The Top 5 Reasons Why Your eBook Isn’t Opening — #5: The eBook File is Corrupted or The Download Link is Bad

This is an article series that will explain the most common reasons why ebook users have trouble opening an ebook that was purchased from an ebook retail website. Most of these issues are easily avoided by simply following your download instructions, installing the software you need, and making sure that you’re using the correct ebook format for your eReader. This post covers reason #5: The eBook File is Corrupted or The Download Link is Bad.

These are the least commons reason why your ebook isn’t opening correctly, but they do happen from time to time.

Sometimes the website selling the ebook will have made a mistake in the download link, which will cause it to not work when you attempt to download your ebook. Even the people running ebook websites are humans, so mistakes can be made. Sometimes the problem originated before it even got to the ebook store. When a book publisher wants to sell their books as ebooks, often they list their ebooks with a company that distributes ebooks and provides DRM on the downloads. The book publisher must provide the distributor with all of the pertinent information about the ebook, including the file name. If that file name is provided incorrectly, it will still be incorrect when it gets to the ebook store.

Sometimes the ebook file itself has become corrupted. These files have to be sent from the book publisher to the distributor to the ebook store, and they go through a lot of different servers during that time, they’re stored in multiple databases, and the download happens through multiple pieces of software. It is a bit of a miracle that the files don’t get corrupted a lot more than they do. If you end up with an ebook file that has become corrupted and won’t open, keep this in mind.

However, remember that these occurrences are not common. The majority of the time, when an ebook isn’t opening the reason is that the user is trying to open it with the wrong software or the wrong e-reader device. For example, if you try to open a DRM-protected PDF file with Adobe Reader, the program will give you a message that the file is corrupt. In this case, the file is not actually corrupt — that’s just the only way that Adobe Reader knows how to tell you that it can’t open the file when it’s meant for Adobe Digital Editions.

If you’ve found this post through Google and haven’t yet read through the more common reasons why your ebook isn’t opening, please check those out first before you assume that your ebook file is corrupted. See all posts in this series.

The Top 5 Reasons Why Your eBook Isn’t Opening — #4: The DRM Has Gone Wrong Over Time

This is an article series that will explain the most common reasons why ebook users have trouble opening an ebook that was purchased from an ebook retail website. Most of these issues are easily avoided by simply following your download instructions, installing the software you need, and making sure that you’re using the correct ebook format for your eReader. This post covers reason #4: The DRM Has Gone Wrong Over Time.

This particular problem arises when you’ve purchased an ebook in the past. You might run into trouble if you try to use the ebook on a new computer/device, a computer that has had its operating system upgraded/reinstalled, or if you’re simply trying to re-download an ebook that you’d previously lost or deleted.

Like we have in the previous articles, let’s consider this issue in terms of Adobe’s DRM, since Adobe provides the most prevalent DRM system for ebooks. Adobe does allow users to re-download previous purchases and to use their ebooks on multiple computers and devices. However, Adobe’s DRM system must be worked with properly if you want this to work.

Before you download an Adobe ebook for the first time, you must “authorize” Adobe Digital Editions with your Adobe ID. If you do that, then you can authorize Adobe Digital Editions on other computers with the same Adobe ID, and Adobe will allow you to use your ebooks on those computers as well.

Some people try to skip all of that and just email the ebook to their other computer, transfer it via a thumb drive, or something similar. That is exactly what the software is set up to prevent you from doing. The whole purpose of the DRM is to prevent people from sharing the file with others. Whether or not you agree with this is pretty much irrelevant. It is what you have to deal with right now if you want to use Adobe ebooks.

If you don’t authorize Adobe Digital Editions with the same Adobe ID on each computer, you will probably get an error message that says “ebook already licensed to a different user” or some variation on that text. If you’ve gotten that type of error message, you will have to go back to the beginning of the process and start over.

First, install Adobe Digital Editions on the computer where you want to read the ebook.

Second, authorize it with the same Adobe ID that you used when you downloaded the ebook for the first time. (If you did not authorize Adobe Digital Editions with an Adobe ID before you downloaded the ebook for the first time, then you have effectively forfeited your right to use the ebook on multiple computers.)

Third, return to the ebook store where you purchased the ebook, and download it from there to the computer where you want to use the ebook.

If you suspect that you’ve authorized Adobe Digital Editions with the wrong Adobe ID, you can redo your authorization. Learn how to de-authorize and re-authorize Adobe Digital Editions here.

The next installment in this series will be #5, the final part. See all posts in this series.

The Top 5 Reasons Why Your eBook Isn’t Opening — #3: You Didn’t Follow The Proper DRM Procedure

This is an article series that will explain the most common reasons why ebook users have trouble opening an ebook that was purchased from an ebook retail website. Most of these issues are easily avoided by simply following your download instructions, installing the software you need, and making sure that you’re using the correct ebook format for your eReader. This post covers reason #3: You Didn’t Follow The Proper DRM Procedure.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It is software security that prevents an ebook, audio MP3 file, or other digital media, from being distributed for free. Most book publishers will not sell their books in ebook format without this security because they are concerned about copyright protection and software piracy.

DRM can cause a lot of trouble for the end-users when they don’t understand how it works, but it can also be dealt with easily and with a minimum of hardship. In terms of ebooks, if a user wishes to read a DRM-protected ebook, he or she must first install a specific program that was created for the ebook format, and register it with a free account.

