MS Reader activation server down?

[jkendrick]

I just got a new PPC and have been attempting to activate it since yesterday afternoon so I can read the free ebooks in VGA. I've been getting a "server is offline for maintenance" message.

Has anyone else seen this?

[toxostoma]

I sure have! :evil:

I don't even want to get started about how much I dislike Microsoft's Reader... I tried to install reader in my iPAQ file store. I got everything working perfectly, but it wouldn't activate! How dare Microsoft keep me from installing a program where I want to. It's insulting. Then, after finally bending over and installing it in main memory, I get the same message you did - that the server is down for maintence... This was two or three days ago.

I've been seriously thinking about getting Palm Reader. The only thing I don't like about it is that they charge 30 bucks for their software to easily create ebooks! I know, you can use their markup language to code an e-book yourself (for free). But I already spend a lot of time in front of a computer coding, and the last thing I want to do is spend more time coding a book! Gimma a break. If you want people to use your ebooks, don't make it hard for them to create ebooks for themselves. When I had an old version of MS Reader a few years ago, one of the things I did like about it was how I could take text into Word, format it, and then produce an ebook with the MS Word plugin. I converted a lot of material I wanted to read into MS Reader format this way.

One last question. Does anyone know if Palm Reader has as good a selection as MS Reader? It seems to me that their selection is pretty good, but I worry about buying into the platform and then not being able to get books I want. E-book selection is already way too limited.

Sorry if I seem pesimistic. I've been pretty frustrated with e-books the last few days.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

I've made the switch from MS Reader to Palm Reader and have been happy ever since. Better activation that's still fair to the publisher and more functionality in the reader. I also haven't been disappointed in the selection of books....

KCT

[Gee Mont]

I've made the switch from MS Reader to Palm Reader and have been happy ever since. Better activation that's still fair to the publisher and more functionality in the reader. I also haven't been disappointed in the selection of books....

KCT

I tried the free Palm reader this week, installing it on my desktop and PPC. I used a multiformat ebook from Fictionwise to test the same title on both readers. I didn't like the way text was formatted on the Palm reader. Six to nine spaces for a tab indent! It made the text look like a jejune experiment in beat poetry, especially where there was a lot of dialogue. Free titles from Univ. of VA didn't indent at all, just skipped a line between paragraphs. Maybe this quirky text formatting doesn’t bug some people, but it bugged me. The supposedly better features, like theme settings didn't impress me. I didn't like the Palm reader. I was going to buy a title from Palm Media, just to try the DRM, but that text looked so bad on the titles I tried, I decided it wasn’t worth it. Maybe the version you pay for is better.

I tried the free Mobipocket a few months ago and was also disappointed. MS Reader makes for easier and better reading, IMHO, than other readers, and that is what really counts. The activations are a pain, true, but I've never had any real trouble. Anti-DCMA or anti-DRM (or even anti-Microsoft) isn't my weltanschauung. Sorry if that upsets some people, but I'm going to say what I think. It will take more then a few activations to get me to drop MS Reader for a different program.

I noticed last week the number of activations had been increased from six to eight and that the request for more activation was down. Now the whole activation server is down for maintenance too. I think, maybe, there is an another activation requirement coming soon to thwart that unnamable conversion utility.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

I didn't like the way text was formatted on the Palm reader. Six to nine spaces for a tab indent! It made the text look like a jejune experiment in beat poetry, especially where there was a lot of dialogue. Free titles from Univ. of VA didn't indent at all, just skipped a line between paragraphs. Maybe this quirky text formatting doesn’t bug some people, but it bugged me.

I'm guessing you already did this, but: did you try to modify the font size, justification and line spacing? I thought it was pretty customizable and more readable, but I realize there's a matter of personal preference involved.

I was going to buy a title from Palm Media, just to try the DRM, but that text looked so bad on the titles I tried, I decided it wasn’t worth it.

To save you the trouble of buying a book to try the DRM: unlike MS Reader where you have to active the book through their site \ servers with a Passport account, the DRM is handled strictly at the device level. You don't need to connect to a website or even have your device in a cradle. You simply enter your name and your credit card number used to purchase the book into the reader application. Very simple and not reliant upon any additional interfaces.....

KCT

[dh]

I tried the free Mobipocket a few months ago and was also disappointed. MS Reader makes for easier and better reading, IMHO, than other readers, and that is what really counts. The activations are a pain, true, but I've never had any real trouble. Anti-DCMA or anti-DRM (or even anti-Microsoft) isn't my weltanschauung. Sorry if that upsets some people, but I'm going to say what I think. It will take more then a few activations to get me to drop MS Reader for a different program.

I love the Mobipocket reader, but the MP DRM is as bad as Microsoft. I had to hard reset my PPC a while ago (I installed that MS Theme Switcher program and it buggered everything up) and could access my one and only Mobipocket secure book.

I usually purchase books in .lit format and convert them to unsecured MP. However I bought the Oxford Dictionary from MP so it's secure.

Anyway, the DRM for MP is tied to the device by a serial number. Hard resetting changes the number. The only cure seems to be to go to the MP site, edit the number in your profile and downloading the book again. I had to do this a couple of times, before I figured out what what was causing me to have to hard reset, the last time MP told me I had reached my limit. WTF? :?

I had to email them to get my limit increased. They responded really quickly, but what a pain in the arse! What if all my books had been in secure MP format? Would I have had to redownload the whole lot of them??

I just hope that Convert Lit doesn't go away because all this DRM stuff is too much for me. If I was starting out I'd go with Palm Reader, but I have a ton of books already.......

