Wednesday, December 10, 2008

#22 Nightmare on Main Street

Freddy's glove
I skipped JPL2.0 #21 -- will wait till I get home. Would take too long here-- bandwidth issues.

Blithely on to exercise #22:
To establish an Overdrive account, you must first create your account through the JPL website. I know you’re tired of creating user names and passwords, but we're almost there!
I go to the Overdrive page to set up my account. Yes, yes. I am almost there ...

Only, no account set-up in sight on site. Is this a hideous trap?! But she seemed so nice.

I go for Help! Need...Quickstart! No mention of creating Overdrive accounts to log-in, nothing. Nothing. FAQ! N-o-t-h-i-n-g!

Where to turn? I'm lost...gasping...sinking...

Can't watch the Guided tour. It -- won't -- load. No alternate print version offered.

The sky darkens. Melonee approaches--is she too among the lost? I ask for help--She must know--What? She's been this way before! Thank heaven! Only... She looks at the web page, looks at me, at the web page -- can't find -- anything! Nothing! "Something should be done."

No way out--can't...breathe--AAArghhh!

Epilogue
"So," I ask, but none is left to hear, "If you need to log-in to use the service, why is there no mention of this on our web page? Isn't that a 'basic.' Do you set up a new account, or is it already there, included in the same login/password you use for everything else? It seems the latter is true (the usual worked for me, anyway) -- if so, we should proclaim it: 'If you have a card you have access!'"

The MYSTERY of setting up an account aside, I probably won't use Overdrive unless I get an mp3 player that works through my car speakers--driving is the only time I listen to books.

But the site really should mention about registering/logging in, or registration should be made more obvious it it's hidden somewhere. Also, the 1-2-3 Quickstart steps should be listed first thing, without having to stumble on them along the way. No wonder customers are confused.

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