More on TechnologyTell: Gadget News | Apple News
“We are very busy with our eReading platform, and of course, there is an App for it. We might do not feel much love for DRM, but we support it, because a lot of content is not available without. As a more or less accidental by-product, we now have the first iPhone App that works with Adobe-DRMed ePubs. So, if somebody has a Sony-Reader or uses Adobe Digital Editions on their desktop, and want to read their eBooks on an iPhone, too: here is a solution. The txtr App is free and can be activated with any AdobeID.”
Txtr app lets you read Adobe-DRMed ePub on your iPhone or iPod Touch
January 15, 2010 | 9:54 am
|
By David Rothman
You can read Adobe-DRMed ePub on your iPhone or iPod Touch via an app from Txtr, the e-reader hardware company. Download it via the App Store or iTunes and share your impressions with fellow TeleRead community members. My impression is that the app lets you access material from your private bookself on the Txtr server. I wanted test the app, but need to move on. Here’s the word to TeleRead from Txtr’s Josch Bach:
“We are very busy with our eReading platform, and of course, there is an App for it. We might do not feel much love for DRM, but we support it, because a lot of content is not available without. As a more or less accidental by-product, we now have the first iPhone App that works with Adobe-DRMed ePubs. So, if somebody has a Sony-Reader or uses Adobe Digital Editions on their desktop, and want to read their eBooks on an iPhone, too: here is a solution. The txtr App is free and can be activated with any AdobeID.”I can recall reading of an earlier arrangement allowing the reading of DRMed ePub on an iPhone, but I think that was a German language one, so the Txtr app may be an English-language first. Congrats, guys! And, yes, let’s hope that someday DRM will vanish, a great way to boost competition in e-book apps and open up new software options for e-book-lovers.
Update, 11:29 a.m.: Fran Toolan from NetGalley tells us that the app wouldn’t work with NetGalley’s ACS4 files. Something proprietary causing problems? Further update, 12:48 p.m.: Fran has it working now.
|
Previous
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS
Comments:
That is GREAT news!
Can hardly wait to try it. Sony take note!!!
The txtr App assumes that you already have the ePub.
The ACS4 (or ACSM) file does not contain the actual document, but the rights information that allows you to read it. To obtain the document that belongs to this file, you will have to ‘fulfill’ it, for instance using Adobe’s Digital Editions. (Make sure you use the same AdobeID as in the txtr App.) By activating the ACS4 file, you download an encrypted version of the document, that can in turn be read by the txtr App.
You can import your ePubs to the txtr App via txtr.com.
Joscha – thanks for the tip. I have a couple Adobe IDs and probably entered the wrong one. Trying this again…
Will this work with Library books from Overdrive?
Excellent question, DE, and I’m checking with OD and Adobe. David
It won’t work with library books – you need to be able to fulfill directly to the device where you intend to read it and txtr does not allow you to fulfill from an arbitrary server.
Big thanks for the update, Peter. I hope Txtr, OverDrive and/or Adobe can update us if that changes. Reading library books on an iPhone or iPod Touch would be awesome. David
Txtr works perfectly, albeit it needs a few refinements, with all my ADE books (ePub & PDF).
ePub is best. Now my question is this: why the devil can’t Sony put out an iPhone app that does the same?
If Txtr can so Sony should.
It would certainly be nice when Overdrive works too.
Good going Txtr. Keep up the good work.
This development is huge for those of us with large collections.
Works great with the university press books BiblioVault fulfills. Great app!
Very nice work, txtr! Thank you!
Looks like Overdrive will be releasing an iPhone app this year: http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=14438
Note that they have partnered with Txtr in Germany. Not sure if that’s related or not.
Finally it is possible to read library books on your iOS device. This is one of the features I have been looking for for a long time. Please see the CNET link below.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20023016-233.html
I have tested it and it is actually easy to get library books onto the iphone. You can just email the .acsm file to your iphone and then say open in .. Bluefire Reader and it will download the file.
The formatting is not ideal on the iphone. It leaves too much space around the edges and I wish the page turn would be slow as a move so that I can finish the last words on a page while already seeing the next word on the upcoming page. But those are little issues that can be resolved in the future. It definitely makes the ipad and iphone the most versatile reader now.
Additionally together with txtr this is the second app that empowers international readers to purchase epub books and read them on their iOS device. txtr does not read library books though.