DRM limitations (merged with "why DRM sucks")

[HellHound]

DRM limitations

I run my games from a laptop that has no net access, nor will it have net access from my home at any time.

Is it possible to use DRM PDFs on this laptop?

 

[d20Dwarf]

No, it's not the case that you can't transfer the between two machines. I know that some people are telling you can't transfer the file from your desktop to your laptop (or whatever), but, to be blunt, they're wrong. You can. You can also make backup copies and print just as easily as you could before.

From the incendiary thread in General.

 

[jgbrowning]

From the site's faq:

"To read an eBook, you must first have activated Adobe Reader as an eBook Reader, and you must also have a license to open and read the eBook (if you have purchased a book from this site, then you have a license to read it). If you are not using the full version of Adobe Reader, you need to install the full version (available here) before you can use this feature"

So no.

joe b.

 

[d20Dwarf]

Looks like there's some confusion on the matter.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Wouldnt the answer be yes if you have all the requirements filled?

Sounds like you simply have to download it from the site, twice.

 

[Steve Wieck]

I run my games from a laptop that has no net access, nor will it have net access from my home at any time.

Is it possible to use DRM PDFs on this laptop?

A laptop computer with no internet access? No modem, not ethernet, no WiFi card?
Wow, excellent. There's some joy to being disconnected from a connected world.

To answer the question though, sorry I think you'll have to spring for a $10 modem card before you can get your secure e-Books working on the machine. You will need to activate DRM Adobe 6.0 on the laptop via the internet.

Steve Wieck
White Wolf

 

[HellHound]

That's what I was afraid of.

The laptop in question has a wi-fi card, but I don't have a wi-fi hub. No modem as I don't have dial-up at home. And the sodding thing will NOT connect to my local network because it has been configured to run on the network at school - everyone says it should be able to hook up to my home network also, but it never does - the tech heads at school have finally admitted that they can't get the school laptops to work with standard home networks either.

All my other systems (5 of them) are on-line, so it just means I can't use the PDFs in question on my gaming system.

BTW, thank you for the very prompt reply from the top of the chain, Steve.

 

[rpghost]

The laptop in question has a wi-fi card, but I don't have a wi-fi hub. No modem as I don't have dial-up at home.

Well with wi-fi you should be able to activate the DRM from your school or from a kinkos or cyber cafe or Barns and Nobles.... yeah, it's a trip somewhere to just activate your computer, but I believe you just have to do that once and then copy the pdfs over to view them.

James

 

[Grazzt]

And the sodding thing will NOT connect to my local network because it has been configured to run on the network at school - everyone says it should be able to hook up to my home network also, but it never does - the tech heads at school have finally admitted that they can't get the school laptops to work with standard home networks either.

There is no reason it shouldnt run on your home network. You can try this..see if it works.

Click START | Settings | Network and Dialup Settings and then right-click your Local Area Connection, hit DISABLE. Then right-click it again, hit ENABLE. Check it then.

Also- check the settings for the connection itself. Highlight Local Area Connection, right-click, hit Properties. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), hit the Properties button. Check and see if its set to Obtain an IP Address automatically (which I am guessing it should be...unless you have a hard-set your IP addresses for your home network). Make sure the setting just below it is the same "Obtain DNS server address automatically"

(The above are steps for Win2K and XP, but should essentially be the same on Win 9.x too...more or less)

 

[Psion]

A laptop computer with no internet access? No modem, not ethernet, no WiFi card?
Wow, excellent. There's some joy to being disconnected from a connected world.[/b]

He's not alone.

My "gaming laptop" is a windows 98 machine that I transfer files to with my nifty thumb drive. Windows 98 does not get security updates anymore, and it would cost me another wad to get up to date antivirus on it. In short, I do not feel it's a secure machine to connect to the internet with, and after being hit by a worm a while back, I do not feel like taking my chances. So I just download files on my well protected desktop and transfer them over.

To answer the question though, sorry I think you'll have to spring for a $10 modem card before you can get your secure e-Books working on the machine.

In my case, that would be a $100 windows upgrade plus $50 anti-virus.

Of course, my situation was somewhat unique, but I thought it was interesting to see Hellhound post that he was in a similar situation. The bottom line is that DRM causes some serious inconveniences. This is just the one that is in my face. I sense that in reality, this is just the tip of the iceberg.


Can you clear something else up for me as long as you are paying attention here? Just how does this 6 computer thing work? Can you "deactivate" one of those computers to reclaim the lost slot (for example, take it over to a friends house or Kinkos to print it out, and then de-register it on that computer?) If so, can you de-register such a computer if you can't run it anymore (it crashed, you had to reformat, your friend moved away...)?

If you can't de-register it, there is a lifecycle of the product dictated by your upgrade schedule.