To save you the trouble of buying a book to try the DRM: unlike MS Reader where you have to active the book through their site \ servers with a Passport account, the DRM is handled strictly at the device level. You don't need to connect to a website or even have your device in a cradle. You simply enter your name and your credit card number used to purchase the book into the reader application. Very simple and not reliant upon any additional interfaces.....KCT
That seems to be so much better than any of the others, very sensible.

[michie]

I tried the free Palm reader this week, installing it on my desktop and PPC. I used a multiformat ebook from Fictionwise to test the same title on both readers. I didn't like the way text was formatted on the Palm reader. Six to nine spaces for a tab indent! It made the text look like a jejune experiment in beat poetry, especially where there was a lot of dialogue. Free titles from Univ. of VA didn't indent at all, just skipped a line between paragraphs. Maybe this quirky text formatting doesn’t bug some people, but it bugged me. The supposedly better features, like theme settings didn't impress me. I didn't like the Palm reader. I was going to buy a title from Palm Media, just to try the DRM, but that text looked so bad on the titles I tried, I decided it wasn’t worth it. Maybe the version you pay for is better.


Palm Reader is only good for secure Palm ebooks, which have formatting. The multi-format Palm Doc files you tried are like plain text, but compressed. For some reason, both Palm Reader and Mobipocket are terrible with them, especially the indents. uBook is the best I've tried as it even converts underscores and asterisks to italics and bold text.

I doubt you'd like the secure Palm formatting if you're used to MS Reader. There are no margins, and paragraphs have no indents, just a line in between. I'm used to it, but I prefer using Mobipocket for multi-format ebooks. I buy secure Palm ebooks because the DRM is the safest in the long run (yes, I know MS Reader ebooks are actually the safest right now because they can be converted, but I'd prefer not to support such a flawed model) but the reader has a lot of opportunities for improvement. The reader can be upgraded, you're stuck with the DRM. I'm just hoping that PDM will add new features: optional margins, full screen, landscape, and support for other platforms such as Symbian.

Anyway, the DRM for MP is tied to the device by a serial number. Hard resetting changes the number. The only cure seems to be to go to the MP site, edit the number in your profile and downloading the book again. I had to do this a couple of times, before I figured out what what was causing me to have to hard reset, the last time MP told me I had reached my limit. WTF?


This happened to me too, which is why I'll never buy secure Mobipocket. I now have 59 secure Palm books, and I'd be very unhappy if I had to redownload all of them just to use on a new device.

[hpf]

I now have a PPC and a P800 and my PID does not change when I had reset my devices. I can use the eBooks in Mobipocket format I purchased some months ago.

I saw Peanut on a PPC, I didn't understand why it takes few seconds/minutes to update the font size while Mobipocket does it instantaneously.

[Gee Mont]

For some reason, both Palm Reader and Mobipocket are terrible with them, especially the indents. uBook is the best I've tried as it even converts underscores and asterisks to italics and bold text. –michie

I have uBook on my desktop, but for some reason it gave me an error when I attempted to open the PDB format. I thought it could read the Palm files. I was in a bit of a hurry, so I didn’t tinker with any of the options to see if it would work.

I'm guessing you already did this, but: did you try to modify the font size, justification and line spacing? I thought it was pretty customizable and more readable, but I realize there's a matter of personal preference involved. --Kevin C. Tofel

I doubt you'd like the secure Palm formatting if you're used to MS Reader. There are no margins, and paragraphs have no indents, just a line in between. --michie




I fooled with the preferences a lot, but no setting pleased me as much as the default in MS Reader. I could see its use for some one who really needed large print. The paragraphs with spaces sans indents is, pardon the pun, marginally better than the excessive and quirky indents.


You simply enter your name and your credit card number used to purchase the book into the reader application. --Kevin C. Tofel

yes, I know MS Reader ebooks are actually the safest right now because they can be converted –michie

Actually, there is a utility to shred the DRM from PDB files. It was posted on a site with the LIT and PDF cracker utilities, all under the auspice of allowing users to enable the text-to-speech. I haven’t seen anything about it before and no one has talked about and its adherents are keeping mum. I don’t know how it works or what it does, but would it not possible in theory to crack a secure PDB file and retrieve the Credit Card number? I’m assuming that the CC no must be stored somewhere in the ebook file. I don’t think it’s a high risk, less so than having a wallet stolen, but it might be there nonetheless.

I bought the Oxford Dictionary from MP so it's secure.—dh

Not the OED perchance? Now there is a book I’ve been meaning to get for sometime. I’m not sure if I’d want it as an ebook though. The OED kind of begs for aleatory perusal.

[dh]

Not the OED perchance? Now there is a book I’ve been meaning to get for sometime. I’m not sure if I’d want it as an ebook though. The OED kind of begs for aleatory perusal.
The very same, although I don't think the eBook version is as complete as the print version.
It's real handy for instantly looking up a word in a book and for those occasions (every evening) when my daughter suddenly needs a quick definition or spelling check with her homework.
I should really get her the print version for homework since it is more complete and has more in-depth definitions.

[KH]

I have hundreds of Peanut Reader/Palm Reader eBooks for reasons I have expressed in various other posts. I really do like this reader better than any of the others, and I think the reason is that the behavior is consistent and comfortable no matter which Pocket PC I happen to be carrying - and I do switch between them a lot. What I really like is that I have NEVER had the administrivia of the book reader come between me and instant access to the book - and that is an enormously important part of my eBook reading experience.