Add an authentication after I have bought DRM books

[_Aloke_Prasad_]

I purchased a couple of e-books (text books) and in the process of installing Adobe Digital Edition 1.5 (ADE), I chose to authenticate just the computer I was using (I did not have an Adobe ID at that time and was rushed).

Now, I have an Adobe ID. I would like to add that ID to the ADE installation on the computer (so that I can use other PC's on my home network to read/print the e-books). However, when I add the authorization, I get a warning that the books already purchased will no longer be available.

How do I retroactively add the Adobe ID to that computer on which I already have purchased content in my ADE library?

If this is not possible, what do you suggest that I do to use Adobe ID's from now on? Have I lost the purchased books if I use the ID's?

Thanks in advance.

Aloke

[Guest]

Aloke,
The "Authorize Computer" option in the Library menu will do this. However there are some important caveats:

You get to do this ONCE:
1.) You can only associate one AdobeID with any particular anonymous activation.

2.) An AdobeID can only be associated with ONE account. If you try to associate an AdobeID with an anonymous activations ( say on two machines thinking to merge them) it will fail on the second time around.

And as always we strongly encourage people to Authorize a machine with an AdobeID before you start buying books.

--
Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Aloke_Prasad_]

Jim,

Thanks for your response. I am still a bit confused over whether I should authorize my ADE installation. Let me post the exact sequenxe of events, so that you can tell me if it is safe to do so (without losing my e-book).

Here is what happened:

I have a laptop and a desktop PC. I also have one AdobeID.

1. I bought an e-book. On my laptop, following the link from the publisher, I downloaded a PDF e-book file, opening which led me to the web page with the ADE installer (http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/?source=acrofile).

2. I installed ADE on this laptop but chose to not use an Adobe ID. The ADE on this laptop opens the e-book just fine.

3. Wanting to use the e-book on my desktop PC, I installed ADE on my desktop. This time, I used my AdobeID while installing ADE (on the desktop).

4. I copied the PDF file (that I downloaded in step 1) from my laptop to my desktop. The ADE on this desktop PC will not open the PDF. It gives me an error "Document is licensed for a different user account".

Having done all this, can I go back to my laptop and authorize that installation of ADE with my AdobeID without losing the e-book? I don't want to mess up my laptop which has a functional ADE, albeit with local authorization (no AdobeID) only.

Will that e-book, having run on ADE with local authorization, get licensed to my AdobeID and work on other devices (like my desktop PC) that have ADE associated with my AdobeID?

Thanks.
Aloke

[Guest]

Aloke,
Unfortunately when you Authorized your desktop computer you used up your one account for that AdobeID. You will not be about to authorize your notebook computer with that AdobeID. If you want to be able to transfer content from you notebook computer you will have to associate it with a different AdobeID.

If you do not have any purchased content on your desktop computer you can deauthorize your deauthorize it and associate it with your new AdobeID.

If you have purchased content associated with your current AdobeID, then you will be stuck having to manage two AdobeID, or leaving the content marooned on your notebook computer.

Sorry I don't have better news.
--
Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[Brindle8]

Hi Jim,

How do I deauthorize my adobeID?

[_Aloke_Prasad_]

Creating a new AdobeID sounds like a good idea.

Please help me step through the process.

1. I create a new AdobeID on the laptop.
2. I authorize the laptop with that new ID. The e-book on that laptop will work. (?)
3. I de-authorize my desktop of the old AdobeID (I don't have any purchased content on the desktop).
4. I authorize my desktop with my new ID.
5. I copy that e-book PDF to the desktop.
6. I add that file to the library on the desktop.
7. The e-book will now be usable on both laptop and desktop. (?)

Did I get this right? I want to be sure before proceeding.

Aloke

[Guest]

Aloke,
That's correct.

Specifically for 2 - Authorizing a computer that is already anonymously activated is just a matter of associating an Adobe ID with that particular anonymous activation account on our (Adobe) servers. Nothing else changes, so the e-book will be as usable after that authorization as it was before the authorization.

For 7. Once you have two computers authorized with the same AdobeID you can transfer content back and forth within the limits of the DRM Rights that you have.

--
Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Aloke_Prasad_]

Thank you very much for your help. I'll post here if I run into trouble :-)

I'm sure this is a common problem (not using ID the first time you use ADE). Your idea of using a different ID (or other solutions) should be in a FAQ.

Aloke

[_Aloke_Prasad_]

Hi,

I am back.

How do I de-authorize (remove AdobeID) from my desktop installation of ADE?

Aloke

[Guest]

Oops sorry.

On Windows run ADE and press Ctrl+Shift+D (on Mac that's Cmd+Shift+D).

The "Deauthorize Computer" dialog should pop up, which will then deauthorize your computer and quit ADE.

--
Jim Lester
Adobe System

[_Aloke_Prasad_]

Wow. I could not find this anywhere (I even searched for the word Deauthorize in the Help pages online.

Is this documented anywhere? Is there a Users' Manual for ADE that I can download and peruse?

Thanks again for all your help!

Aloke

[_Aloke_Prasad_]

Jim,

I created a 2nd ID like you suggested and went through the steps. Everything is working fine.

Thanks.

Another question pops-up in my mind: Are AdobeID's transferable? Say in a few years, I change ISP's (or my e-mail address used as AdobeID gets compromised, can I create another ID and transfer the ownership of all my purchased items to that new ID?

Just curious.
Aloke

[Guest]

Aloke,
I'm glad it's working for you. As for your question, we do not allow the transfer of content from one AdobeID to a different AdobeID. However once you have an AdobeID the only think you need access to the email address for is to reset the password if you forget it.

--
Jim Lester
Adobe Systems