Yesterday, the latest Sookie Stackhouse book by Charlaine Harris was released. I wanted to read it. So, of course, I bought it from B&N and tried to download it to by iPad into my Nook app. No go. Then I realized that the other two books I had purchased on Monday weren’t there either. Uh Oh! I tried downloading them again, and they wanted to open in any available app except Nook. I thought, “Okay, fine,” and downloaded them into the Overdrive app. Since Overdrive released a native iPad app, it’s a perfectly good ebook reader. I regularly use it for epub titles I purchase from places that don’t have an app of their own. (I use Bluefire for PDFs)
Meanwhile, everything looked like it downloaded to Overdrive, but the book wouldn’t open. And did I mention that I had reached insomnia point by the time I figured out that the book wasn’t actually there? Also, my iPad suddenly decided it had no network. Our house has two wireless networks, and I have 3G on the iPad. If my iPad drops off the net, it’s seriously unwell. But at post-midnight, I wasn’t going to look into it too deeply, especially since every time I left the bedroom to investigate, the cats all started thinking that I might be willing to play with them, or at least provide lap space. But really, I was just getting more and more annoyed, and less and less sleepy.
Brilliance is generally in short supply at that hour of the night. I just wanted to start my book! I resorted to my trusty Nook. Yes, the real thing. It still had a charge after more than a week unplugged, and it found the 3G network just fine. I downloaded Dead Reckoning and settled in for a couple of chapters.
But my misbehaving iPad was still a problem this morning. At least it found a network in the morning. Maybe it needed a night’s sleep more than I did, but that didn’t solve any of the problems with the Nook app. I guessed that the iPad needed a serious update, probably something to do with Apple getting hinky about apps wanting to sell things without the iStore getting a cut, or a move in that direction. And so the fun began. It refused to update. Four times. The update kept losing the network, somewhere in the middle of the hour-plus download. I discovered that not only does the watched pot never boil, neither does the watched update. I shut everything down except the upload and moved to my laptop. Then I left the house! It finally updated while I was out.
For anyone thinking that print books don’t do this, print books also don’t let you decide to purchase the book at midnight, and keep downloading to alternate devices until one of them finally decides to play ball. Midnight cravings for particular treats can’t be satisfied until the next day. Whether they should be, well, your mileage may vary.
Murphy wasn’t done with me yet. Late this morning I called the property management company about the house we were hoping to rent in Atlanta. The owner is suddenly not so sure about renting to four cats. Last week, when we were there and could keep looking, it was okay. This week, he’s not so sure. Unless we get a “yes” by tomorrow, we’re going back to Atlanta this weekend to find a house. Second verse, same as the first.
Murphy is laughing at us.
