Every now and then there comes time when you need something like a shakabuku. In case you’ve been out of the loop in the movie market that revolves around John Cusack, it’s something that Mini Driver told John he needed during a scene at their 20 year high school reunion. The movie in question is Grosse Point Blank. Ever wonder what it might be like to go to a class reunion? This is a movie that answers that question. Getting back to the shakabuku. It’s apparently a swift spiritual kick to the head. One would hope that it’s a meaningful and good natured kick.
I made my own sort of shakabuku in the past two days. I purchased a book called the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. I don’t think he’s related to Beuller, but interestingly enough, his attitude is very similar to that film character as well. The book is my second foray into the realm of digital books. It is my first that dealt with DRM. Most people who have any sense about DRM instantly think about MP3’s that are for sale at say a major digital site like iTunes or Sony, Rhapsody or something of that nature. Apparently there is DRM for digital books too.
It seems DRM for books is probably overkill. First off, I had major issues that ended up wasting at least 2 hours of my time, which when you read this particular book, you’ll understand the irony of that. I first had to think about what digital version I wanted to purchase. You kinda have to, in order to make sure you’ll be able to read the damn thing in a few years. You don’t want to pick a version where the software won’t be around. Thus I chose to go with Adobe’s reader. Adobe is a big company and likely to be around for a while. However, I’m running the cutting edge lappy and OS. Thus Adobe has a new version that supposedly runs on it, however the DRM functionality of it is broken.
Wait, let me back up on this. I went to the publishers website to purchase the book. They claimed to offer it in digital form. It was late at night and I didn’t want to wait on the book, nor get in a car to go purchase the paper version. I wanted to save paper – be environmental conscious and all. Ok. So, the publishers website claimed to sell the digital version, yet it had no buy button for it. It did have a buy button for the paperback version, but not the digital version. Let’s get this out of the way right here. If you say you offer something – make it clear and easy to get it. But provide a way to get it. I eventually googled the title again and found an actual retailer that had it.
Now, I buy it. Get the download link, after I made sure to have the working version of Adobe reader on my machine. I hit download and all of a sudden Adobe launches, opens a website that says I have to register. So I do, only when I go to register, the site won’t accept it. ARGH. In my frustration, I hit the download link several times, only to have the same thing happen. And no book file shows up. Eventually I decide to go to Adobe’s home page and register for an account there. Finally, progress. I click the book link again. Still nothing. So I google for issues with Leopard and Adobe and digital books. Voilá there is an issue. Solution: Download the version of the reader for Panther (the OS from Apple, two versions ago). Use that to authorize the book, then you’re good to go.
I delete all the readers, download the old one, hit the book link again. Yippee, it fires up, authorizes the book and away I go. Doh. Not just yet. At this point it ends up downloading the book 6 times and authorizing it 4 times, which is all I was allowed to do in the first place. The other two files came up empty. Now I have 4 copies of the book – waste. Then the file wouldn’t open in the reader. So I quit the reader, trashed it and double clicked the book for the hell of it and Acrobat opened it fine. Adobe – get it together. You’ve had months to update your software, for such a simple fix, to have broken software and a broken website is plain silly.
Getting back to the DRM. I’m assuming it won’t allow me to let a friend read the book. That’s all well and good. However, I also cannot print any pages from the book for my own backup purposes. Thus if the file(s) go bye bye, or the software becomes obsolete and never updated, I’m screwed. Not exactly cool. At least with MP3 DRM, you can back up your purchase to a CD. I’m under the impression that I’m likely to go back to paperbacks until they can figure out a system for eBooks that is less painful and more user-friendly.
At the moment, buying an eBook almost feels like you’re living for that process. Based on what I’ve read in the book already, it’s not worth going through that. It’s simpler and easier to get the paper version. I’m already putting aspects of the 4 Hour Work Week into perspective and I’m starting today with it. I’m sure it will be cool to provide my journey for you.
In the mean time, while you’re searching for more and more time to get your holiday shopping done. Mine is almost finished, thanks to the power of the internet! I’d thought I’d bring you a little break from holiday faire with this discovery I found at CD Baby. Crucified is one of those gems that come along every so often as I’m putting time into finding music (it sure would be great to get a recommendation from you, the avid follower of Single of the Day – hint, hint). I wasn’t keen on the CD art as I clicked on it. Sometimes I will avoid an artist based on the art, but this time I got lucky. I listened to each of the 3 cuts on the EP and thought that even though I don’t understand what they’re saying, this song had a fun groove and a very original vibe in my perspective.
Hip Hop / Reggaeton with Spanish lyrics. That’s entirely new to me. It doesn’t hurt that it’s got a great vibe overall. Even though they are using canned sounds for elements of the track. Something else about it is providing some magic that kept me listening. This is a good thing.
One exercise I’d like you to do is: Write a comment here as to what you believe they are singing about. I’ve already looked into the title, which via bablefish is telling me is: Alive for you. I’m betting the real translation is Live for You. But I don’t know enough Spanish to know for sure. Lets have fun with it. Comment away. Oh and if the music and getting you to forget your holiday stress, it would be good to own it for yourself. It’s even available at CD Baby DRM free, or also at iTunes.