Course Vital Source Transition

ethanyc

New Member
hi, i still cant access to frm 1 material on vitalsource, the website always send the same error message:Sorry, you don't have access to this book. the vitalsource support team says you need to provide me with a new link. Can someone help me to solve the problem? i already send the message to the support team for several days, so far i havent got any responses
 

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Nicole Seaman

Director of CFA & FRM Operations
Staff member
Subscriber
hi, i still cant access to frm 1 material on vitalsource, the website always send the same error message:Sorry, you don't have access to this book. the vitalsource support team says you need to provide me with a new link. Can someone help me to solve the problem? i already send the message to the support team for several days, so far i havent got any responses
I am sending you a private message to confirm the email address that you used to send your email to support. Our support team has made to sure respond to every email very quickly, and there are currently no outstanding support tickets.
 

Manisangsu

New Member
hi Nicole , a slightly different issue here.

The page numbering doesn't work in the way the books are uploaded to Vital Source.
So basically I cant reference the page number from the content pages any more. Can this be fixed please.

E.g. Grinold ch 14 Study notes (investment risk) , as per contents
"Distinguish the inputs to the porfolio construction proccess" is on page 3 , but its really on page 99 etc..
 

David Notter

New Member
Hi

I have a question regarding the new e-reader. As far as I can tell there is no way to get the study sheet chapters as pdf in order to print them? I just ask as I'm used to studying with paper, rather than with an e-reader.
Is there any way to print the chapters?

Thanks a lot in advance

Best regards
David
 

Nicole Seaman

Director of CFA & FRM Operations
Staff member
Subscriber
hi Nicole , a slightly different issue here.

The page numbering doesn't work in the way the books are uploaded to Vital Source.
So basically I cant reference the page number from the content pages any more. Can this be fixed please.

E.g. Grinold ch 14 Study notes (investment risk) , as per contents
"Distinguish the inputs to the porfolio construction proccess" is on page 3 , but its really on page 99 etc..
Hello @Manisangsu Unfortunately, this is not something that we can fix. We cannot change the numbering in Vital Source, and we were not able to go through every set of notes and practice questions to change our already-published PDFs before transitioning to Vital Source. This is something that we can consider in the future when we go through and update all of the PDFs for 2023, but it is not possible right now.
 

Nicole Seaman

Director of CFA & FRM Operations
Staff member
Subscriber
Hi

I have a question regarding the new e-reader. As far as I can tell there is no way to get the study sheet chapters as pdf in order to print them? I just ask as I'm used to studying with paper, rather than with an e-reader.
Is there any way to print the chapters?

Thanks a lot in advance

Best regards
David
Hello @DNott0464 Unfortunately, the PDFs are not able to be downloaded or printed in Vital Source.
 

David Notter

New Member
Hello @DNott0464 Unfortunately, the PDFs are not able to be downloaded or printed in Vital Source.
Hi
Thanks for your quick reply. Can you please check and figure out a way how I can print the chapters as I wasn't made aware before purchasing the bionic frm II package that it will only be available as an e-reader. A colleague of mine has the same question, so I suppose I'm not the only one with this issue.

Thanks a lot and kind regards
David
 

Nicole Seaman

Director of CFA & FRM Operations
Staff member
Subscriber
Hi
Thanks for your quick reply. Can you please check and figure out a way how I can print the chapters as I wasn't made aware before purchasing the bionic frm II package that it will only be available as an e-reader. A colleague of mine has the same question, so I suppose I'm not the only one with this issue.

Thanks a lot and kind regards
David
Hello @DNott0464 Unfortunately, there is no option to print our ebooks from Vital Source at this time.
 

David Notter

New Member
Hello @DNott0464 Unfortunately, there is no option to print our ebooks from Vital Source at this time.
Hi @Nicole Seaman , I must say I find it rather unacceptable, as I already mentioned we were not made aware of this change before purchasing the package (I even purchased the professional package). Now there is a popup saying that pdfs are no longer available. A bit too late...
I'm a fan of BT, so I really hope you find a solution, at least for the clients this summer who have been affected by this change. Upload the pdfs as you used to in the past in addition to the e-reader or make the e-reader printable....

Thanks and kind regards
 
Hi BT, where did the Global Topic Drills go to? Btw, I did a search in the question set of 1.109 (!) pages in VitalSource and could no find it there. I hope it is still available somewhere.
 

