Adobe Unveils Digital Editions Public Beta

Adobe Systems has introduced the public beta of Adobe Digital Editions, a Rich Internet Application (RIA) built from the ground-up for digital publishing. With native support for Adobe PDF as well as an XHTML-based reflow-centric publication format, Digital Editions delivers an engaging way to acquire, read, and manage content, including eBooks, digital magazines, digital newspapers and other digital publications.

Initially available as a free public beta for Windows, Digital Editions will support Macintosh systems as a universal binary application, Linux platforms, as well as mobile phones and other embedded devices in future versions.

"Adobe Digital Editions builds on the ubiquitous reach of PDF and Flash and will further energize the eBook and digital publishing market," said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief operating officer at Adobe. "By creating a specialized, consumer-friendly application like Digital Editions, Adobe is ensuring publishers can securely deliver high-impact content to the widest possible audience, across hardware platforms, operating systems and devices."

Digital Editions delivers a straightforward user experience for reading and managing commercially-published digital publications. It builds on the Adobe eBook capabilities that were integrated into previous versions of Adobe Reader and takes them further by adding the ability to incorporate Flash interactivity and rich media, enabling publishers to create next-generation digital publications that surpass digital forms of paper books.

Digital Editions will integrate with a new, hosted content authorization service to protect publisher's rights while maintaining ease-of-use for consumers. This new Adobe Digital Editions Protection Service, based on Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server, will allow publishers to choose from a flexible array of business models, with user-ID-based authorization that provides an improved user experience over competitive DRM models.

Adobe Digital Editions beta will be unveiled at Adobe MAX 2006 on October 24, in Las Vegas, and will be available for free download (3 MB) from Adobe Labs. Version 1.0 is expected to be available in early 2007.