Category: Tech

iPod stuff

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I’m having an issue with my iPod’s album art. You see, the art is loaded for every song in the album, but it disappears after playing the first song. It doesn’t matter which song from the album I start listening to either. I could pick track one or track five and the album art will display, but only when playing that song. As soon as the next track starts the album art is replaced with that damn annoying music note icon instead. WTF? The girl’s Nano does the same exact thing. Please tell me this isn’t by design because it’s seriously annoying. I like the visual aspect of the iPod classic so I should be able to see my album art all the time.

Oh and the girl’s Nano is really particular (it must be female) – it won’t load album art at all unless the music has been transferred through iTunes. Even if through Winamp I update the art directly to the songs already on her iPod, the files don’t update (even though you’re given the impression they have). I can do the same thing on my iPod without a problem. In fact, I haven’t used iTunes in at least two weeks. Frankly at this point I’m scared to because the last time I did most of the album mysteriously disappeared and I had to reload it. That was not fun!

Oh and I found out that Windows Media Player of all programs works quite well at identifying CDs, ripping them to MP3, and automatically populating the album art. So bye-bye Yahoo! Jukebox you piece of junk. I found out far too late in the game that it was ripping tracks at ridiculously crappy quality (their idea of high quality is 44kbps? seriously, what are those people smoking?) and had to re-rip lots of music. Pleased I was not.

I wonder, does anyone have the new iPod classic? I ask because I’m starting to wonder if the sound quality is up to par. I’m no audiophile by any means, or at least I never thought of myself as such, but I’m getting annoyed with the “static” I hear on some songs. Songs that were ripped at 320kbps, mind you. It’s more noticeable with guitar riffs. Also of note is that this is when I’m listening to my iPod via my car stereo, which is pretty much the only way I listen to my music (except on particularly stressful days at work when I listen via the headphones to drown everyone else out). I don’t think it’s the cassette I’m listening through because I used one for my XM radio and it was fine.

Speaking of that… I spent $21 for a cassette adapter for the iPod, made by Belkin, and the damn thing was squeaking up a storm. I would turn my music up higher and higher and I couldn’t drown it out. So then I got a Philips cassette for $10 and that made some funky noises too. At the same time I picked up a Griffin-brand cassette that Walmart was selling on clearance for $6. I didn’t end up opening that one because it finally dawned on me that I had a perfectly functioning cassette adapter from my XM radio, so I’ve been using that. It squeaks a bit too but nothing like that Belkin one.

Anyway, I am starting to wonder if my car speakers suck or if it’s the iPod. I need to buy a male to male plug so I can hook the iPod to our stereo system. That should be the ultimate test.

More computer stuff

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After a trip to Fry’s Electronics today, my new system is finally complete. I had to buy a PS/2 to USB adapter for my wireless mouse/keyboard combo as well as an adapter (serial port to USB) to hook up my laser printer. Of course it turns out that second cable was unnecessary as my printer has a USB port and that was the only way I could get Vista to recognize it anyway. I spent a good two hours screwing around with the printer and drivers and all I needed to do was connect it with the USB port I didn’t realize it had until I started looking at the setup manual on the manufacturer’s website. I feel like an idiot, but at least I eventually figured it out.

I also bought new speakers to replace the ugly beige set I owned. I’m pleasantly surprised with their sound quality considering the price ($20 after $10 mail-in rebate). I’m not entirely surprised, though – I’ve always loved Creative’s products; my sound card is made by them too. There are only two brands I’ll even consider when it comes to speakers – Creative or Logitech. In fact, I have a cheaper set of Creative speakers at work (also purchased at Fry’s two years ago) and Joe has a Logitech set on his LCD (I got for him last Christmas) for gaming.

The girl got her iPod Nano case at Fry’s too. I’m not sure whether it had anything to do with me, or mere coincidence, but she bought the same case I own for my iPod. I showed it to her last night, so she knew it too. Hmmm.

We went to Red Robin for lunch. We don’t go their often and I really enjoy their food, even if I always get the same thing (Ensanda chicken platter).

Later while I was getting dinner ready we played the new Monopoly Electronic Banking Edition. I’ve never been a fan of Monopoly, but I don’t hate this version nearly as much as the original, even if they seem to think The Cubs are the true Chicago baseball team (suck it). We decided on a time to end the game because I swear we would have been there all night! Oh and I lost! I came in dead last with 7.5 mil or something. Blah.

I made chocolate chip cookies for dessert which came out nice and soft. Then I battled the damn printer for over an hour. But all is good now!

