The First Step Is Admitting You Have A Problem

My fascination with learning the Nook is veering into dangerous territory -- addiction.  I've not entirely finished one book on my new toy, but I'm close.  The problem is the valuable time I've spent in playing with it, seeing what it does, and trying different mediums to obtain ebooks from (yeah, I joined NetGalley...*sigh*).  So even though I can finally whiz-bang through transferring my ebooks over to the Nook, I have not finished one blessed book since Sunday -- digital or paper.  It's becoming a distraction,but one I want to master...

I was all happy happy last night when I started this post.  And then today hit, and I thought I'd get cute and request a galley from NetGalley. 

***SCREEEEECCCHHHH, kee-rash, blam-o!*** Or at least that's how I translate the soundtrack in my brain, a car slamming into a big brick wall.  Seriously, I'm not a genius when it comes to computers, but I tend to pick things up pretty well when it comes to them.  Hmm, then again, don't ask Wendy about my virgin blog days and trying to set my place up with all the pretties.  Yeah, not so cute...

Today I spent nearly five hours here on the computer, trying to figure out why the one galley request I'd downloaded to my computer using the software necessary for these transactions would not read on Veronica, my Nook.  Seriously, I had tech support from Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) and NetGalley, as well as various buddies of mine from the reviewing community, trying to help me.  Hell, I even called the library because I was having the same problem with their digital library and kept getting the same "User Not Activated" message when I moved the damn book over to my Nook.  I cried.  I sweat.  I ignored John.  I think I even threw something -- of course only after I safely moved the Nook out of my wrath's way.

And then the ADE gods smiled on me and pointed me in the direction of the site's message boards for users.  Forget the site's technical support and friendly advice -- they're bogus.  I went to the people who actually use the software and scrolled through the long list of topics.  "Authorizing Nook" popped up, and from there I finally figured out the problem.

So what do you get out of this post?  Probably nothing.  Hopefully you smiled.  But, I beg you -- never go to tech support and hope that they can magically fix whatever problem ails you.  In my case, I got lucky.  But then again -- I went to the people who actually USE the equipment, not the nerds who support it, and got my answers, with a little bit of cheerleading from the girls at NetGalley.  I applaud them, seriously.

Here's to a healthy relationship in the future, NetGalley!       

Late Christmas Present

I did it.  I finally broke down and bought a Nook, which I'm considering as my late Christmas/early just-because gift.  I've even got John interested in trying it out once he saw a few freebie Winston Churchill books.  The version I bought is the simple Wi-Fi base model, but now I'm wondering if I should've gotten the Wi-Fi/3G since I have to have a Wi-Fi connection  to download any purchases I make while home here on the computer.

While I won't pretend to be all that is smart and techno-savvy, I have successfully bought, downloaded and (get this!) transferred two Carina Press books over to Veronica (my Nook's name - it fits her personality).  And while I was at B&N today to get them to help me register the blasted thing (yeah, I threw myself at them and cried Uncle.  Again, I'm not the smartest geek out there.), the cute clerk showed me how to buy and download anything I wanted while in-store.  So, yeah -- now I have the new Jill Shalvis, Animal Magnetism, and An Invitation to Sin, the new antho with Jo Beverly, as well as Fatal Affair by Marie Force and The Bartered Virgin by Chevon Gael from Carina.  I even have a small list of freebie Nook books "purchased" so I can see if they'll download at work tomorrow night on the hospital's Wi-Fi.  I finally get to see if all the hype about RJ Silver's The Princess and the Penis measures up (bahahaha!  Yeah, I went there).

Stay tuned for further Adventures of Amy and Veronica...