A Manual of Acupuncture Multimedia DVD-ROM

2 Comments

1. Quadradox says:

   March 9, 2010 at 9:15 am

   Its just what I have been looking for — the whole textbook unabridged but maximized for interactive benefits by multimedia DVD-ROM. While I value many of the features of QPunctureII, a similar product, this one simultaneous excels in its study tools for students and in its value as a reference for more experienced practitioners. Searching and cross referencing is in fact much more rapid than in a standard printed text. So after the first initial read, this is my favorite means to work with the material. The printed text just can’t implement all the features of the DVD.

   There are well designed sections detailing out the anatomy of critical landmarks such as the spinous processes, ribs, and other bony landmarks. It provides good coverage on precautions to take when needling near organs. It contains both point-by-point information plus details of the major meridians, extraordinary points and chinese names. Multi-media features include brief very good resolution videos of how to locate points on the human body plus chinese pronunciation of point names. These are easily available at the touch of a link for every point.

   It is quite flexible as a study tool, allowing one to practice locating points by identifying first the general body region, and then the underlying key anatomical structures that simulate what one would feel under the skin as depicted in the next deeper level of the drawing. (I wish it allowed one more optional layer for clarifying location of nearby nerves, blood vessels, muscles/ligament groups and their names — with some way to rehearse these as well). Practice tests can be configured as needed for studying particular meridians. I especially like being able to contruct my own point combinations as desired for treating particular illnesses or regional pain problems. One can focus this process to rehearse Chinese names, too.

   The testing features makes studying more meaningful — helps one identify where additional work is needed and builds confidence. Given that every school seems to have a few of their own “special” pearls or point variations to learn — it is extremely important to find a means to add in notes as well. This program allows you to do so.

   Deadman’s Textbook/DVD multimedia program has already proven to be one of my favorite essential resources. I expect it to be a companion for a long to come. Physicians acupuncturists will need to be mindful that the points are understandably determined by WHO international nomenclature, and there will be small variations in preferred locations for some individualized purposes.

   DRM Limitations

   However, I do agree with another reviewer here about frustration regarding the DRM limitations. These are annoying. At times having to insert the disk slows the program down. At other times it randomly hangs up and requires that I stop everything and reboot the computer. DRMs don’t belong on something I use this frequently. I feel they are quite inappropriate for scholarly works in which one has paid this much to have a full copy of the work. (DRM makes sense for video games and items priced under $40, for items that otherwise would not capture much money if all the neighborhood kids shared them, and for programs that are used for leisure rather than professional settings where time wasted on system reboots is a serious consideration.)

   I wish publishers of academic works such as this would ask themselves a few critical questions before employing DRM — What if everyone utilized this same clever trick, then how much inconvenience would it create for our honest customers, the ones who have been very willing to actually purchase the product and are now stuck with DRM-shackled copies??? Why is our product so incredibly important that we should be responsible for slowing down and obstructing the computing productivity of all our users in a manner that would be inappropriate if all software manufactures followed the same lead??? Meaning if every publisher of every program on the users computers required their own proprietary disk to be in place, very little work would get done and the world of personal computering would regress by 2 decades or more. Is the stuff in our program really and truly worth that???

   And to Deadman, et al.:

   Though your decision to the use the DRM is done, it has receded into the past and you probably know the material well enough now that its carved within your flesh, thus, you wouldn’t need to bother using your own DRM shacked product — I am left wondering what your expectation or understanding is about the experience of your customers facing this DRM every time they use the program (possibly several times a day). Hopefully as healers and not solely as entrepreneurs, you will consider a likely outcome of the unnecessary liver depression qi stagnation that these DRM tricks generate in your otherwise loyal customers. It seems a bit doubtful that choices to use DRM in professional settings do much to increase your program’s value or reputation, though they do improve your chances of blocking some unfortunatley inevitable theft. Instead, for your customers the DRMs serve to make the program of less benefit in real time in a clinic office, or when trying to capture an extra moment reflecting on an acupoint at the end of a busy day, or studying on the go in an airport or plane. If the students and treating professionals are asked to take seriously the content of this manual with some degree of trust in the professionalism of the authors — I think that relationship should be a two-way street extended back to the professionals who need a product that works easily as a clinical companion. This is a work that should serve to assist healing rather than become its own source of frequent qi obstruction and stagnation, or worse yet, serve to frankly engender the formation of damp phelgm with heat in the middle of day’s schedule when the user actually has to stop and reboot a computer.

   Thus, while I STILL strongly feel that the DVD version is a great product, some very solid advise to the publishers is:

   1. Drop the DRM.
   
   2. Offer people who already purchased these DRM-shackled copies an adequate solution to work without this hinderance.
   
   3. Our gratitude will lend you more free advertising — because otherwise it is is a solidly good product and the best in its niche.
   
   4. Trust that you will still be appreciated and respected as an authoritative standard in the field. There will likely be enough people who want to purchase your product appropriately.
   Rating: 5 / 5
2. Doc John says:

   March 9, 2010 at 11:32 am

   First off, let me say that the content on this DVD-ROM is everything I’d hoped it would be. Anyone familiar w/ Deadman’s hardcopy text (which I also own) will know that the text is solid. There are a wide variety of quizzes which are useful and well organized. The videos for point location are great for to refresh your memory on the location of an obscure point you haven’t used in several years. If this was the whole story I would give this product 5/5 stars.

   Unfortunately, this otherwise useful tool is shackled by unreasonable DRM. For those unfamiliar with the term, DRM is technology used to limit the ways in which one can use software that has already been purchased. In this case, the software requires that the DVD must ALWAYS be present in my computer in order to run the software. This is incredibly inconvenient. The main reason I bought this software was for its portability. This is hampered if I must carry a fragile DVD with me to use it. If I leave it in my DVD drive, then it makes extra noise when booting up and drains extra power from my laptop. Also, it means my DVD drive is occupied and not available for other disks. I would prefer to be able to keep the DVD safely in my office or at home, but this is not possible. Hopefully nothing will happen to the disk.

   My recommendation is to make do with the hardcopy text if you have it already. The added benefits from the DVD don’t compensate for the inconvenience of the DRM. Also, if you need to use it in a quite place (such as a library or classroom) make sure your DVD drive is quiet, as mine (superdrive in a macbook pro) makes too much noise for these applications.
   Rating: 2 / 5