Dear Adobe Digital Editions Community,
My query is not dissimilar to the recent thread of a French contributor and also has a French connection.
On 30.12.2015, I purchased a pdf electronic book from the French bookseller, Les libraires francais. The book was only readable via Adobe Digital Editions. On 09.12.2018, I attempted to read it again, but received the message that the book belonged to the account of another user, even though I was the purchaser and on the same computer was using the same version of Adobe Digital Editions to which the book had been installed when purchased. I then updated my version of ADE and attempted to upload the book from the original link I had been given by the seller. I then received a message that the book needed the vendor's ID and password in order to be accessible.
When I contacted the bookseller, they refused either to send me a new link to the book or to provide the necessary information to access the downloaded item or to give a refund. The book is still available for sale on their site, although it now costs €3.99 instead of the €11.50 that I paid for it. When I first purchased the book, I did not have an Adobe ID, nor was I aware that I should need one. Between 2015 and 2018, I used my original version of Adobe Digital Editions to read other books, which I borrowed rather than hired, and had no problem reading them. The last time I read the French book via ADE was in 2017.
I have attempted to unlock the pdf through two different packages for removing DRM controls, but both require the book to be readable within ADE before they can have effect.
With Amazon kindle books, for example, it is possible to re-download an item if there is an issue. However, with books sold with access solely through Adobe software, there would seem to be a distribution of responsibility for access between both the bookseller and the provider of the reading system. Accordingly, as Adobe does not offer a customer service facility to users of its Digital Editions -- although presumably it profits from the content bound to its system -- I write to you, the Adobe community, to ask if: a). you could please provide suggestions as to how I might be able to retrieve the book I purchased; b). you have any suggestions as to how the book file became corrupted to prevent access by its owner?
There is an underlying question here as to whether issues of electronic access are a responsibility of the vendor, the ADE system, or the purchaser. Obviously, if I had deleted the book from my computer, that would be the equivalent to losing a paper copy, and hence my fault. But if the book suddenly and inexplicably becomes unavailable, having previously been accessible to read, this would seem rather a fault related to the ADE system, and therefore I am curious to know, if the vendor of e-books does not consider they have a duty of customer care in this instance, does the creator of the ADE application?
Any comments gratefully received.
Yours sincerely,
Nicholas