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There Has Got To Be A Better Way

I have spent the last week in tech support hell.  My beloved Sony ereader died.  I loved how open source it was and lightweight.  Alas, Sony is out of the ereader biz for the most part so I had to decide between Nook, Kobo and Kindle.  I already own numerous epub books so Kindle wasn't my first choice.  I did some research and decided on the Kobo.  There weren't any brick and mortar stores that carried it so I ordered it online. 

It came and first of all was not lightweight, but the fact that it lights up and I can read it in the dark was a big plus to me.  Then I tried to download some of my books on it.  Yikes, did that ever open up a can of worms. 

Somehow, I just assumed that digital copyrights on ebooks (epub) were handled the same way digital music is handled.  In other words, once you bought the digital file, it was yours.  That is not the way it is set up.  You cannot just copy an ebook on your hard drive to another computer or reader or tablet and expect to be able to open it. 

Every ebook has your Adobe Digital ID attached to it when you buy it.  And you can only copy it to authorized devices and the number is limited.  And the authorization is through Adobe.  And when you first sign up for your Adobe Digital ID no one tells you that it will be tied to whatever email address you use, FOREVER. 

In my case I signed up for my ID almost five years ago and used my regular email.  I didn't think about it being the email tied to my ISP.   We moved a little over a year ago and since I was still using the same ereader and the same program to download my books, there was no problem. 

Then I got the new ereader and signed up on it using my current email.  My Adobe Digital ID is tied to an email from my former ISP.  They sent me a new password to my old email and I couldn't access it.   I tried to find a way on the FAQ's or forums to change the email – no dice.  That is your id.

Then I tried contacting Adobe.  They do not make it easy.  I finally got someone to respond to a chat – that took 20 minutes of "go on the website".  They said they would send me the information to my current email.  I waited 3 days.  Then I started the chat again.  One hour and 32 minutes and 2 levels of tech support later, I finally had my correct email and correct ID so I could begin the process of going to every store I had ever purchased an ebook from and redownloading my books.

But wait, there's more.  First, I had to contact Sony because the Reader for PC program I had been using to download all my books is a Sony product and they needed to change the id.  Okay.  At least Sony had a phone number. 

I called and 40 minutes later I was all straight with them.  I will say that Sony was amazing.  The support person knew exactly what to do and talked me through it and made it so simple.   I redownloaded about half the books now using Adobe Digital Editions. 

I was unable to download from two of the stores.  I checked the forums again and found out I was using an older version of Adobe Digital Editions.  When I tried to install the newer version, it did not recognize my ID.  I had received an email from Adobe closing out my case so I had a case number.  I used that case number and went back into Adobe and reopened my case and told them the problem.  Two days later they responded and it is a full page of instructions including registry changes. 

I know I cannot be the only person who has changed emails and been unable to change a user id for an account.  Why are they using an email as an id?  That's like using your mailing address and thinking no one will ever move.  If you are going to tie people in that way, warn us.  Let everyone know that they should use a universally available email like gmail or yahoo.  It would seem to me that email addresses should be changeable when attached to any account.  Just assign an id of some sort that cannot be changed. 


Having spent days on just trying to get my books I am feeling worn out.  That was just way too much effort to be able to access something that I paid for and should be mine.  And to have to go through contacting Adobe, Sony, and each ebook vendor is just silly.   While I am extremely grateful for the ease of reading on an ereader, right now I feel like a trip to Half Price Books is in order.  There has got to be an easier and more user friendly way to handle digital book management.   
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