Help Can't load ebooks -- at all

[BWH]

I just transitioned from Galaxy S3 to S4 and suddenly I can't use Aldiko or any other book reader. The books I had on my S3 and are now on my PC will not transfer completely to my phone. Adobe blocks importing the books from the phone's Downloads, Ebooks folder, and/or My Files by requiring my Adobe user name and password. When I enter that information correctly (from my Adobe account), a notice shows the device has become "authorized," but the Adobe error message loops back. I've scoured the various forums (Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, other android book readers, etc.) and found many people have similar problems with epub books (drm restricted books), but when I follow the suggested solutions -- no luck. Obviously the problem lies with Adobe but the fact that I never had any difficulty with my S3 and could bring these legally PURCHASED books from my PC to my phone before makes me wonder what's changed with the S4 and how to make it work. I would really appreciate some advice/help.

 

[Rukbat]

DRM generally allows a purchased content to be used on ONE device. IOW, it sounds as if the "problem" is exactly what's supposed to be happening. Which is why I never buy DRM-"protected" content. It should allow only one use at a time. IOW, I can play it on any player I want, just not on two or more at the same time. (If the technical aspects of that are a bit challenging [about as "challenging" as holding your left elbow in your left habd without breaking any bones], that's the developers' problem, or the problem of the "person" [I'm trying tobe polite] who came up with the idea of DRM, it's not my problem. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make this horse thisty enough to drink foul-smelling mud.)

 

[lotus49]

I would also never buy any DRMed media for exactly this reason. This is a perfect illustration of why DRM is a terrible idea (for consumers, it's great for big business to screw customers unfairly).

I have a pretty large library of .epub books and I have had no problems at all using them with Aldiko and Moon Reader+.

 

[BWH]

Thanks to both of you for the info (and the creative horse-drinking-mud analogy . I appreciate your taking the time to respond to what probably appeared to be a rather dumb problem. I don't even remember where I purchased the two books I've been struggling with, just that I've only read partly through each of them. I doubt if the information about only being able to read them on one device came through to me when I bought them, which seems reprehensible on the part of the seller. I guess I'll have to re-purchase them if I want to be able to read them on my phone (and I'll be getting a new ultrabook this summer too). Where do you two purchase your non-DRM epub books? Of course, there's always Amazon's Kindle books, which download fine using the Kindle Android app, but I really like the Aldiko Book Reader and would prefer to use it. Thank you again for your help

 

[lotus49]

I got mine from a variety of sources including O'Reilly (computer books only), Penguin eBooks, Amazon, Google and a lot of free ones, particularly old literary classics from Gutenberg.

I don't know how up-to-date this list is but you could look at this on Wikipedia MobileRead Wiki - E-book stores.

 

[dynomot]

Not a "dumb" problem at all. If it saves someone from the scourge of DRM because they read this thread you have done people a service.

DRM is a nasty solution to piracy that affects legitimate people. It should be done away with entirely.

 

[BWH]

I didn't realize Amazon even carried non-Kindle, non-DRM, ebooks. Just tried to search for them using formats in Amazon's advanced search function but apparently you just have to look for the book you're interested in and hope that it shows up as an ebook rather than a Kindle book. I don't mind using the Kindle app on my phone and PC but, again, I keep trying to use Aldiko. Thanks again for your kind suggestions. I'll report back if I discover any useful non-DRM news.

 

[lotus49]

One of the numerous benefits of not having DRMed ebooks is that you can change format. I use an app called Calibre on my Linux laptop to edit the metadata (particularly useful with the epubs I get from Gutenberg as the metadata is often wrong) and to convert books from other formats eg mobi to epub.

I couldn't agree more with what dynomot wrote. The ironic thing is that DRM affects people who have legitimately bought ebooks but doesn't deter piracy at all. It's like those stupid anti-piracy ads you get on DVDs sometimes. If you are a pirate, you won't see them. If you have paid, you do. What is the point of that?