Hey cool! Uncool! It seems that Listen & Live Audiobooks have tried to released a radio dramatization of Paul Levinson’s novellette The Chronology Protection Case for FREE as a promotion for their abridged version of his novel The Conciousness Plague (which we reviewed). SpokenNetwork.com has THE FILE available after you sign in (FREE) and make an account (FREE).
The Chronology Protection Case
Based on the novellette by Paul Levinson; Performed by Mark Shanahan
1 WMA File – 38 Minutes 37 Seconds [RADIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Listen & Live Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 1593160399
The Chronology Protection Case radio play, a science fiction murder mystery, features Shanahan in the role of Dr. Phil D’Amato, the forensic detective who appears in Levinson’s acclaimed novels, “The Silk Code,” “The Consciousness Plague” and “The Pixel Eye.” When D’Amato is approached by the distraught wife of a missing scientist whose work is embroiled in secrecy, he is plunged into an adventure with a terrifying and powerful force of nature at the heart of a series of mysterious deaths.
The “radio play” of The Chronology Protection Case was adapted by Mark Shanahan with Paul Levinson, based on the novelette by Paul Levinson which first appeared in the pages of Analog Magazine in September, 1995. The script of the radio adaptation was nominated for a prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award as “Best Play of 2003” by the Mystery Writers of America. It was initially performed live before a studio audience at the Museum of TV & Radio in September of 2002. It was subsequently recorded at CDM Studios in New York City in 2003, featuring a cast of nine actors, with an original sound design and score.
Unfortunately the damn thing doesn’t work on my Windows XP OS using my Windows Media Player! If you are going to release something for free to generate a positive buzz you’ve got to make sure it actually will work. Stupid WMA format.
Try Video LAN client (VLC), an open source media player that doesn’t try to enslave your first born child. If that can’t play it, nothing can.
SpokenNetwork uses Microsoft’s PlaysForSure DRM on this book, and you can see from my link that this requires Windows Media Player 10 or above. Here is the the Microsoft FAQ on using protected files. I think you also need to install the Windows Media Player Security upgrade which is described as follows:
“The Windows Media Security Upgrade is a process that must be performed before Microsoft Windows Media Player will allow any DRM-protected files to be played. A security measure, the security update identifies the copy of Windows Media Player with the computer on which the Player is being used. Publishers often require this sort of security in order to discourage the unlawful redistribution of digital content.”
Another warning: you also need a DAP that supports WMA download DRMs to play this. See this list from OverDrive, which is also the source for the quote about the Windows Media Player Security upgrade.
Reposted with corrected link for PlaysForSure
Well I’m about done trying. I’ve spent about 20 minutes trying to make the damn thing work. It doesn’t work with the Windows Media Player 10 installed in my WIN XP OS. This is a truly sad state of affairs. I’ll just have to ignore WMA files I guess. Kind of a shitty situation, here I am trying to find cool audio goodness for myself and other people to enjoy and I have to abandon a whole class of audio file. DRM sucks.