Activation Problem and Lost Passport Account

[Suzanne]

My problem is that I had a Passport account for many years, which I used to
buy over 500 MS Lit ebooks in DRM format. I can only read those books by
activating MS Reader on a device with that same Passport account. That
Passport account was under my current email address and a password. When I
went to open an ebook today, I got a message stating that the device needed
activation again (which happens every so often). When I tried to log in
today with that account, I could not do so.

Upon further research on the Web, I found that Microsoft was closing
Passport accounts which had not had recent log-ins. Since I only had to
log-in to activate Reader, I had not needed to do so in the last many months.
However, I never received a notice from Microsoft that my account was being
closed.

I could only access MS Live by creating a new account, which I have done
under my same email address. When I then tried to reactivate my device, I
could not open my ebooks as the activation has to be under the original
account. Apparently, using the same email address as my ID is not enough.

Does anyone have a solution for me? These books cost thousands of dollars.

[Todd Allcock]

Are any of your PCs still activated? If so, you could use the utility
"ConvertLit" to strip the DRM off the books.*

ConvertLit only decrypts the books on an activated PC- it can't willy-nilly
break the encryption of any Reader eBook.

This would allow you use the books on a no longer activated copy of Reader.

(*Most likely ConvertLit is 100% illegal per the letter of the law, at least
in the USA, so the choice of using it is up to you. I decrypted all of my
Passport-protected Reader books over a year ago, since the Windows Mobile
version of Reader would not activate on my Windows Mobile 6 phone. I don't
share copies of my books with anyone, so I personally had no problem
decrypting the DRM for my own personal use. YMMV: Your Morals May Vary...)

Having said all that, MS, in my experience, has been very understanding when
it comes to dealing with the DRM in Reader accounts. They had no problem
giving me extra activations in my quota when I've needed them, so if it's at
all possible to restore your passport and Reader Activation, I suspect MS
will be willing to if you contact them. You might want to use ConvertLit
only as a "failsafe" if it's impossible to restore your Passport.

"Suzanne" <Suz...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:AC6D8271-1124-4401...@microsoft.com...

[Suzanne]

I think my PC is still good, but I am afraid to open Reader on my PC. The
minute I open one of the ebooks, it will want the new activation for the
security updates, and that will make my PC Reader immediately useless.

I am aware of ConvertLit but would prefer not to use it, in part because I
want to continue to buy MS Reader DRM ebooks - I really like the software.

I have tried by several methods to contact MS and I can't get to anyone who
understands the problem. Each department (Live, Mobile Live) says it is the
problem of the other. Fictionwise (where I bought the books) has been
useless so far - terrible customer support. I am sure someone at MS could
solve this problem if I could just get to someone in the Reader Dept. What
is scary is that sources like Fictionwise are still selling ebooks in MS
Reader DRM format, when this issue is outstanding. I have loads of ebooks
that I bought in the last 30 days and haven't even downloaded yet. I can't
download them now because the books with come with the requirement of new
activation, which I can't do.

"Todd Allcock" wrote:

> .
>

[Suzanne]

My email account has been and is with Comcast and hasn't changed for years,
so a closed ISP is not my problem. MS had a problem with Xbox users when MS
began to close Passport accounts - see this guy's post:
http://www.destructoid.com/microsoft-thinks-you-are-disposable-118047.phtml

but MS solved the problem:

http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/xboxlive/myaccount/Windowsliveid/expiredWLIDfaq.aspx

I sure hope MS can solve it for us Readers. And soon.

"Harvested Online" wrote:

> I'm in a similar situation. A good number of my books were bought using a
> Passport account with an email address at an ISP that closed years ago. When
> I got a new iPAQ, I added my unread books to it. But I can't log in to
> activate them.
> .
>

[gsj]

I have to confess I use Todd's solution of downloading protected .lit files
to my PC and then using ConvertLit to unprotect them. I never activate MS
Reader on my mobile device because of the relevant frequency with which those
devices get replaced or hard reset. As Todd says you do need to have an
activated version of MS Reader on your PC.

I have used the PC version of MS Reader on NT4.0, 2k, XP, Vista and Windows
7 PCs and have never had to reactivate after applying security updates. Why
do you think this will happen?

If you do have to reactivate, and if you were to do so using a new MS
Passport account, you would be able to download new ebooks and open them,
then convert using ConvertLit or read on a device activated with the new ID.
You wont be able to open your existing books in that instance of MS Reader,
but as you have already downloaded these books (if necessary copy them back
from your mobile device) you should still be able to unprotect them using
ConvertLit.

good luck
Gordon

[Suzanne]

You have to reactivate MS Reader when you have bought and tried to open a new
Secure MS Reader ebook with the latest security updates for the DRM.

I don't think I will go the ConvertLit route. I cannot get any help from
Microsoft on this issue, but Fictionwise is trying to help. I don't yet have
access to my books but I am hoping for a resolution. I doubt I will be
buying any new secure MS Readers ebooks though.