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I bought an ebook from Google Play Books: I may browse it from within Google Play; I can download the .acsm file (either for epub or for pdf version); but when I try to open it in Adobe Digital Edition 4.5.5 for Windows I get the error

Error getting License. License Server Communication Problem:
E_ADEPT_DOCUMENT_TYPE_UNKNOWN:

Looking at the .acsm file I noticed the suspicious line

<distributor>urn:uuid:00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001</distributor>

which is quite different from the one I got when loaning ebooks.

The only thing Google makes in such a case is to refund the book, which is not an actual answer; any idea of what's happening?

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  • I assumed that you were able to download the acsm file, and that your error spawned when you tried to import the said file in ADE and download the actual book; if this is the case, would you be so kind to rephrase your question? Right now, it is a bit unclear if you have problems when downloading from Google Play or when importing to ADE.
    – Sekhemty
    Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 7:35
  • is it clearer now? I confirm I have dowloaded the .acsm file.
    – mau ♦
    Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 15:08
  • Yes thanks. I know this was just nitpicking, but now it is better. Thank you again
    – Sekhemty
    Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 15:10

1 Answer 1

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It happened to me with an .acsm file, but from a different store (it was Kobo); I managed to resolve this problem by downloading the file again, and Adobe Digital Editions was able to import it. I don't really know what really happened in the background, maybe some error prevented the creation of a valid .acsm file; I can't guarantee that this will help you, but maybe it is a starting point.

Another possible suggestion, if you can't solve that way, is to get the refund from Google and buy the book from another store (I usually shop on Kobo and on IBS, the latter for the italian market is excellent)

Said that, I highly respect and tend to privilege publishers that avoid all this stupid and bothersome DRM procedure (as a Linux user, I don't have a native solution to run ADE...); a policy that create problems only to paying customers is crap.

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  • I already tried to redownload the file, but still with no luck :-(
    – mau ♦
    Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 15:14
  • Unfortunately I don't have any other clue. Have you already bought books from Google Play?
    – Sekhemty
    Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 15:17
  • Last year,and it worked.
    – mau ♦
    Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 16:05
  • 1
    My current workaround is: download the acsm file on an Android device, opening it with Adobe Digital Editions will download the epub, copy that to your e-reader. Cumbersome, but it works.
    – riezebosch
    Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 12:51
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    @myersjustinc Turned out to be the Content & Privacy Restrictions on my MacBook that was blocking access to the download url.
    – riezebosch
    Commented Apr 26, 2021 at 13:03

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