Also earlier I downloaded some free software – OpenOffice since I don’t own Office 2007 and don’t want to pay $150 to view/edit Excel files and MediaMonkey because I’m still looking for the best ripping/encoding software. I have yet to find one application that does everything how I want it to. Winamp crashes after I transfer music to my iPod (if it’s not connected, it never crashes), iTunes won’t name the files in the manner I want, Yahoo! Jukebox doesn’t like some of the CDs I own and refused to rip them, and MusicMatch wants you to pay $30+ a year to use their service. Ugh. MediaMonkey is ok for ripping tracks but the interface leaves something to be desired. It also uses Amazon.com for looking up album art instead of Gracenote. One of these days I will find the holy grail.

Oh and speaking of album art… for some reason the girl’s nano won’t display album art, even if it’s encoded in the file, unless the file is transferred to her iPod via iTunes. I don’t seem to have that problem (for the most part), so I’m perplexed. I tried it with several songs and the only way to get her nano to display the album cover was to delete the file and re-transfer it using iTunes. What a PITA.

iPod love and Christmas with the kids

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I am really loving my iPod much more than I imagined. Every night I add more music to it (I’m up to 960+ songs) and listen for a half hour before going to sleep. I bought a cassette connection for the car recently too. I originally got an FM transmitter but it totally sucked. I could not find a suitable station that didn’t require me to turn up the sound full volume, and even then I’d hear my music only faintly with tons of static. I can’t imagine with the all the FM transmitters on the market that none of them work but I didn’t have any good luck with mine.

Today I discovered the world of Podcasts and downloaded one from The State of Trance, a show I used to listen to on my XM satellite radio. There are also podcasts from Dane Cook! I feel like a kid in a candy store right now.

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Today was our Christmas with the kids. I was worried they’d be waiting forever for me to get home so they could open their presents because it was snowing pretty good most of the day, but they shut down the office an hour early and by that time it had stopped coming down and the streets were just wet. In fact, I didn’t slide at all until I tried to get in the driveway (don’t get me started on how every frickin time it snows our driveway is nearly the last one cleared).

On the way home I stopped at Boston Market to pick up a Fall Feast – a whole chicken, 3 large sides, cornbread, and a salad. I got two sides of mashed potatoes since the kids go nuts over them, but ironically, the boy didn’t care for theirs. I didn’t either, to tell the truth. But the chicken was good, as was the mac and cheese and cornbread. Both kids loved the chicken which surprised me since it’s infused with garlic. We never go to Boston Market with them because last time they were very unhappy with the menu, but that was years ago and I think we’ve turned them around now.

After dinner it was present time! We left the two big presents for last for the biggest impact. The kids’ reactions didn’t disappoint. Just as I predicted, the boy literally screamed in joy when he opened his DS, and then proceeded to hug it. LMAO! He kept saying he felt like he was dreaming. The girl isn’t quite as vocal, but she was beaming. It was nice to see them so pleased with their gifts.

Tomorrow we’re going shopping, mostly so the girl can get a case for her iPod. The boy already owns two cases designed specifically for the DS that his grandmother bought him awhile back (don’t ask, because I don’t get it either).

Immediately after opening their gifts, the girl began calculating how much money she had from Joe’s side of the family and whether it was enough to buy a DS for herself (it is, and then some). We’re feeling a little torn about that since we usually allow the kids to spend the cash Joe’s parents sends and put the rest of their money in the bank. After all, they just got showered in gifts. But I know she really wants a DS too even if she wanted the iPod more. I could tell by the way she kept asking the boy if she could look at it. The problem is in order to be fair we’d also have to allow the boy to spend his money and he really doesn’t need any more stuff. We always feel conflicted in these situations between wanting the kids to be happy but making sure they aren’t spoiled rotten. Although frankly I don’t think that would happen because they are really good kids. I notice it most when we’re out in public or around other kids in some manner. They don’t run around acting like fools or being loud and obnoxious like some kids. So yea, we’ll probably give in and let them blow the money. When you come right down to it, I am a softy no matter what I may lead you to believe. ;)

PC Stuff and Idiot Drivers

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I switched back to my old LCD monitor. I know, I’m retarded. The new one is digital (not that my video card supports that), but until I can get this text issue resolved, it’s much less noticeable on the old monitor. I’ve been doing my research and apparently NVIDIA graphic cards don’t play well with Vista. Thanks Dell, for packaging them together. I plan on calling Dell tomorrow to see if they can give me a deal to upgrade to an ATI graphics card. We looked at Circuit City but you’d be surprised how the packaging doesn’t indicate whether the card fits in a slim-profile tower. NewEgg let’s you search for them but they are all $200+. I’m not a PC gamer so I really don’t need that kind of power. I just want my text to be crisp and clear. I really don’t think that’s too much to ask.