Nicole Seaman

Director of CFA & FRM Operations
Staff member
Subscriber
Hi BT, where did the Global Topic Drills go to? Btw, I did a search in the question set of 1.109 (!) pages in VitalSource and could no find it there. I hope it is still available somewhere.
Hello @marcelvanderwurf The Global Topic Drills were added many years ago, and they were very outdated, so we have decided to remove them from the study planner until new questions can be written. Thank you.
 

Manisangsu

New Member
Hello @Manisangsu Unfortunately, this is not something that we can fix. We cannot change the numbering in Vital Source, and we were not able to go through every set of notes and practice questions to change our already-published PDFs before transitioning to Vital Source. This is something that we can consider in the future when we go through and update all of the PDFs for 2023, but it is not possible right now.
That's a rather unfortunate outcome.
Its one thing to migrate to a different platform to prevent piracy , i can surely appreciate it
Its another thing not to correct an error caused directly by this transition , which causes inconvenience to paid members
I know I am sounding grumpy , so i will stop here.
 

tdani3656

New Member
Hello @tdani3656 I apologize for not responding directly to your comment. Unfortunately, there is nothing that we can do to change the fact that we have transitioned to Vital Source. This was a necessary change. People have been illegally sharing and selling our materials for years, which has given us no choice but to change the way that our materials are accessed. The only thing that I can do in the forum is to advise anyone who is having issues accessing their materials to contact the support team, as they have been very helpful in making sure everyone is able to access their materials.

You can view materials offline without internet. Please see these instructions on the Vital Source website: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/...e-offline-or-downloadable-version-of-my-book-. This should help to resolve the issue of studying while you are traveling.
@David Harper CFA FRM @Nicole Seaman

@Aaron1616 @shubhamyadav @Moh @bagelcoffee @MAlom5561 @marcelvanderwurf @AWong0667 @David Notter @Manisangsu


Hi Nicole

I don't think you truly understand what it meant for me when I mentioned I could only use physical copies when i travel. Please read my very first post if you haven't already.

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If your team is unable to resolve this for me (as I highlighted that I bought the professional package so I could get all the help and support I needed as well as to be able to download the physical copies which were written in your reviews previously), then you left me with no choice but to ask you to refund me my full sum as I don't see any point in wasting my time like this. I would definitely miss David's lesson + forum support but I supposed there is nothing you can do right?

Once my case is resolved/refunded, I will exit this post myself.

(this is just to prevent myself from being muted)

A very frustrated customer.

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David Notter

New Member
@Nicole Seaman I do understand the issue with customers selling and sharing the material, but that does not mean that you can give a disadvantage to the truthful customers by just changing from PDFs to an e-reader. Besides I do suppose, that most of your customers are getting the price of your BT packages refunded by their company, so most clients do not have an incentive to buy the material illegally, besides the fact that the study notes are always updated and one must have the newest version if possible. And I do suppose, as any company does, you've already included some of the lost sales in your package prices.
I do hope you figure something out. At least for those who have just bought a package before the transition. After that you must clearly note in your packages, that you only offer e-reader.

Thanks for your support

@tdani3656
 
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Nicole Seaman

Director of CFA & FRM Operations
Staff member
Subscriber
@David Harper CFA FRM @Nicole Seaman

@Aaron1616 @shubhamyadav @Moh @bagelcoffee @MAlom5561 @marcelvanderwurf @AWong0667 @David Notter @Manisangsu


Hi Nicole

I don't think you truly understand what it meant for me when I mentioned I could only use physical copies when i travel. Please read my very first post if you haven't already.

View attachment 3719

If your team is unable to resolve this for me (as I highlighted that I bought the professional package so I could get all the help and support I needed as well as to be able to download the physical copies which were written in your reviews previously), then you left me with no choice but to ask you to refund me my full sum as I don't see any point in wasting my time like this. I would definitely miss David's lesson + forum support but I supposed there is nothing you can do right?

Once my case is resolved/refunded, I will exit this post myself.

(this is just to prevent myself from being muted)

A very frustrated customer.

View attachment 3718

View attachment 3717
Hello @tdani3656

I have read every post here very carefully. I have tried to respond with information that I have, but the transition has been made, and that is out of my hands. I understand everyone's frustration if this transition has affected their studies in any way. If anyone has issues with the transition, please contact customer support. I am no longer the customer support contact, so posting these things in the forum is not helping anyone if customer support isn't going to see them. I am passing on all feedback that is received, but that is all that I can do. I am trying very hard to respond to everyone (I truly am), but if anyone has any issues with the transition, you need to voice that to customer support please.

