75 Years of Genii

[Andrew Pinard]

Just got an email from lybrary.com that announced that 75 volumes of Genii was available for sale as a bundle of PDF volumes for $249:

http://www.lybrary.com/genii-the-conjurors-magazine-volumes-1-75-p-576309.html

Is this a Genii Corporation product being distributed through lybrary.com?

[erdnasephile]

Wow--if that is an authorized product by Richard, I may spring for that.

[Richard Kaufman]

This is an authorized collaboration between The Genii Corporation and Lybrary.com. The file of the first 75 volumes of Genii will be available as both a download or on a flash drive. The news also appears in our Genii ad in the November issue.

Non-subscribers might want to purchase it, since subscribers get the same access to all of our back issues as part of their subscription at no charge.

The true benefit to purchasing the file is that you can access all of it without being online.

[lybrary]

I think there are four main advantages to the download version:

1) As Richard pointed out you don't need to be online. Which means you don't need to worry about data limits, if you are on a mobile plan. No worries about servers being down, Internet being slow, or other connectivity issues. It also gives you more choices of viewing apps which may work better for you or your device.

2) You can print out any page. While I don't think anybody will play with the thought to print out all 55,000 pages, it is sometimes very convenient to print a couple of pages for filing or further study.

3) Owning the PDFs means you do not need to worry about the long term availability of the online version. Companies go out of business. Tecnavia, who does the hosting of the online Genii, seems to be a decent company, but there is no guarantee that they will be around for many years. Also Richard I am sure will retire at some point. The new owner of Genii might have completely different plans regarding an online version. Owning the PDFs means you own them forever no matter what may happen to Genii or the online version.

4) Searching across your entire PDF collection. If you already have other magic PDFs then you can search in one go through all your PDFs including these Genii PDFs. I find this very convenient. Otherwise you have to repeat the same search in different places.

Of course, the big disadvantage is that you need to pay $249 for the PDFs. But in the long term I think it will look like an incredible bargain. 27 cent per issue feels like a steal to me.

[Marco Pusterla]

What about current and future volumes? Will they be available for sale in the future? When will they be available? We are now almost at the end of vol. 77 and I see that vol. 76 is not included in this product.

Many thanks.

[erdnasephile]

Chris:

Does this product consist of 75 separate files (one for each volume)? How much hard drive space does the entire project take?

How much extra does it cost to get the file(s) via the flash drive that Richard mentions?

thanks!

[lybrary]

The download version consists of 75 PDF files. Each monthly issue is bookmarked so it is very easy to directly go to any issue you want. Total storage space required is 34.5GB.

Since I am still working on the flash version I can't give you details on pricing. There will certainly be an additional s&h charge.

[erdnasephile]

I just bought this---what a terrific resource!

The Adobe search engine works very well, and it's nice to have everything quickly available off line.

It does take quite a while to download everything even with a really fast computer and connection. You do have to download each file separately (until the flash drive option becomes available).

I ended up burning the files on 2 Blu-ray discs for safekeeping as I didn't have a 64 GB flash drive handy.

Kudos to Richard and Chris for making this available! Highly recommended.

[lybrary]

A tip for searching PDFs. If you use Adobe Reader (a free software) you can search in all of the Genii PDFs (or any other collection of PDFs) in one swoop. Here is how you do it:

- Open Adobe Reader
- Go to Edit->Advanced Search
- You will see "Where would you like to search?" Select 'All PDF Documents in' and click on the drop down box.
- Select in the drop down 'Browse for Location' and navigate to the directory where you have all your Genii PDFs, or magic PDF ebooks stored.
- Then enter your keywords and click 'Search'

Adobe Reader will search through all the PDFs in that directory. Alternatively you might want to give the Lybrary.com Magic Knowledge Base a try. It is a very fast and powerful full text search engine.

[lybrary]

The USB flash drives are here! They look gorgeous. There is an additional charge of $20 for the flash version and you will have to pay a couple of bucks for shipping. The USB flash drives can hold up to 64GB of data. Genii takes up about 35GB. So plenty of room left for your other PDFs.

http://www.lybrary.com/genii-the-conjur ... 76309.html

The primary advantages of the USB flash memory version the way I see it are:

1) No download. Downloading 75 PDF files can take a bit of time. With the USB flash you can simply copy all files in one go to your computer, or view them right from the USB drive.

2) Something to put under the Christmas Tree or to hand to a friend/spouse as present. Giving an ebook virtually is not as much fun as handing someone a physical item.

3) Backup. The USB flash memory can function as an immediate backup. Copy the files to your computer and store the USB flash in a safe place. When the computer breaks or the hard disc comes to screeching halt, the flash drive is your backup.

4) Bragging rights. The USB flash has the size of a credit card. Put it in your wallet and next time you are in the Club or meet a fellow magician point to your wallet and whisper: "75 years of Genii in my wallet!"

[erdnasephile]

A tip for searching PDFs. If you use Adobe Reader (a free software) you can search in all of the Genii PDFs (or any other collection of PDFs) in one swoop. Here is how you do it:

- Open Adobe Reader
- Go to Edit->Advanced Search
- You will see "Where would you like to search?" Select 'All PDF Documents in' and click on the drop down box.
- Select in the drop down 'Browse for Location' and navigate to the directory where you have all your Genii PDFs, or magic PDF ebooks stored.
- Then enter your keywords and click 'Search'

Adobe Reader will search through all the PDFs in that directory. Alternatively you might want to give the Lybrary.com Magic Knowledge Base a try. It is a very fast and powerful full text search engine.

Depending on your Adobe software settings, you may need to Disable Protected View for the Genii Files in order to view the search results:

Enable or disable Protected View


Unlike Protected Mode in Reader, Protected View in Acrobat is off by default.

1.Choose Edit > Preferences.
2.From the categories on the left, select Security (Enhanced).
3.Select the Enable Enhanced Security option.
4.Choose one of the following options:

Off Disables Protected View, if you have enabled it. Protected View is off by default.
Files From Potentially Unsafe Locations Enables Protected View and displays the warning for all files originating from an untrusted location. Files and locations that you add to the Privileged Locations area of the Enhanced Security panel are exempt from Protected View.
All files Enables Protected View in all PDFs that you open in either stand-alone Acrobat or in a browser.

[lybrary]

Are you viewing/searching the PDFs from the USB memory or have you copied them to your hard drive first?

[erdnasephile]

Downloaded the files directly to local hard drive from the website. Once I set the Adobe software correctly, search works great!

[lybrary]

Here is information for all who use a Windows XP computer and who want to access the USB flash version of 75 volumes of Genii:

If you do have the Genii USB flash drive and you are using a Windows XP computer you will most likely see nothing on the flash drive and Windows will ask you if you want to format the drive. This is caused by the fact that Windows XP does not support the exFAT file system that this USB drive uses.

However, this is very easily fixed. Go to this website and install the update to add support for the exFAT file system:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download ... x?id=19364

Once you have done this you will be able to see everything on the USB flash drive.

If anybody has problems accessing the flash or has other issues please post here or email me.

[Richard Kaufman]

If you do have the Genii USB flash drive and you are using a Windows XP computer you will most likely see nothing on the flash drive and Windows will ask you if you want to format the drive.

DO NOT REFORMAT THE DRIVE BECAUSE YOU WILL ERASE THE CONTENTS!

[Jack Shalom]

Will the flash drive show up on a Mac desktop?

[Richard Kaufman]

Yes. It doesn't use the Adobe program called "Flash."

It's just called a "flash" or "thumb" drive.