Technology

Once again techie hype has been dashed on the rocks of reality. After extensive research, I bought a moderately expensive Nook Color e-reader yesterday from Barnes & Noble. The turning point on my decision-making was watching a Youtube video by an allegedly independent tech review agency. The man on the video lauded the product I bought as a practical alternative to larger, heavier and more expensive tablets. I already own a desktop and notebook. I don't need another computer.

I soon felt like a schnook for buying the Nook. The set-up was reminiscent of the early days of MP3 players. Despite the bubbling explanations by the cheerleaders-turned-soccer-moms on the instructional videos, the results left a lot to be desired. I am a good follower of technical instructions. I did what I was told. The tablet itself seemed to work fairly well. The touch-screen was anemic in its responsiveness, but I was willing to accept that as a function of lower cost.

The first challenge came when I decided to use my public library's e-book catalog, as recommended by my salesperson. This feature was a clincher for me since I already use the library regularly. Signing up for the service entailed downloading new software from Adobe. The instructions were confusing. It took me a while to realize I now had to be a member at Adobe, a pricey club indeed. The whole process took longer than I would have expected. The downloaded e-books, I was assured, would be readable and transferable to my Nook through the Adobe program...ideally.

I eagerly searched the library's electronic catalog and was disappointed to find most of the fiction was of the bodice-ripper variety. I am a veteran feminist, but even this was a bit over the top for me. Nearly every book in the historical fiction section was about upwardly mobile women having affairs with male aristocrats.  I was almost relieved to find that I would be unable to download 99% of them. They were "on hold" with queues of five to a dozen people in front of me.

I managed to download a free book from Google Books. I even managed to get the Google Book onto the Adobe platform so I could easily transfer it to the Nook for reading. Apparently Adobe's program acts like a butler who hands you your coat on the way out from the PC to the Nook. The books do not reside in the Adobe program. It simply is there in the middle of the whole transaction. Presumably it hopes some day to get tips.

Now here is when the keel of the Good Ship Nook went careening onto the rocks of impracticality. I plugged in the USB connector which would theoretically allow me to transfer the book to my Nook to actually be read while I was lying in bed in the near future, I thought naively. Wrong! Windows did not recognize the USB device (the Nook), which, it claimed, had "malfunctioned". In other words, my PC told the Nook to buzz off. I tried again. Same answer. I tried a dozen more times in various sequences, resembling the initiation rites of a Masonic Temple. "Get lost," groaned Windows routinely. My gay-bar PTSD began to kick in, so I decided to go over to my notebook to see if it was an easier mark.

My notebook didn't like the Nook either. Would not recognize it under any circumstances. Windows 7 didn't like Nook any more than Windows XP SP3. Poor Nook. Poor me. Poor e-reader industry.

I was still not discouraged. I may be an old guy, but I struggled my way through DOS back in the day, despite my dyslexia and panic disorder. I'm no cyber-sissy. The fact that I have the nerve to publish this blog every day should be evidence to support that assertion.

I spent the next two hours reading message board after message board peopled by equally disgruntled Nook owners with the same issue. It wasn't torture. It was actually quite informative. It seems that others like me are determined to disbelieve that the makers and vendors of the Nook could possibly have pulled a fast one on us. It began to take on a Stockholm-syndrome dimension as I read on. The amount of determined inventiveness and wasting of time by these folks was staggering in comparison to my paltry several hours of frustration. 

By midnight, I had gotten to the bottom line. Nook and Windows have a problem which has nothing to do with me. Dismantled the Nook, wiped it and re-boxed it. Bye-bye, Nookie, bye-bye. 

So, what have I learned? Well, I now know that  Nook in the hand is not better than a shelf of real books. I am convinced that the form of competitive capitalism that produces these situations is not geared to improving the quality of life. It is geared to producing maximum profit at the expense of consumers like me. I see that the egos who master these technologies are more concerned about profits and intellectual property rights than they are about the hands-on quality of their products for consumers.

This road to hell was paved with obvious good intentions. I am sure there are those in the publishing industry who want to maintain a reading culture. I am sure there are those who understand the value of digitizing media environmentally and practically. I know that librarians are fully aware they must get digital to survive. However, without some concerted effort to produce a unified methodology for getting to a better place with digital books soon, unnecessary human resources and dollars will be wasted. Perhaps this is inevitable. All I know is that I will dust off my library card and put shoe to pavement to get my real books in the near future.