[Wylug-discuss] advice on ebook reader or similar...

[Smylers]

Christopher McLean writes:

> From: wylug-discuss-bounces at wylug.org.uk
> [wylug-discuss-bounces at wylug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Smylers
> [Smylers at stripey.com]
> 
> > Christopher McLean writes:
> > 
> > > * Adobe drm'd books (adobe digital editions) can be used (e.g.
> > >   from leeds library), but you need windows to activate the device the
> > >   first time - you need to register your device with adobe first time
> > >   (I think, haven't bothered a great deal with this)
> > 
> > I take it that means books described on the library's website as
> > being in 'Adobe EPUB eBook format'?
> 
> yep
> 
> > Do you know where you read this? I'd like to investigate this further,
> > since there's no point us buying a device if we won't actually be able
> > to borrow library books on it.
> 
> here: http://www.kobobooks.com/ade

Thanks. That doesn't sound good:

  when ... You want to read e-books ... from a library on a Kobo
  e-reader ... you will need to use Digital Editions to open your books
  and transfer them to your e-Reader.

That makes it sound not just like initial registration (which I could
probably find a Windows computer to do) but that I'd need to run Digital
Editions every time we borrow a library book. That'd be sufficiently
inconvenient to make it not worth buying the device.

(Also, it in general sounds like hassle, even for Windows users. The
Kobo has wi-fi; making users transfer books via another device seems
really tedious. If special software is required, let that software be
installed on the Kobo itself!)

This could be awkward to be sure of before making a purchase, because of
the different parties involved: I can't see a library promising that if
I spend £100 on a device I will definitely be able to use it to borrow
their books. And similarly, I doubt WH Smith would be in a position to
guarantee a device they sell me will definitely work with a system
operated by a third party -- given the report yesterday of a Smith's
sales assistant being out by at least an order of magnitude on the
battery life, I doubt they'd be much use on anything.

Hmmm ... maybe I can find a member of staff sufficiently clueless yet
keen to make a sale that they'll be prepared to make a promise about the
device working with library books, then if it turns out not to be I'd be
entitled to a refund as the device was mis-sold?

> you'll probably need a windows pc to use Adobe DE. that's
> adobe's doing. a quick search will turn up various ways to get this
> going using wine if you're so inclined:
> http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=6326

Does using Wine require that I find a copy of Windows files for it to
leach off? I had a play with Wine about 13 years ago, so my memory may
be faulty or things may have changed, but I think I had to point it at
the Windows NT installation I then had on another partition.

My current computer came with Windows, so I have a licence for it, but I
wiped the entire hard disk with installing Linux and I don't think there
were any Windows installation CDs, so I've been presuming that I
wouldn't be able to run Wine.

Cheers

Smylers