Adobe (www.adobe.com) provides the most prevalent ebook DRM system in use today: the Adobe Content Server. This DRM system protects both PDF and EPUB ebooks. I am only going to explain how to deal with this system in this article because it is the most widely used, and consequently the most misunderstood.

Before you buy any ebooks, you can identify those that are being protected by Adobe’s DRM by looking at the information posted on the website that sells the ebook. If the website mentions DRM, the requirement of Adobe Digital Editions, or specifies that the ebook can only be used on a specific list of e-reader devices, then you should definitely assume that you will have to use Adobe’s DRM if you purchase the ebook.

Before purchasing an Adobe ebook protected by Adobe’s DRM, follow these steps:

1. Find out whether your computer or e-reader device is supported by Adobe’s Content Server system.

Here is some information to get you started:

Adobe Digital Editions can be used on Windows (XP, Vista, 7) and Mac (10.4-10.6). It does not work on Linux.

Adobe has an official list of devices that they support. If your device is not on that list, do not bother buying an ebook for it if it is protected by Adobe DRM.

2. Install Adobe Digital Editions

Get it here: http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/

3. Create an Adobe ID

Do that here: https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/membership/index.cfm

4. “Authorize” Adobe Digital Editions with your Adobe ID

a. Open Adobe Digital Editions

b. Click on the Library button

c. Click on the downward arrow next to the word LIBRARY

d. Click “Authorize Computer”

After you complete these steps, you will be ready to purchase and download ebooks that are protected by Adobe DRM.

I have more information about how to work with Adobe Digital Editions in the Adobe Digital Editions category of this blog, such as what to do when you get an ACSM file.

The next article in this series will cover more information about how to deal with DRM issues when you’ve changed computers. See all posts in this series.

The Top 5 Reasons Why Your eBook Isn’t Opening — #2: You’re Using The Wrong Software

This is a series of five articles that explains the most common reasons why ebooks won’t open after they’ve been downloaded from an ebook retail website. Most of these issues are easily avoided by simply following your download instructions, installing the software you need, and making sure that you’re using the correct ebook format for your eReader. This post covers reason #2: You’re Using the Wrong Software.

Please consider this extremely common scenario: A person buys an ebook. He is so excited to download his new purchase / very busy and he wants this downloaded now – after all, he bought an ebook so that he could get it now and not wait for shipping / needs to get this downloaded right away for research, that he skips right over all of the download instructions and jumps straight into downloading the ebook. Then when he has it on his computer, it won’t open. He gets an awful error message and now nothing he does will work.

One of the most frequent explanations for this is that the user is attempting to open the ebook with the wrong software. The usual culprit is an Adobe program – either Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. There is nothing wrong with those programs if you’re opening a regular old PDF file, but if you’ve purchased an ebook from a retail website, it is very likely that the file is protected by DRM. When that is the case, it means that the ebook must be opened with Adobe Digital Editions. No other Adobe software will work.

Now, that is assuming that the ebook purchased was in a format covered by Adobe’s Content Server – either PDF or EPUB. This person in our scenario might have purchased an ebook in an entirely different format, such as Microsoft Reader or Mobipocket. In that case, it would be really wrong to attempt to open that file in an Adobe program.

This entire problem can be avoided by reading and following the download instructions. All websites that sell ebooks will tell you which program is required to open the ebook. The best thing to do is to install that program before you even purchase an ebook. That way you’ll be able to verify that the program can run on your computer before you spend any money.

The next article in this series is going to cover another very common reason why your ebook isn’t opening: You Didn’t Follow the Proper DRM Procedure. See all posts in this series.

The Top 5 Reasons Why Your eBook Isn’t Opening — #1: You Have The Wrong eReader

This is an article series that will explain the most common reasons why ebook users have trouble opening an ebook that was purchased from an ebook retail website. Most of these issues are easily avoided by simply following your download instructions, installing the software you need, and making sure that you’re using the correct ebook format for your eReader. This post covers reason #1: You Have the Wrong eReader.

That might sound a little scarier than it actually is. I don’t want you to think that the ebook reader you bought for $200 is the wrong device. But in this scenario, the problem is that it might be the wrong eReader for the ebook format that you’ve purchased.

One of the first things you should do when get a new eReader is to learn which ebook formats it supports. This will be explained in the user manual. You can also look this up before you even purchase an eReader. It will be clearly shown on the website that sells the device. It might be displayed as “ebook formats supported” or “file types supported” or something similar.

Let’s look at a couple common examples:

Amazon Kindle: Amazon is pretty restrictive about the file types that you can use on a Kindle. Kindle ebooks that you purchase from Amazon are in the AZW file format, and those ebooks are not sold anywhere other than Amazon. If you’ve purchased an ebook on a website other than Amazon.com, it is likely that it will not work on the Kindle. In that case, you’ve got the wrong eReader for the ebook that you bought.

Barnes & Noble Nook: The Nook is a lot less restrictive, and you can purchase ebooks for it from many different websites. The best formats to are PDF and EPUB. There are a lot of other ebook formats out there, though. Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket Reader, and Palm eReader, just to name a few. With some rare exceptions, if you’ve bought one of those ebook formats, then you have the wrong eReader.

You can easily extrapolate this to whichever eReader you own. If you have an ebook that won’t open on it, the #1 most likely reason is that you’ve got the wrong eReader for that ebook. The only solution for this is to put that ebook onto an eReader that will support that file type. Or, of course, purchase the correct ebook format for your device in the first place.

The next article in this series will cover the second most common reason why your ebook isn’t opening: you’re using the wrong software. See all posts in this series.