My machine is flying with the 4GB of RAM now. Woo! Even Yahoo! Mail Beta loads quickly. Imagine that. In fact, everything loads quickly and I’m loving it. For the most part I do like Windows Vista. It has a more polished look than Windows XP, although I really didn’t have any beefs with XP. In fact, I was tempted to see if Dell could ship the PC with XP on it but since Vista is out I imagine the XP support is going to wane after awhile so I might as well hop on board. So far (fingers crossed) all my applications are running fine.

I’m a little cranky at the moment because I swear people just get more and more stupid as time goes on. I had an aggravating day at work and then got stuck behind way too many brake-happy people on the drive home. Why do people accelerate and brake over and over again? How about not driving up people’s asses and if you need to slow down, letting off the gas and coasting? Novel concept, I know.

My new computer: initial impressions

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Merry Christmas everyone! I’ve been customizing my new computer since 10:30 pm last night. Well, I did get six hours of sleep in there too.

My computer was delivered yesterday before we left for my parents’ but I didn’t have time to turn it on until we got home. We unpacked the box and set everything up before leaving, however. I have to give Dell credit – everything is packed well and the software is extremely organized; they even mark the CDs to let you know what software is already pre-installed on the machine. It made setting everything up (hardware-wise, at least) effortless.

I have to say, the tower and matching monitor are very sleek looking; prettier than I was expecting. Everything runs fast on my new machine too. But you knew this entry was going to focus on the things I don’t like, right? Of course you did. This is in no particular order, just some annoyances I’ll either get used to eventually or rectify in some manner as I learn more about my new machine and Windows Vista in particular.

1) The CD-DVD RW drive isn’t really designed to be used vertically because I think Dell assumes people are going to set it up horizontally. I personally don’t like turning it on its side and putting the monitor on top because I don’t like looking up at my monitor. I keep mine low; probably lower than most, but that’s the way I like it.

2) The monitor height is not adjustable. I did know this beforehand, however, but figured I could manage. What’s more annoying to me is because the monitor is wide-screen, I lose vertical desktop space. Perhaps this is something that requires getting used to, but I find no reason for extra width since browsing typically requires vertical movement. I’m very tempted to go back to using my old LCD monitor which I love. It doesn’t match the tower, though, and I’m big on aesthetics, so I will have to think about it some more first since the tower is now on my desk in the back corner.

3) The fonts Vista uses are taking me time to adjust to. They don’t look as sharp as on my old machine even though I am running at the monitor’s native resolution and have tweaked all I can find to tweak. This is particularly noticeable in Firefox in the tab I’m currently working in because when the text is bold I see a purplish fringe around the letters unless I view them straight on by adjusting my position or the monitor angle. I know I’m super sensitive to stuff like this since many people, including my husband, don’t notice what I’m talking about. It still bugs the crap out of me, however.

4) I can’t use my Logitec wireless mouse and keyboard because the one connection is PS2 and my PC only accepts USB connections. Until I buy an adapter I’m forced to use the included keyboard and mouse which are very basic.

5) Windows Vista assumes you’ve never seen, let alone used, a computer before so they hide basic settings that most savvy users like to tweak. I had to visit forums and help sites just to figure out how to change some things I had no problem locating in Windows XP. I mean who needs their icons to take up so much space on their desktop? I am not blind for christ sakes. If I’m running in a super high resolution don’t keep my icons huge. That’s just retarded.

That all being said, I am really enjoying the speed of my new machine. Programs load quickly, as do websites. I can only imagine how much more awesome it’s going to be this weekend when I quadruple the RAM. And can I just say how sweet USB 2.0 is? Many of you have been enjoying its benefits for a long time but I was stuck in USB 1.0 land even though technically my old computer supported 2.0. I could just never get it to work. Transferring files to and from my iPod isn’t painful anymore.

Also, my computer came with Yahoo! Jukebox which rips CDs in the exact manner I want to. I couldn’t get iTunes or Winamp to extract songs in the format or file name I prefer but Yahoo! does it quickly and easily. Now I don’t have to download and install MusicMatch (my previous cd ripper of choice). Oh and it recognizes my iPod which for some reason Windows Media Player does not. I thought maybe on the new machine it would detect it, but nope. It tells me to connect a portable device even when it’s already connected.