Fencon: getting there
Am in Waco, at a new Starbucks on I-35. Well, it's new to me: it wasn't here the last time I made the trek between Dallas and Austin, but that was years ago. I have not noticed many new wireless coffeeshops (or any new coffeeshops, really) along this rustic stretch of Texas, not counting a Chik-Fil-A somewhere north of Waco that claimed to have WiFi. So my plan to check in at every WiFi-enabled coffeeshop between Austin and Dallas is not happening. Maybe it's just as well, because at that rate I would barely get to Dallas in time for the Fencon writers' workshop to start.
I got on the road at 11 am, later than I expected. The morning was wasted by my hare-brained last minute initiative to get an audiobook to listen to during the trip. Not long ago I bought an iVO Sound MP3 player. No, I haven't heard of this brand either. As it turned out, this proved to be the problem.
I bought an download of an audio recording of Robert Charles Wilson's "Axis" from Audible.com. When you buy a recording from them, it does not come in a clean, neat MP3 file. No, you have to install an Audible Manager software on your computer. Then you use the manager to transfer the recording, which is in a proprietary format, to your MP3 player. Before you begin that process, the Audible Manager asks what kind of MP3 player you have. Lo and behold -- in the list of 20-30 players, there was no iVO Sound! So I called their customer service. After putting me on hold, the guy determined this player was not compatible with Audible format, because it lacks some kind of universal plugin.
I asked him for a refund. (Those audiobooks are not really any cheaper than paper books.) The customer service guy tried to remind me that I have other ways to listen to audiobooks, such as on my computer. I told him I bought this recording specifically for listening on a trip, so playing it on a computer is not an option. After putting me on hold (probably to confer with a manager) he said they'll issue me a refund. It should show up in my account in 24 hours. We'll see if it does or not.
What a waste of time. It all could have been avoided if Audible.com listed the MP3 players they support on their website! How hard can that be?
When I come back from Dallas, I may actually return the iVO Sound to the store and buy a more common brand of MP3 player. The iVO is decent, but not the easiest player to operate. Its user interface is kind of screwy.
Oh, and once I was just outside Austin, I remembered the things I forgot to bring: (1) two books by Gregory Benford, the Fencon GOH, to be autographed, and (2) the USB connector cable for my camera! Bummber. Fortunately, there is an SD card-reader slot in my laptop, and unlike in my older laptop, it really works. Whew.
I got on the road at 11 am, later than I expected. The morning was wasted by my hare-brained last minute initiative to get an audiobook to listen to during the trip. Not long ago I bought an iVO Sound MP3 player. No, I haven't heard of this brand either. As it turned out, this proved to be the problem.
I bought an download of an audio recording of Robert Charles Wilson's "Axis" from Audible.com. When you buy a recording from them, it does not come in a clean, neat MP3 file. No, you have to install an Audible Manager software on your computer. Then you use the manager to transfer the recording, which is in a proprietary format, to your MP3 player. Before you begin that process, the Audible Manager asks what kind of MP3 player you have. Lo and behold -- in the list of 20-30 players, there was no iVO Sound! So I called their customer service. After putting me on hold, the guy determined this player was not compatible with Audible format, because it lacks some kind of universal plugin.
I asked him for a refund. (Those audiobooks are not really any cheaper than paper books.) The customer service guy tried to remind me that I have other ways to listen to audiobooks, such as on my computer. I told him I bought this recording specifically for listening on a trip, so playing it on a computer is not an option. After putting me on hold (probably to confer with a manager) he said they'll issue me a refund. It should show up in my account in 24 hours. We'll see if it does or not.
What a waste of time. It all could have been avoided if Audible.com listed the MP3 players they support on their website! How hard can that be?
When I come back from Dallas, I may actually return the iVO Sound to the store and buy a more common brand of MP3 player. The iVO is decent, but not the easiest player to operate. Its user interface is kind of screwy.
Oh, and once I was just outside Austin, I remembered the things I forgot to bring: (1) two books by Gregory Benford, the Fencon GOH, to be autographed, and (2) the USB connector cable for my camera! Bummber. Fortunately, there is an SD card-reader slot in my laptop, and unlike in my older laptop, it really works. Whew.