The Obligatory
"Play safe. Ski only in clockwise direction. Let's all have fun together."
Sunday, March 12, 2006
New Computer!
So one of the other reasons I haven't posted much recently (although I seem to be making up for it today), is that I picked myself up a new computer.
Yes, the old Dell Pentium 4 bought in the innocent summer of 2001 and gradually updated through 2005 is now out to pasture. It was getting slower, I was starting to run into hardware issues with new programs and applications, and I was still kind of pissed that I'd never REALLY been able to play SimCity 4 properly on it.
And so, after much internal debate (which accompanies any decision I make), I chose to buy parts and have some of the ol' work buddies help me properly assemble them to a powerhouse rig. Or at the very least, whatever kind of powerhouse that could be assembled for a reasonable budget.
I did save some cash by keeping my old hard drive and DVD-ROM, and could have saved more by keeping my graphics card, but decided to splurge on a spiffy new NVIDIA GeForce instead.
It runs great, and looks nice, too. I got a windowed case with a bunch of crazy blue lights all over the place. Nothing too gaudy, but enough to make it look like a computer that means business.
I've had a few minor software issues migrating over. My MS-Office doesn't seem to want to cooperate, even though I have a legitimate CD-key. For now, though, Open Office is doing a bang-up job in its stead. The biggest pain in the ass, though - naturally - was iTunes.
Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod, and I think iTunes is a great music player, but in some cases it is unnecessarily crippled by DRM and copy control. I have all of my songs stored on an external USB hard drive, but couldn't get my playlists, ratings, and play records to migrate in. If I synched up my iPod, it would have erased all of this beloved information.
So, to try to get the iTunes to recognize music that I legally owned from my iPod, I had to get a third-party program called CopyPod, which, when working properly, would solve all my problems.
Long story short, it didn't work properly, and I ended up wiping my MP3s from both my iPod AND my hard drive. To their credit, the folks at CopyPod were quick to issue a refund, but still - pain in the ass. It's a good thing I'm a music format luddite, though. Since probably 95% of my iTunes music was imported directly from CDs, I'll be able to get most of it back. But it will be a time consuming and terrible process.
Two weeks and I'm about halfway through M.
I forgot what a pain in the ass it is to cart around stacks of CDs, too. We are spoiled, we of the digital age.
Good thing David Byrne has another kick ass playlist up this month, to keep me sane at work.
OK, enough of that. Time for "The Sopranos."
Yes, the old Dell Pentium 4 bought in the innocent summer of 2001 and gradually updated through 2005 is now out to pasture. It was getting slower, I was starting to run into hardware issues with new programs and applications, and I was still kind of pissed that I'd never REALLY been able to play SimCity 4 properly on it.
And so, after much internal debate (which accompanies any decision I make), I chose to buy parts and have some of the ol' work buddies help me properly assemble them to a powerhouse rig. Or at the very least, whatever kind of powerhouse that could be assembled for a reasonable budget.
I did save some cash by keeping my old hard drive and DVD-ROM, and could have saved more by keeping my graphics card, but decided to splurge on a spiffy new NVIDIA GeForce instead.
It runs great, and looks nice, too. I got a windowed case with a bunch of crazy blue lights all over the place. Nothing too gaudy, but enough to make it look like a computer that means business.
I've had a few minor software issues migrating over. My MS-Office doesn't seem to want to cooperate, even though I have a legitimate CD-key. For now, though, Open Office is doing a bang-up job in its stead. The biggest pain in the ass, though - naturally - was iTunes.
Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod, and I think iTunes is a great music player, but in some cases it is unnecessarily crippled by DRM and copy control. I have all of my songs stored on an external USB hard drive, but couldn't get my playlists, ratings, and play records to migrate in. If I synched up my iPod, it would have erased all of this beloved information.
So, to try to get the iTunes to recognize music that I legally owned from my iPod, I had to get a third-party program called CopyPod, which, when working properly, would solve all my problems.
Long story short, it didn't work properly, and I ended up wiping my MP3s from both my iPod AND my hard drive. To their credit, the folks at CopyPod were quick to issue a refund, but still - pain in the ass. It's a good thing I'm a music format luddite, though. Since probably 95% of my iTunes music was imported directly from CDs, I'll be able to get most of it back. But it will be a time consuming and terrible process.
Two weeks and I'm about halfway through M.
I forgot what a pain in the ass it is to cart around stacks of CDs, too. We are spoiled, we of the digital age.
Good thing David Byrne has another kick ass playlist up this month, to keep me sane at work.
OK, enough of that. Time for "The Sopranos."
that one guy you know, 8:43 PM
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1 Comments:
Wouldn't your computer be even more kick ass if there was a hamster in that windowed compartment? Please.
