MS Reader dead?

[mr_Ray]

OK, this has got me quite upset now...

When trying to open Microsoft's free eBooks, MSReader on both my PC and PPC now say "The digital security software that protects this eBook has been updated. You must re-activate in order to open this title. Please go to (MS Site) for additional information."

After a couple of reinstall and re-activations on both, all of a sudden I have used all of my Activation quota. Hmm that's nice, but I thought that you could reactivate the same device as often as you liked without going over the quota?
Great. ConvertLIT, which I was trying out to prepare for just this eventuality, doesn't want to convert the files either, despite that the current install of Reader is up to date and saying that it's registered. I got v1.5 and same result.

I can get another activation from MS but being limited to one extra per 180 days doesn't help me when I have both a PC and a PPC that I want to read on. I was already halfway through HHGTTG, too. Bummer.

Any suggestions on where to go from here? :evil:

[bwillet]

Prepare for a hassle... I had the exact same thing happen (I tend to upgrade PPCs frequently), and I ended up calling tech support because the online system said that I already had a request pending (this was from about 2 months prior). I spent an hour on hold, then finally got someone on the line. He kept insisting that I had to use the online quota request system and that there was nothing else he could do. I FINALLY (after about 45 minutes) managed to get it through his head that the online system kept telling me to call tech support. He would go and talk to his supervisor, then come back with some other answer that didn't make any sense given the situation. I just refused to hang up when he told me to "wait a few more days" to see if the activation team got to my request. It was finally determined that my original online request was "lost" in the database but still allocated, and he said he would file a trouble ticket and someone would get back with me. I was on the phone for the better part of two hours to get this resolved, not including the two previous attempts where their phone system hung up on me.

I tried daily to re-activate my PPC, and about a week later it worked for both my desktop and PPC. Now we have to see if it will work for my wife's PPC.

What a total pain! I have been reading the free summer promotion ebooks and enjoying them, but there is no way I would ever purchase a book in .LIT format when it's this much of a hassle to keep it working. I had a 2 hour flight in which I really would have liked to finish my current ebook, but couldn't because I couldn't activate the device.

[dh]

Convert Lit should be OK. I've used ver1.5. What is the problem you have been having?

[mr_Ray]

Well from the sound of that I won't have much luck trying to get things sorted especially since IIRC there's no MS support for Reader in the UK other than that stupid form. If I do manage to get it working I think the only thing I can do is convert everything over to uBook and dump Reader.

Regarding convert lit, when trying to HTMLise my books I get the following error - 'Blackbox "Initialize" failed! (-2147183856)'.

Having just got into work and tried the same on my PC here (also activated and have been reading on it merrily until today) I get the asme problems in Reader and c-lit.

Stupid thing.

[dirtminer]

From your description of your problem, I'd say the likely possibilities are:
(1) you have a virus which is modifying MSREADER.EXE -- Reading protect ebooks requires that all exe/dlls remain unmodified.

(2) you change your hardware configuration (on one system, if I used one particular compact flash adapter, I would have different results depending on whether or not the right compact flash card was in! Horrible!).

(3) you are a developer running something like a debugger (or an anti-virus package which works like one).

If Microosft Reader cannot open up the files, neither can Clit.

[mr_Ray]

From your description of your problem, I'd say the likely possibilities are:
(1) you have a virus which is modifying MSREADER.EXE -- Reading protect ebooks requires that all exe/dlls remain unmodified.

(2) you change your hardware configuration (on one system, if I used one particular compact flash adapter, I would have different results depending on whether or not the right compact flash card was in! Horrible!).

(3) you are a developer running something like a debugger (or an anti-virus package which works like one).

If Microosft Reader cannot open up the files, neither can Clit.

1 - Definitely no virus, and especially so since this is on two different PCs (which I never even so much as share files between) and a PocketPC. I can also rule out corruption to the eBooks themselves since they were working on all 3 recently and I haven't overwritten with a master copy at all.

2 - Well I added a bluetooth dongle to my home PC, but my work PC hasn't changed in a year.

3 - Well I am a developer, but I've not went anywhere near processes other than my own app in years, and my work PC has no development tools installed (obviously same for my PPC)

I am quite confused by all of this. :?

[mr_Ray]

Well, it's 48 hours since I filled in MS's helpful form promising a reply within 24 hours.
I've given up and got a new passport and I can download and read today's free books just fine.

The only problem now is that I can't read all of the previous books, and understandably this thread will be locked and/or deleted if I ask anyone to help me out in that respect. Damn. :D

Oh well, It's uBook for me all the way from now on.

[dh]

I'm inclined to think that reactivating with your old passport is going to be the only way to retrieve these books.

I tried to explode some older .lit files that I have, using Convert Lit and got an error. Convert Lit 1.5 appears to only function with books downloaded using the current update and activation. I tried using ver 1.4 and this won't open the old files either. I think someone made the comment that if Reader can't open the file, Convert Lit can't either - looks like this is correct.

