Adobe Digital Editions : Rich Internet Application to Read Ebooks

Adobe Digital Editions is a new tool to read and manage eBooks and other digital publications. Digital Editions is a lightweight, rich Internet application (RIA) that works online and offline, and supports both PDF and XHTML-based content.

Install Adobe Digital Editions and easily download free eBooks and digital magazines (in both PDF and XHTML format) from the Adobe Digital Editions Library. Digital Editions beta also gives users who upgrade to Acrobat or Reader 8 a way to use Adobe PDF eBooks protected by the Adobe Content Server (ACS) DRM solution.

Adobe Reader is widely used for viewing and printing Adobe PDF documents. However, they say that “Reader’s power, complexity, and size are not optimal for consumer-level eBook reading.” That is where Digital Editions provides a focused, lightweight solution (2.5MB) for reading eBooks. A web-based RIA ensures that users will always have the latest version.

Adobe Digital Editions is in beta and they seek your feedback in improving the product.