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Entitle Adds eReader Support to Their Subscription eBook Service

When Entitle logofirst launched in September 2013, one of its stronger selling points was that readers would own the ebooks they acquired through the Audible-like subscription service.

This set the service apart from Oyster and Scribd; both of those let you read as much as you want but cut off your access as soon as you stopped paying, while Entitle let readers continue to read the ebooks – albeit only inside Entitle’s apps.

Today Entitle removed that last restriction. Readers can now download the ebooks they buy from Entitle, and what’s more they can transfer those ebooks to ebook readers.

Entitle has apps for the iPad, iPhone, Android, and the Kindle Fire, and today they are announcing  support for a broad spectrum of ereaders from manufacturers like Sony, Pocketbook, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. This support was actually added in late December 2013, shortly after I complained about its absence, but Entitle is only officially announcing it today.

The Kindle is of course not supported, but that comes as no surprise.

The  process of downloading the ebooks works much the same as from most other ebook retailers whose names don’t start with A. The ebooks are encumbered by Adobe DE DRM, so you’ll need either Adobe DE or a compatible app like Nook Study running on your PC. The ebooks can be downloaded from the Entitle website, and once on your computer they can be transferred to your ebook reader.

You will need to follow Entitle’s instructions; they’re not quite the same steps as with other ebook retailers.

Entitle has changed a lot since they launched 7 months ago. The service now offers a 2 title per month subscription for $10 a month, down from the $17 a month in September.  The catalog has grown to include around 150,000, or about 50,000 new titles from 10 publishers. This including both backlist and frontlist works published or distributed by HarperCollins, HMH, IPG, Ingram Content Group, and Simon & Schuster.

The Entitle catalog is smaller than what you would find in a leading ebookstore, where you would expect to find millions of title. It is larger than the catalog offered by Oyster, but smaller than the catalog belonging to Scribd. Both of those services offer a buffet style subscription service for $9 to $10 a month.

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Juli Monroe April 14, 2014 um 9:00 am

I signed up for a trial subscription last month to see if I could load a book onto my computer through ADE. No go. You have to authorize the Entitle server in ADE, and nothing I tried could get it to work. That included getting both Entitle and Adobe customer server involved. I finally gave up and cancelled my trial.

Nate Hoffelder April 14, 2014 um 9:10 am

That’s interesting.

I know they added the download links back in December. I tested and got an ACSM file (I didn’t take it further).

Maybe it broke in the meantime?


Juli Monroe April 14, 2014 um 9:22 am

Did you actually manage to authorize your computer with the Entitle server? What I didn’t like is, according to their instructions, you need to de-authorize your computer, re-authorize with the Entitle server and somehow, you’ll still be able to use ADE to download books from other places (like the library), although it wasn’t clear how that worked. Since I couldn’t manage to authorize with the Entitle server, I couldn’t test it.

I even tried a fresh install of ADE on a different computer. Still wouldn’t work. That was the extent of my patience. I can get Harper Collins books from Scribd and apparently I don’t read books from the other publishers because I could only find a couple I wanted. Not worth it for me.

Nate Hoffelder April 14, 2014 um 9:30 am

I just tried it, and it didn’t work.

I authorized my computer with an Adobe ID (but no specific vendor named). When I copied the ACSM file into Adobe DE I got an error message saying that the download limit had been reached.

So no, it didn’t work for me either. I will go try it with the Entitle instructions.

Nate Hoffelder April 14, 2014 um 9:34 am

Okay, I just tried the Entitle instructions. I entered the new username and password and confirmed it. Then I dragged and dropped the ACSM file into Adobe DE.

The ebook opened.

And you’re right, this is not a good way to handle things.

Juli Monroe April 14, 2014 um 10:29 am

At least you got it to work, which puts you way ahead of me.

How hard/easy was it to go back to your "normal" ADE login information? I thought that authorizing/deauthorizing a computer on a regular basis had to be a recipe for disaster.

And I have to ask. Using the Entitle method, are you then able to strip DRM using the Calibre plugins?

Nate Hoffelder April 14, 2014 um 11:48 am

I can access either Entitle books or the books I already got elsewhere. But anything I download after can simply be authorized under the Entitle ID (I tested with ebooks from Kobo and the UofC).

I haven’t tried to strip the DRM.


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