In response to your statement, "(this is just to prevent myself from being muted)," Bionic Turtle has never ignored or "muted" any of our customers. I have worked for BT for 9 years and have helped every single customer myself up until our transition. I would never allow any customer to be ignored.

Thank you,

Nicole
 

LCosi6229

New Member
To David Harper,

This Vital Source format is terrible and makes me not want to purchase the FRM package for Part 2. It is so not user friendly: I can't print and make notes (unless I print 5 pages at a time), and I can't scroll as I could with PDF. Every time I advance to the next page, there is a delay. I'm sure you probably did this for the rare cases of people bootleg your materials, but now you will lose customers because you made something that's subpar. Bad decision.

Hope you change it back to PDF.
 

LCosi6229

New Member
@Nicole Seaman I do understand the issue with customers selling and sharing the material, but that does not mean that you can give a disadvantage to the truthful customers by just changing from PDFs to an e-reader. Besides I do suppose, that most of your customers are getting the price of your BT packages refunded by their company, so most clients do not have an incentive to buy the material illegally, besides the fact that the study notes are always updated and one must have the newest version if possible. And I do suppose, as any company does, you've already included some of the lost sales in your package prices.
I do hope you figure something out. At least for those who have just bought a package before the transition. After that you must clearly note in your packages, that you only offer e-reader.

Thanks for your support

@tdani3656
This was the worst business decision ever by @David Harper CFA FRM . So disappointed that he ruined a good thing. How much did you really save by making a subpar product?
 

Sahil1999

Member
Hi all,

I have been reading the forum on everyone's view on the VitalSource transition. Let me put out some facts here, because I'm familiar with the problem of plagiarising BT material on the ground level and have spoken to Nicole on the same multiple times.

In my country, when the notes were downloadable, local book store resellers would buy the subscription to print and sell them to students. The notes would go for 2000 INR ($25) and the PQ's would be available for 2500 INR ($31). Well I know for a fact that FRM is most popular in India and China and I'm pretty sure that these resellers have made at least a couple of million (around 1.5 million INR - ON THE LOWER SIDE). I know multiple FRM instructors who are not approved by GARP but provide their students BT questions as a part of their own study package, and these instructors are extremely popular in India, charging in a range of INR 15K-30K and including the BT questions as a part of their teaching service. These non-approved prep providers get about 350-400 students every year on an average. Well, we can do the math on the revenues that they are making by providing their video lessons and giving the students BT questions for practice.

I could have easily gone out and bought the pirated version of BT for $25 but I chose not to because of the sheer respect that I have for David's intellect. I chose to pay the subscription amount of $350 while I was making around $550/ month as a fresher on my job. Did that because I did not want to disrespect David's hard work.

BUT NOW WHAT I'M GOING TO TELL IS MORE IMPORTANT: The VitalSource transition will NOT solve the problem of plagiarism and I'll tell you why. GARP also transitioned to VitalSource and we can now only view the books on the VitalSource App / website. But, still the printed versions of GARP's Official books is also available here at a local reseller for $25. They simply take screenshots of each and every page to print the entire book and then sell it.

I'm comfortable with VitalSource as well personally. I prefer to read while I make my own notes. So, I'm truly indifferent but also sympathetic for the people who have been affected by the transition.

Maybe a better solution to this is to only allow BT subscription for registered FRM candidates.

Just felt like putting out what I know about BT plagiarism here on the forum, so that everyone can get some context about the intention.



Regards,
Sahil
 
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NStha8467

New Member
I was prompted to download an updated version of the quantitative methods BT readings today and it simply doesn't work. It gets to the contents but on clicking any chapter it just hangs.
Other BT books and the main Garp books work just fine. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Edit - tried again and the problem was resolved.
 

cy123

New Member
Hi David And Nicole, I agreed with @davidnotter's point that the existing members that bought the package before the transition should have given the benefits of accessing to the pdf which is way easier to use compared to the vitalsource. I have written an email to the customer support team basically the feedback is the same 'nothing i can do'. So i sincerely hope that you guys can reconsider and bring back the pdf at least for the existing customers where we were not informed before we subscribed to the package. Thanks
 
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