Sunday September 21 , 2014

How to Borrow eBooks from your Library with Nook or NookColor

library

Free eBooks? Really?

Yup, you may be able to "borrow" some of the latest eBooks for free from your local library to read on your nook or nookColor. Can't do this on a Kindle!

The nook supports the Adobe Digital Rights Management (DRM) format for eBooks. Basically it's a copy-protection technique they employ to ensure you can't pass around your e-books to all your friends. The nice thing about B&N using the DRM technique from Adobe is widely used by many other e-book providers - potentially even your local library!

A company named OverDrive provides support for distributing digital content like e-books. Overdrive uses the same Adobe copy protection scheme that the nook and nookColor support which is great news for us. A large growing number of libraries across the US employ Overdrive to allow their library patrons to "rent" e-books. Thankfully, my local library is one of them! So what does this mean for me as a nook owner? It means I can download books from my local library's "Overdrive" site (ePub or PDF format) and move them to my nook or nookColor for reading!

Another company named "NetLibrary" provides a similar service using the same content protection (but a PDF format).

Getting Started

So how do you get started? First check with your local library and find out if they support Overdrive or NetLibrary. Typically your library site will have an "eMedia" section with the details. There might be an additional signup before you can do eBooks, my library did not. Next you'll want to download Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). This is the tool you'll need to download, view, and transfer the library eBooks to the nook/nookColor.

Here are the basics:

  • Download/Install the Tool
  • Download/Open a book from the library site. This will import the book into the Tool.
  • Plug in your nook and drag your new book to the nook icon.
The books automatically return on the due date and become unavailable for you to use.  You can also return them early (which is a nice thing to do) in the ADE tool.

I'd strongly recommend watching our video tutorial on the ADE tool before installing it.

--> Video Tutorial on Using Nook or NookColor with ADE

The ADE tool is pretty flaky with the nook/nookColor. You'll often get error messages about the older formatted B&N books not being licensed, and sometimes the tool needs some "convincing" to do what you want.  The good news is we have a troubleshooting guide that details most of the issues and fixes.

--> Troubleshooting Guide for ADE Issues

If you run into trouble be sure to post your issue in our forum and we'll try and help you out.

 

Comments  

 
+4 #22 Niconut 2012-08-07 08:40
My computer doesn't know what to open my file with...what should I do?
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0 #21 Natalie Medeiros 2012-03-18 15:56
To remove the book icons from the library books that you have returned double tap on the book and archive it. This will automatically remove the icon from your screen.
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0 #20 2011-09-12 03:15
If anyone knows how to use the NOOK and download books from the Library. I thought the 3g wifi was the way to go so I wouldnt have to use the desktop. can i download e-books via the wifi? if so a step by step instructions would be helpful
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0 #19 2011-07-13 19:06
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When trying to open and read downloaded content from my library I used to get 'user not activated". Followed directions from this blog and fixed that, now I get "Unlock your eBook" asking for the name and credit card number used to purchase.
I don't want my CC # on my nook. Has anyone had to deal with this?



Yeah... Since that it through Digital Rights Management (DRM) you have to enter your CC # and the name on the CC just the same way you entered it in your bn.com account. That is just to verify about the ebook You don't have to worry. It's solely for you to see. it's a protected ebook if you have that 'unlock the ebook' message
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-1 #18 2011-06-11 08:29
When trying to open and read downloaded content from my library I used to get 'user not activated". Followed directions from this blog and fixed that, now I get "Unlock your eBook" asking for the name and credit card number used to purchase.
I don't want my CC # on my nook. Has anyone had to deal with this?
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-2 #17 2011-05-05 17:00
If error occuring, such as: user not activated.
You have to delete adobedigitaledi tions and digital editions folder in your nook drive.
Safely remove nook.
Close ADE.
Connect nook to the computer.
Open ADE.
An authorization window will pop up on the ADE screen.
Click authorize then finish.
Check ADE, nook/nookcolor will show up on the left hand side.
Drag and drop your ebooks to the nook tab.
Safely remove nook.
Go to my library, my documents; ebooks should be there.
For nookcolor; library, my files, adobe digital editions folder
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-1 #16 2011-04-29 07:33
Quote:
I keep getting the comment "user not activated" and it wont let me read the library book on my nook. How do I fix that?

i'm having the same problem could someone please tell me how to fix this
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+18 #15 2011-03-24 07:45
Hi. Can anyone tell me how to delete the book icons from my nook that belong to my local library? When the lending period is up, the ebooks are returned, but the icon stays on my Nook. So now I have about 40 ebook icons on my screen that I would like to delete. I can't figure out how to do that. Anybody?
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-1 #14 2011-03-06 15:52
I download the books from the library, double-click them, they show up in ADE with badges on the book icons showing the number of days remaining. I try dragging the icons from ADE to Nook > My Files > Books, but that doesn't work, so I drag the books from My Documents > Digital Editions to Nook > My Files > Books. Then I eject the NookColor and go to My Files > Books, and click on the books. Each one brings up the error message "This book has been returned. Loan not on record."
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+3 #13 2011-02-26 23:23
I keep getting the comment "user not activated" and it wont let me read the library book on my nook. How do I fix that?
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