Our local libraries offer hundreds of PDF ebooks you can download and read
on your PC. They have built-in DRM that enables the book to "expire" after
the loan period is past. The service works through overdrive (same service
that provides e-audio for patrons.) You can also download DRM-protected PDF
books from netlibrary for loan and from fictionwise and amazon.com for
purchase.
I remember being able to read these in the past. I believe I simply
downloaded the PDF, loaded it in to Acrobat 7, entered a password and the
book was "checked out" to me. Then I could print it to the virtual printer
of K1000 or An Open Book and all was good. Sometimes I could even read the
book with JAWS. Sometimes, printing was disabled, but I could have my OCR
software open the PDF.
But since Acrobat reader is forever nagging you to upgrade, I updated to 8
and now version 9-something. You'd think the newer versions would be even
more accessible, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
Today, when you download a library book, you get a tiny ".EDT" file and you
are advised to download Adobe Digital Editions.
I was unable to fetch Digital Editions from the Adobe website, despite
Adobe's insistance that the site is accessible. I googled around and read in
the adobe forums that if you want screen reader support you need to
downgrade to Adobe reader 7.9. But I'm pretty sure they've closed the
loophole on printing, so I wonder if this will actually work. And if I do
downgrade, will I loose other accessibility features?
Has anyone found a way to read new ebooks, from libraries or from
fictionwise using JAWS? Has anyone fooled with Digital Editions?
And isn't it illegal for libraries to offer a service which used to be
accessible but no longer is?
--Debee
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