The Download Experience #TheCrucibleOnScreen

It’s been a bit of a doozy. But not really an unexpected doozy. I’d feared that the DT website would completely crash, but unlike some of my more sensible sisters, I still had to jump in and purchase The Crucible on day 1. In fact, even though it was announced that the long-awaited download would become available at 8AM in my time zone, I found myself *just checking* the DT website at 7am when I stepped out of the shower. It appeared to have the option to purchase, so I purchased it, there in my bathrobe, and started the download.

Now, I suspected that the HD download at home was going to take at least 24 hours, because Much Ado About Nothing over the weekend took 26 hours, and that was presumably not occurring during an Armitage Army Onslaught. The joys of rural country living! I had higher hopes for my download #2 out of 3 at work, since I have a much faster connection there in town, so I started it as soon as I booted up my computer and installed the desktop player at 8am yesterday. The work download kicked off pretty fast, and got up to over 50% after one hour, but I can only assume that the whole world soon came online and joined the queue, because it got really slow after that and was only at 72% by the time I left work. Got home and had a whopping 23% on the home computer. LOL. Way to go, Armitage Followers!

Yes, John. Your Followers. Anyway, this morning the home computer was still slowly chugging at about 45% when I left for work, but the work computer was all finished and ready for me. I then downloaded the Conversation, and that took only about 20 minutes. I had a slow morning and ended up watching the Conversation after my surgical procedures were done, and at 11:45am, just as I was about to shut my office door and break early for lunch, the office manager arrived and said we had a walk-in. Actually, it was an elderly client who had a 2pm appointment but didn’t want to drive in the rain later, so she just decided to come on in and get her appointment done during the doc’s lunch. $#!+&@#*($!!

So, with a heavy heart, I went and did my two annual exams and the assorted “oh, by the way, can you do this and this and this as long as we’re here, and I have a question or two about the stray cat I feed” until it was 12:45pm and my lunch was basically over. The one good thing was I had nothing until the 2pm appointment, and that was now finished, so I went back to the office, grabbed my protein shake, closed the door, and sat down for Act 1.

The HD quality was fantastic- much better than the quality Hubby and I had streamed at the college a couple of weeks ago. I was just able to finish Act 1 and do a few of my Richarding rituals over at the forum, when afternoon appointments started up again, but I left work a bit early and came home just in time to see the home download was at 99%. I had an early dinner, the kids being on spring break and off fishing with Hubby and G-Pa, and by the time I finished eating, the download was finally finished, after a whopping 34 hours!

Interestingly, the HD quality was noticeably different at home. There were fractional glitches in the soundtrack and occasional hiccups in the visuals as well. Not at all as good as the work computer had been, and not even as good as the streaming at the college had been. Not sure why this should be the case, but I figure the DT support team is a bit overwhelmed at the moment, so I decided to let that slide for now. I soldiered on, a bit annoyed but still emotionally invested and just glad to have quiet time with John Proctor. Or, not always all that quiet, as John will shout from time to time. Amazing timing, as just as the lights went out on Elizabeth at the finale, I heard stomping feet on the front porch, and the children were home with their exuberance and exaggerated fish stories.

All in all, not a bad day. I’m planning to write about my views on Proctor’s decision in Act 4 at some point, but I think I’ll watch it at least once more before I try to compose my feelings.