Adobe Digital Editions' ebook DRM: Difference between revisions

Modern-day ebook publishers have been utilizing various forms of [[Digital rights management|digital-rights management]] (DRM) to protect the books they sell to make sure that "copyright laws are respected and that authors and publishers are fairly compensated" <ref name=":1">https://help.barnesandnoble.com/hc/en-us/articles/5445106302107-DRM-for-NOOK-Content</ref>. However, the end user who purchases the content legally ends up being restricted in what they are able to do with the ebook once they have purchased it. One of Adobe's version of this DRM is called "Adobe Digital Editions" which is the client the user uses to read their ebooks.

Adobe eBook Platform is a platform for publishers to leverage when selling ebooks. This includes the following software suite: Adobe InDesign® CC software, Adobe Content Server software, the Adobe Reader® Mobile Software Development Kit (SDK), and Adobe Digital Editions <ref name=":0">https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/us/en/solutions/ebook/adobe_ebook_platform_whitepaper.pdf</ref>. A summary of each of the software is outlined below at a high level (mostly extracted from the Adobe white paper on the platform):

All these solutions come together to give publishers control over their ebook content. The main product discussed on this page is Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). ADE allows for the following benefits <ref>https://www.adobe.com/solutions/ebook/digital-editions.html</ref>:

ADE also has system requirements, as it is an application running on your system <ref>https://www.adobe.com/solutions/ebook/digital-editions/tech-specs.html</ref>:

Windows:

Mac OS:

iOS:

Android:

==[Incident]==

With the release of the platform and specifically the Adobe Digital Edition application, consumers have been restricted on what they are allowed to do with ebooks that they have purchased. Although unlimited downloads are mentioned by publishers and ebook sites, those are tied to an account <ref name=":12">https://help.barnesandnoble.com/hc/en-us/articles/5445106302107-DRM-for-NOOK-Content</ref>. This means that if access to an account is lost, then the access to those ebooks is lost as well. eBooks.com is one of the various e-bookstores that sells both non-DRM and DRM books leveraging ADE. When purchasing an ebook from them, you get a .acsm file. This format only works with the Adobe Digital Editions application. The user needs to create an Adobe account (after already creating an ebooks.com account) in order to add the book to their account. ADE (pertaining to purchases from ebooks.com) allows for authorization of up to 10 devices with a single Adobe ID, but only one computer <ref name=":2">https://support.ebooks.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360000726656-What-is-DRM-DRM-FAQs</ref>. The end user would not be able to read a book on a home computer and then later on a laptop simultaneously due to this limitation. Barnes and Noble uses ADE as well for their ebooks, with their limitations being a bit different in comparison to ebooks.com's. They have 4 versions of DRM types they leverage for the books sold on their site <ref>https://help.barnesandnoble.com/hc/en-us/articles/5445106302107-DRM-for-NOOK-Content</ref>:

In both cases, the user is limited to only a certain number of devices and has to constantly authorize and un-authorize readers in order to be in compliance. This leads to a lack of autonomy for the user who has purchased the book. In addition, with the Barnes and Noble "Consumer DRM" section, a user is not able to print the ebook they have purchased either. Going back to the ebooks.com example, ebooks.com has a bit more control on the consumer stating that due to DRM: "the amount of printing or copying and pasting you can do may be restricted, or prevented entirely. It will also determine whether the read aloud functionality is enabled for the ebook or not" <ref name=":2" />.

[[Category:Digital rights management]]

[[Category:Adobe]]