I never knowingly downloaded the Digital Editions software. It was downloaded and installed to my computer automatically when I checked a couple of eBooks out of the library. I could not figure out why, all of a sudden, I could not open the library books up in my Adobe Acrobat 7.0 software. I wasted quite a lot of time searching the internet and trying to figure it out. Eventually, I realized what had happened.
I AM SO GLAD THIS HAPPENED WITH A LIBRARY BOOK THAT WAS LOANED TO ME AND NOT A BOOK I BOUGHT or else I'd be totally peeved like so many other folks here. Once I figured out what had happened, I was sure to uninstall the Digital Editions software from my computer, change the setting in Adobe Acrobat 7.0 to NOT look for critical updates, and reset the file association for PDF files to Adobe Acrobat 7.0. I am now able to read PDF books again on my Pocket PC.
Since I did not have a choice, I read the books I'd checked out on my computer through the Digital Editions software and really hated the software. Cosmetically, it's really pretty, but it is so limited - I can't believe this software is LIVE and not being designated as Beta software.
I've only just started building my digital library and don't have much invested in eBooks yet. Now, I'll sit tight and wait to see how this whole thing pans out. Until the full functionality of being able to read books on multiple devices (pocket pcs, in particular), I will not invest any money in PDF books, and I won't even think about updating any of my Adobe software.