Last week, Adobe officially released Digital Editions 2.0. It’s a new version of the software patrons use to read eBooks on their computers and transfer eBooks to eReaders like the NOOK. ADE 2.0 comes with a bunch of improvements and changes you should know about. First, the UI has been completely redesigned to be screen-reader friendly.
That’s right, you read that correctly. ADE now works with screen readers for low-vision and visually impaired users. Specifically, NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver are compatible for menu navigation and reading books.
You’ve probably also noticed that each eBook is now represented by a simple tile. There are no more hover-over context menus. Instead, ADE uses the standard right-click (or control-click for Mac) menu for individual eBook options.
Activating compatible eBook readers with ADE has become real easy. You just plug in the eBook reader you want to activate, then drag the book you want to read over to the device. That’s it. The Adobe ID is automatically registered, and the book is transferred all in one step.
ADE 2.0 does have one quirk that you should know about (remember, it’s brand-spanking-new). The banners across each eBook that show how many days are left on a loan aren’t always accurate. If you check out an eBook for three weeks, it might say that there are only two weeks left for you to read it. Don’t worry, the loans will still expire at the right time, and we’ve let Adobe know what’s going on.
For all of our library partners out there, we’ll have Help articles up soon and will send an email blast to you at the beginning of next week with some specifics. In the meantime, start telling users the good news about ADE 2.0.
Happy reading!
Quinton Lawman is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.
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What are the implications of this? I have a kindle and read e-books that I purchase or that I borrow from Overdrive. Does this mean that I will be able to read books on my kindle that are not listed as being kindle books?
Hi Jim- The updates to ADE don’t affect Kindle users. You’ll still use the same process you’ve been using. Best, Mike
Will ADE 1.0 still work?
Hello Christine! We recommend installing the latest version of ADE. The previous version, 1.7, should still work, but you’d be missing out on up-to-date support and some of the new features of ADE 2.0. Best, Quinton
I was not prompted to update my ADE. Do I have to go to Overdrive’s site to get the newest version?
You can download ADE 2.0 here: http://www.adobe.com/products/digital-editions.html
At my library, we were initially unable to pre-install adobe digital editions on each of our public computers because of the need to authorize each device (there was some sort of limit on the number of devices you could authorize per computer, and we had more Nooks than whatever that limit was). Do you think with this new edition that would no longer be an issue? The other software we have installed on the computers wipe them clean when they restart, so one person’s downloads wouldn’t still show in ADE once a new user got on…