, which use different formats. Oy.)

12-13-2009, 11:59 PM	#10
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	I wonder what this means for the just released eSlick and jetBook devices that are supposed to support eReader from Barnes and Noble? Dale

12-14-2009, 10:25 AM	#12
SpiderMatt Grand Arbiter Posts: 447 Karma: 1574837 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Arizona Device: iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, Motorola Droid	I may be ignorant to this new "password based" DRM but would a person be able to open the epub as a zip file and use the password to extract the contents? If it's the same DRM scheme used for ereader, it shouldn't be hard to make a new script based off the ereader one to strip DRM from the epub files, should it?

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