Well, after some trail and error I have successfully managed to download a book to my new MP3 Player. Registering and charging up the device was pretty straightforward. However, I ran into some problems trying to use the instructions that came with the Player in order to download my book.
In the end, I found it much easier just to link to the Overdrive Media icon that I had already installed on my computer. From there it was simple to just click on the "transfer" button to transfer the book I had already downloaded from the CCLS ecatalog.
Then I just had to figure out how to turn the Player on! After re-reading the instructions I realised that I had to hold down the play button until the unit lit up.
I am pleasantly surprised by the audio quality on my new Micro-Clip MP3 player; this is my first experience in owing such a device. I was also surprised by the tiny size of the device. It will obviously be very easy to use this when traveling etc.
Now I just have to figure out how to download some of my favorite music to my Player.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Thing #23 !
Well, it looks like I finally made it to the end of this journey. I was more than a little dubious of my success at the start of this adventure due to my relatively little experience with technology. Sure, I knew how to access various web sites and send and receive emails and I was an expert at online shopping! However, RSS feeds, social networking sites, mashups,wikis and the like were all new to me.
Getting a late start on the project was also a little daunting but I was determined to see it through and just took the "one step at a time" approach to it. Valuable help was offered by another staff member, Sue V., who helped me through the stages of "adding a gadget" to my blog. Once I had mastered this aspect of blogging there was no stopping me. Why did I find this so difficult in the first place? I guess it was just the number of steps that I needed to take in order to successfully save and add a particular gadget. It all seems so simple now!
This is the most valuable lesson that I have learned from this exercise; ask for help if you are having trouble understanding new technology; we cannot be expected to just pick this all up at the drop of a hat; especially if we were not lucky enough to be part of the generation of people that seem to be born knowing how to program a computer!
One of my favorite discoveries on this journey was the flickr web site. As you can see I had great fun using the wonderful images on this site to decorate my blog. Another surprising thing was the RSS newsfeeds that I added to my blog. It continues to amaze me that the news headlines are magically updated for me on a regular basis; I am connected to the "outside" world even though I may be working away on my blog.
One of the most surprising outcomes of blogging was the realisation that others were actually reading my blog. I had not expected to receive comments from anyone other than family or staff members. This had led me to realise that blogging is probably not for me. I prefer to actually know who it is I am communicating with rather than corresponding with an anonymous person known only by a screen name.
Over all this was a great experience for me although time consuming at some points. I now have a much greater level of confidence in my technological capabilities and feel that I am much more equipped to help my library patrons with this new aspect of our lives.
Getting a late start on the project was also a little daunting but I was determined to see it through and just took the "one step at a time" approach to it. Valuable help was offered by another staff member, Sue V., who helped me through the stages of "adding a gadget" to my blog. Once I had mastered this aspect of blogging there was no stopping me. Why did I find this so difficult in the first place? I guess it was just the number of steps that I needed to take in order to successfully save and add a particular gadget. It all seems so simple now!
This is the most valuable lesson that I have learned from this exercise; ask for help if you are having trouble understanding new technology; we cannot be expected to just pick this all up at the drop of a hat; especially if we were not lucky enough to be part of the generation of people that seem to be born knowing how to program a computer!
One of my favorite discoveries on this journey was the flickr web site. As you can see I had great fun using the wonderful images on this site to decorate my blog. Another surprising thing was the RSS newsfeeds that I added to my blog. It continues to amaze me that the news headlines are magically updated for me on a regular basis; I am connected to the "outside" world even though I may be working away on my blog.
One of the most surprising outcomes of blogging was the realisation that others were actually reading my blog. I had not expected to receive comments from anyone other than family or staff members. This had led me to realise that blogging is probably not for me. I prefer to actually know who it is I am communicating with rather than corresponding with an anonymous person known only by a screen name.
Over all this was a great experience for me although time consuming at some points. I now have a much greater level of confidence in my technological capabilities and feel that I am much more equipped to help my library patrons with this new aspect of our lives.
Thing #22 Downloading an Audiobook
Downloading an audiobook proved to be a lot easier than I had previously thought; although this may be due to my increased confidence in dealing with technology! I must make a confession here and say that I was completely unfamiliar with the emedia catalog of the CCLS. The introduction to emedia was very helpful and easy to follow. I ran into a small glitch when trying to install the required softwear; it seemed that I needed to upgrade Windows MediaPlayer security, however, this was quickly rectified after following the instructions that appeared on screen.
When browsing the emedia catalog I was a little confused because I could not see how to place an item in my cart. I finally realised that this was because the item I was attempting to check out was already "circulating". A due date does not seem appear in the emedia catalog; we are simply instructed to place a hold on an item that is currently "out".
I really liked the option of listening to a brief excerpt of an item that I may be interested in on the emedia catalog. This helped me to make a selection of an item. I think we probably would all agree that the narrator of a book plays a huge part in maintaining our interest in listening to it. I finally found an interesting book that was available to check out;" Absolute Fear "by Lisa Jackson. Ironically the title of this book could be used to describe my state of mind when first perusing the exercises that I was expected to perform to successfully complete these 23 Things!
I was also surprised to note that this book will take over 14 hours to listen to. I wonder how long it would actually take me to read the paper version? It is not something I have thought about before. At the moment I do not have a device on which I can download an audiobook (something that I hope to obtain soon!) so I think that it is probably unrealistic to believe that I will have the time or inclination to sit in front on my computer for a total of 14 hours listening to this book. Even so, it is fun to know that I now have a book on my computer that I can browse at any time.
When browsing the emedia catalog I was a little confused because I could not see how to place an item in my cart. I finally realised that this was because the item I was attempting to check out was already "circulating". A due date does not seem appear in the emedia catalog; we are simply instructed to place a hold on an item that is currently "out".
I really liked the option of listening to a brief excerpt of an item that I may be interested in on the emedia catalog. This helped me to make a selection of an item. I think we probably would all agree that the narrator of a book plays a huge part in maintaining our interest in listening to it. I finally found an interesting book that was available to check out;" Absolute Fear "by Lisa Jackson. Ironically the title of this book could be used to describe my state of mind when first perusing the exercises that I was expected to perform to successfully complete these 23 Things!
I was also surprised to note that this book will take over 14 hours to listen to. I wonder how long it would actually take me to read the paper version? It is not something I have thought about before. At the moment I do not have a device on which I can download an audiobook (something that I hope to obtain soon!) so I think that it is probably unrealistic to believe that I will have the time or inclination to sit in front on my computer for a total of 14 hours listening to this book. Even so, it is fun to know that I now have a book on my computer that I can browse at any time.
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