View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/07/06/19/adobe.digital.editons.10
Tuesday, Jun 19, 2007 8:40am
Adobe releases Digital Edit...
Adobe on Tuesday released Adobe Digital Editions 1.0, a new software application built for acquiring, managing and reading eBooks, digital newspapers, and other digital publications. Available as a free download for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, the software enables publishers to deliver a new digital reading experience: built as a lightweight, Rich Internet Application (RIA), the software works both online and offline, and supports PDF and XHTML—based content as well as Flash SWF for rich interactivity.

By using a new export feature built into Adobe InDesign CS3, publishers can easily create new Adobe Digital Editions-ready content. Adobe, which plans versions for mobile platforms and reading devices, said that Sony has committed to embed Adobe Digital Editions technology into its portable reader product line. The software, which was downloaded more 300,000 times during the company's public beta testing, integrates with Adobe Acrobat 8 and Adobe Reader 8 applications for easy installation within Adobe's products. Delivering native support for Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and XML-based publications, Adobe said that Digital Editions already works seamlessly with more than 150,000 commercially published titles: content automatically re-flows, adapting to different screen sizes and that Digital Editions offers support for Adobe Flash software for integration of rich audio and video. In addition, Digital Editions now enables users to annotate content through bookmarks, highlights and text notes. A library view offers advanced organization with multiple bookshelves, while "a slick new user interface" enhances zooming and the overall reading experience, the company said. It also supports IDPF Open Publication Standard (OPS) for XHTML-based re-flowable eBooks. Adobe also introduced Digital Editions Protection Technology (ADEPT), a new, hosted content protection service to protect content: ADEPT supports the company’s Adobe Content Server (ACS) technology and protects both PDF and reflow-centric OPS XML eBooks. The technology supports a variety of purchase and lending business models, including library lending, subscription, and ad-supported models. Adobe Digital Editions 1.0 will be publicly unveiled at the O’Reilly Tools of Change Conference in San Jose on June 19. It is available now for Windows and Mac systems, while editions for Linux platforms and localized versions in French, German, Japanese, Korean and Chinese are expected to be available in the second half of 2007. It runs on Mac OS X 10.3.9 (PowerPC systems only) or Mac OS X 10.4.8 (both PowerPC and Intel systems) and supports both Safari 2.0 and Firefox 2.0 on the Mac. (Safari for Windows is not supported.)