Agency Model pricing -- Anyone else Disgusted?

[hidari]

I do not like the new pricing system but then again, I never buy new books. I am usually a year to 5 years behind the curve. So, In that light....Me thinks the new system will not change me purchases that much. Time will tell.

[bbqncigars]

I'll second AJ's opinion as to DRM'd ebooks and the accompanying hassle involved. I refuse to put ADE (or something similar) on my machines.


Wayne

[rleguillow]

Originally Posted by bbqncigars

I'll second AJ's opinion as to DRM'd ebooks and the accompanying hassle involved. I refuse to put ADE (or something similar) on my machines.


Wayne

Please, what is ADE?

[QIbHom]

Originally Posted by rleguillow

Please, what is ADE?

Adobe Digital something. It is the Windows (there may be a Mac version, there certainly is not a Linux version) software that Adobe puts out so you can read DRM infested e-books.

It is a royal pain in the butt, besides being bloated, slow and crashy.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by QIbHom

Adobe Digital something. It is the Windows (there may be a Mac version, there certainly is not a Linux version) software that Adobe puts out so you can read DRM infested e-books.

It is a royal pain in the butt, besides being bloated, slow and crashy.

You can trick ADE to install on Linux under Wine.

That said. ADE could not see my PEz (to Authorize it) .
Adobe 'Free' books sit detects Linux and the Download buttons become System Requirements , preventing even a test run.

The one EPUB file I purchased and was able to download from MyEZread opened fine after I Authorized my Linux PC

As to Bloated, Slow?
On My P4 3.4GHz w 1G RAM Windows XP machine

The system was USELESS until ADE got through (15 Minutes, without any feedback. I thought it had crashed.) cataloging the 750 titles on my PEz (4 times as slow as Calibre takes and 10 times the Resource hog. At least with Calibre, I can use my system.)

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by rleguillow

Please, what is ADE?

Dear rleguillow:

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. To be able to open DRM (normally copyrighted) eBooks you need something that will recognize your device and your device ID. This way you can buy a DRM eBook but cannot share it around. There are three DRM formats: Mobipocket, eReader, and Adobe Digital Editions. ADE is the newest of the three and is NOT exclusive like the other two.

Astak, Sony, and most others are ported with ADE. It is for your convenience so you can read all the latest titles. Of course, people HATE DRM... but it is deemed necessary by most authors and publishers so they DO get their money. Until things change radically, if you want to read all the latest titles you need ADE.

Despite the DRM hatred on here, ADE is a free download and works very well. Others may have their own feelings... but ADE does a good job overall and the fact it is non-exclusive is a plus from my perspective! It costs Astak a ton to have ADE on their devices. YOU can downlaod ADE for free, BUT the right to port it into the device is the cost and that is expensive. People can, fairly, hate DRM... but ADE is a blessing to have on a device if you do want the latest titles and Astak provides that to you at no additional cost.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by rleguillow

Please, what is ADE?

Questions like this and hundreds of others can be easily answered using our wiki which is linked at the top of the page. ADE.

Dale

[QIbHom]

theducks, I haven't gotten ADE working under wine. Possibly because I mistook the 10+ min. total freezing of my computer as being a crash, not just ADE getting to know my hard drive.

I've bought one ADE DRM book (it was a pdf, too. Not doing that again). I've bought over 20 non-DRM e-books. I'm not sure that DRM ensures authors get their money.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Robertb

There are three DRM formats: Mobipocket, eReader, and Adobe Digital Editions.

Microsoft Reader (.lit) is another (maybe *the* other) current DRM format. And ADE/Barnes & Noble is not the same as ADE/other sites; some ADE books will not work on some ADE-registered readers.

There's a few others, mostly for image-based content; Zinio magazines is probably the most well-known of these. There are some that require a constant online connection to work.

Obsolete forms of DRM include LRX (Sony's format), previous Adobe methods, Gemstar's Rocketbook format, and possibly a handful of others no longer available. Some people still have ebooks in these formats, but new devices can't be registered to use them.

Despite the DRM hatred on here, ADE is a free download and works very well.

With a high-speed connection, yes. Much more troublesome with dialup. (Not impossible, I think, but not worth the hassle for me.)

[theducks]

Originally Posted by QIbHom

theducks, I haven't gotten ADE working under wine. Possibly because I mistook the 10+ min. total freezing of my computer as being a crash, not just ADE getting to know my hard drive.

I've bought one ADE DRM book (it was a pdf, too. Not doing that again). I've bought over 20 non-DRM e-books. I'm not sure that DRM ensures authors get their money.

No ADE installed in a few minutes (Karmic 32 bit)
I dragged a MyEZreads book I bought into it and it worked.

THE USB to PEZ does not work (needed to authorize PEz), but you can drag and drop the file outside of ADE to a authorized device with Linux or read on the Linux system with ADE.



DRM does not Guarantee that the Authors get paid, only the Distributor I know a few authors.
Their statements give no clue to if they are actually getting paid the proper amount The accounting is being done by the Fox

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by theducks

No ADE installed in a few minutes (Karmic 32 bit)
I dragged a MyEZreads book I bought into it and it worked.

THE USB to PEZ does not work (needed to authorize PEz), but you can drag and drop the file outside of ADE to a authorized device with Linux or read on the Linux system with ADE.

I found that ADE, running under Wine can see the reader, and you can even click on the reader's bookshelves and access the books on the reader. The only thing that failed for me so far was authorising the reader.

When you buy a new book - say using Firefox under linux, does the download fire up ADE under wine and integrate the book into it's library? I am sort of expecting that to not work well.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by jusmee

I found that ADE, running under Wine can see the reader, and you can even click on the reader's bookshelves and access the books on the reader. The only thing that failed for me so far was authorising the reader.

When you buy a new book - say using Firefox under linux, does the download fire up ADE under wine and integrate the book into it's library? I am sort of expecting that to not work well.

I think I saved the file with Firefox rather than "Open With", Then I dragged/pasted the file to ADE. This is crazy. Your ADE sees the PEz, Mine did not. (I tried Starting ADE with and Without the PEz connected).
Ubuntu/Calibre sees the PEz fine.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by theducks

I think I saved the file with Firefox rather than "Open With", Then I dragged/pasted the file to ADE. This is crazy. Your ADE sees the PEz, Mine did not. (I tried Starting ADE with and Without the PEz connected).
Ubuntu/Calibre sees the PEz fine.

Ah, well I did have to start ADE (and I suspect the Wine subsystem with it, after I had connected the PEz and waited for the drives to be mounted. btw: I am still using Ubuntu 8.10 - but with all the updates.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by theducks

I think I saved the file with Firefox rather than "Open With", Then I dragged/pasted the file to ADE.

I thought, for DRM books, the download was just a pointer file, and you needed ADE to download the real book file for you?

[theducks]

You are correct, That is what I may have dropped on ADE (I cleaned up, so the file no longer appears in the DM or my FF save dir)