I would strongly suggest that you convert the new books you have to HTML files to prevent this happening to you again. MS had a great idea with this eBook promotion, but heck they have made it difficult for people. :bad-words:

[mr_Ray]

I'm inclined to think that reactivating with your old passport is going to be the only way to retrieve these books.

I tried to explode some older .lit files that I have, using Convert Lit and got an error. Convert Lit 1.5 appears to only function with books downloaded using the current update and activation. I tried using ver 1.4 and this won't open the old files either. I think someone made the comment that if Reader can't open the file, Convert Lit can't either - looks like this is correct.

I would strongly suggest that you convert the new books you have to HTML files to prevent this happening to you again. MS had a great idea with this eBook promotion, but heck they have made it difficult for people. :bad-words:

Very difficult yes, I don't expect the pages of all my paper books to get glued together al of a sudden, and this is the digital equivalent. Rest assured I will be converting any that I get from here on to avoid having this issue again down the line. Not even Microsoft can lock me out of an HTML file. :)

I've tried c-lit 1.4 and 1.5 but without an activated copy of reader it can't release my imprisoned books. I would try activating a PC with my "old" passport, but I'm over my limit and they won't let me have any more. I've got a big pile of books on my desk with the pages glued toegether! :D

*waves goodbye to books*

[KH]

It is probably really rude of me to suggest that you ditch Microsoft Reader for Peanut Press/Palm Digital media/whoever - but Damn, I've never had all the problems that permeate the discussions of Microsoft Reader on this or any site. It just doesn't matter which device or PC is my chosen reading device for any given book - it all just WORKS. Everytime I start to consider encrypted .lit books I see a firestorm of complaints, and that does it for me! (Unencrypted books that I get from Baen for example are just fine - they transport between the units seamlessly).

That's probably why my library of purchased books is in the many-hundreds - and not one is an encrypted Microsoft Reader book....

[ChristopherTD]

Bear in mind that you are only going to see posts from people where things have gone wrong. Very few are going to pop up and say everything is working fine! So the forums will necessarily present a skewed view of MS Reader.

Reader is by no means perfect, but it does work for a lot of people, including people with several devices.

So far my library of titles (some purchased 3 years ago) have weathered the activation/upgrade cycle of the last few months without hassle or need to redownload. It does need improvement but it isn't completely broken.

[mr_Ray]

Bear in mind that you are only going to see posts from people where things have gone wrong. Very few are going to pop up and say everything is working fine! So the forums will necessarily present a skewed view of MS Reader.

Reader is by no means perfect, but it does work for a lot of people, including people with several devices.

So far my library of titles (some purchased 3 years ago) have weathered the activation/upgrade cycle of the last few months without hassle or need to redownload. It does need improvement but it isn't completely broken.

Oh I quite agree. If you paid attention to every complaint about a product you'd never buy anything. :D
Personal experience counts for a lot though - that's why I'll never buy Dell - and this has really put me off. I have a load of books that I can't read now (had they not been the free promotional books I'd be VERY unhappy by now).

For free and self made content I'll stick with uBook, and as KH suggested for purchased content I'll go with Palm Press Digital Peanut Media or whatever the heck it's called nowadays.

The real stinker for me now is that for my lost "free" eBooks I have to either
1) buy them - not likely since I had them for free last week.
2) become a hardened criminal mastermind by searching them out on Kazaa/usenet/IRC/wherever.

Another case of enforced DRM pushing someone towards "unofficial" channels. Nice one :roll:

[mr_Ray]

Well credit where credit's due.
MS, albeit 5x slower than they advertised, did solve this and have given me 3 more activations, and I can now read my old books.

It's stil lest a abd taste in my mouth, though, and is something for me to bear in mind in the future.

[davidspalding]

OK, this has got me quite upset now...

When trying to open Microsoft's free eBooks, MSReader on both my PC and PPC now say "The digital security software that protects this eBook has been updated. You must re-activate in order to open this title. Please go to (MS Site) for additional information."

After a couple of reinstall and re-activations on both, all of a sudden I have used all of my Activation quota. Hmm that's nice, but I thought that you could reactivate the same device as often as you liked without going over the quota?
Great. ConvertLIT, which I was trying out to prepare for just this eventuality, doesn't want to convert the files either, despite that the current install of Reader is up to date and saying that it's registered. I got v1.5 and same result.

I can get another activation from MS but being limited to one extra per 180 days doesn't help me when I have both a PC and a PPC that I want to read on. I was already halfway through HHGTTG, too. Bummer.

Any suggestions on where to go from here? :evil:

Hrm. I just tried with previously downloaded copies of the Joy Luck Club and Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy, and did NOT experience any such error. Tried with 1.5 and 1.4. <shrug> :?

I seem to recall seeing the Blackbox error when I didn't have the manifest.sig file in the same directory ... was was trying Convert LIT with someone else's secure book. At least with 1.4, you could only "DeDRM" a book which you were authorized to read.