B&N removed download option on all books in "My Nook" library

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Joykins

Ah. What I think mine did, was download everything *since my last download from nook for PC*. Since that was in July of last year, and the bulk of my nook purchases were 2009-2011, I guess I'm stuck downloading them individually.

Can you use a computer belonging to a relative or friend to download them? Then move them to a USB Drive.
Apache

[Blossom]

I got all of mine using the Android app. It took less than 10 minutes to download them then 5 minutes to move them to my PC via LAN on Es File Explorer and now loading them in Calibre. I was able to get all books some that I could never get before because nook library has been broken forever.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by geertm

Might this even be related to HarperCollins going to use a digital watermark as an extra layer of DRM? Is this the start of an offensive by the publishers to end ebook piracy? Have the publishers somehow become convinced that they can win such an offensive?

It may have nothing to do with the publishers and simply be a poorly-thought-out attempt to compel customer lock-in by ensuring that the greater difficulty to use one's content as one sees fit keeps one inside the walled garden.

Apple has done something similarly annoying with the new iBooks on Mac app in OS X Mavericks. It used to be that iBooks were fed through from the iTunes store and showed up as .epub and .ibooks files which could be easily seen in one's iTunes Media folder and moved about and used on other readers (in the case of DRM-free ePubs).

Now, no longer. The mere opening of the iBooks for Mac app auto-migrates all your present and future iBooks from the iTunes Media folder into some hidden place deep within your ~/Library and also unpacks them all, in some obscure encrypted format (even the DRM-free ones), so you no longer have your handy individual title files, and can't econstruct or even manually read the contents of the unpacked HTML in your formerly DRM-free ePubs.

And you can't even move the contents of said hidden ~/Library folder and symlink them if you're running out of disk space on your boot hard drive petition. iBooks just flat-out refuses to see them any more and then wants you to reset your library and re-download again.

My next project, after the B&N downloads are complete, will be to boot into an older version of OS X & iTunes, and manually re-download all my iBooks from the cloud as their original individual files so I can at least pick and choose which titles to keep on my laptop and which I can put into storage on the external drive. Maybe this time I'll even be able to get the iBooks DRM-removal thingy to work.

[NNolan]

I guess I won't be using that last $6 of settlement credit that I have left at B&N. Bummer.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by NNolan

I guess I won't be using that last $6 of settlement credit that I have left at B&N. Bummer.

I'd use it quickly then grab the book via the Android app with your Fire. You can then copy the epub from the nook folder to Calibre.

[LoganK]

I don't really have anything to add, but...

I really like Barnes & Noble, and I'm constantly defending them as one of the better choices (among a sea of admittedly poor options excepting rare gems like O'Reilly). However, they never cease to amaze me with their ability to make decisions that will upset the most vocal of their users.

Maybe B&N doesn't want "power users" as a customer base so they actively push away informed buyers. Maybe their management shorted the stock and trying to capitalize. Or perhaps (unfortunately likely in this case) they let publishers dictate their business decisions more than is reasonable.

In any case, I've been meaning to check out Kobo again. They have their own failings and missteps, but at least their trajectory seems to be up...

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I thought you could get a fresh download from Nook for PC by renaming the book folder and synching but that didn't work. I thought I had done that before.

Yeah, I did try that.

Now I'm using the greasemonkey/ tampermonkey download script. I'm nearly done with all of them

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by geertm

Might this even be related to HarperCollins going to use a digital watermark as an extra layer of DRM? Is this the start of an offensive by the publishers to end ebook piracy? Have the publishers somehow become convinced that they can win such an offensive?
Read some info in the comments on the Dear Author website that some download buttons have also been removed at Kobo. So this seems to be something not limited to B&N.

I also checked my Kobo library. Out of the 147 titles 4 don't have download buttons.

[anesthezea]

I was able to get a few of my newest Nook books this way:

Download books to Nook app on iPhone or iPad. Connect iPhone to computer and use iFunbox program to search the file system (Nook - Library - Caches - Products) for the books. I then transferred them to my Desktop.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I also checked my Kobo library. Out of the 147 titles 4 don't have download buttons.

Those are kepub-only books. That's been going on for a while.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Script worked for me as well through Tapermonkey. I will be visiting my page BEFORE any new purchases, one at a time, to make sure the script is still live before I buy anything new.

This is a really good idea. I have some gift card money there - I think I may have to go shopping this weekend and use it up.

My fear is that a simple change to their website might make that script unusable (I don't know enough about what it does behind the scenes to know how easy it would be to tweak).

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Those are kepub-only books. That's been going on for a while.

Actually, 3 of them say Adobe DRM

[library addict]

Okay I downloaded them all to my Nexus and copied them to my PC.

The ones I checked appear to be the same versions as the ones I'd downloaded when I set up my Calibre Warehouse library earlier this year.

I'll keep the Nook for Android app on my tablet on the off chance I ever buy anything there again. I unistalled it from my phone earlier this year as whenever they sent out notices I had to delete them from my phone and tablet and I got tired of the double work for an app I don't even really use.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I'd say B&N is actually worse for doing this the way they did. Kobo is a close second for their kepub nonsense. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the desktop apps for both disappear soon - they're already hiding Nook for PC, you have to search for it. The "reading apps" page only has mobile devices + the windows store app. Kobo has done the same.

I'd think Kobo is worse, since a KEPUB-only book is impossible to use elsewhere. At least B&N only requires you to use the Android app or an e-ink Nook, before sideloading.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I went through all 800 books at Kobo they all have downloads buttons.

That's how mine were at B&N. A button with a + on it that opened up the choices to read, download, archive etc. and I clicked on each one individually to download it. It took a bit of time but I got em.