Every major publisher sells e-books with encryption that basically prevents unlawful sharing and distribution to file sharing sites. Adobe is the leading DRM solution and sometimes users find it hard to read their purchased content on mobile devices. In order to make readers lives easier, Adobe has just released their seminal Digital Editions app that was designed exclusively for the Apple iPad.
The Adobe Digital Editions app for the iPad will allow you to read any PDF or EPUB file that you bought from online retailers. It also has support for content that you borrowed from the library.
You can easily import your e-books into the app by accessing your cloud storage service of choice, such as Dropbox. There is also support for opening up attachments in Apple Mail or via iTunes File Sharing on your computer. To read a protected book, you have to authorize the app first by logging in with your Adobe ID or whatever ID the bookseller has provided you with.
When it comes right down to it, this is a first generation app and many critical features are lacking. There are few options to augment your reading experience and about the only thing you can do is make annotations, highlights, bookmarks, search, and or just adjust the display and text. If you have ever used the Adobe Digital Editions app for your PC, this is a less developed version made for the iPad.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.