The computer I initially installed iTunes on and do my iTMS purchases on, etc. (the other computers that I had authorized were my two laptops…work and personal). Suddenly came up up saying the computer wasn’t authorized, and removed my purchased content from my iPod.

I’ve been having BSOD’s now and then with the machine, and I’ve suspected the cheap firewire card I found in my sock drawer was the culprit. But, then after about half a dozen BSOD’s last night….I decided to try mucking with the drivers and hardware (the error reporting was suggesting that all the BSOD’s were due to my video card….so I grabbed the latest drivers and firmware updates….but that made no difference, of all the new drivers…the video was the one that was considered still current….)

Then I remembered that I recently connected a DVD-slot loading firewire drive to my machine in attempt to make CD ripping easier. So I took the drive off of my system, and so far no more BSOD’s.

All the other hardware is still in my machine (I probably won’t get around to buying a new firewire card until after the holidays….I also need another harddrive, because I only had 25G free on my data partition…and my iTunes folder has now reached that mark.)

I emailed Apple about the problem…and the response email is that they deauthorized all my computers, and that to them this was a special situation….so no explanation why it happened or how to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

The DVD slot loading drive? Well, the slot mechanism takes considerable force to get it to accept a disc….and the little rubber feet on the firewire enclosure do not offer sufficent resistance to prevent the whole thing from getting pushed off my desk instead. I guess I didn’t consider this, because my previous DVD slot loading drive was mounted in my old computer….and the main reason I liked it, was because the mini PC has the drive bay in the vertical orientation. Makes it really hard to put CDs into the tray (which was the case with the CD burner I had on that system).

Though I don’t like using my DVD burner as the drive for ripping my CDs….don’t want to wear it out….and I have worn out CDROM drives before. I suppose I could get a USB 2.0 enclosure for the slotloading drive…except that the rubber feet resistance problem is likely to still be there. I do have a SCSI CDROM (tray) drive somewhere…so I guess that’s what I’ll probably do.

My other hardware project is probably to get some more IDE harddrives and play around with RTVpatch…..:cool:

The Dreamer.

A combination of factors….first I had it hooked to my laptop this morning (4-pin firewire)….wanted to test it at least once before I go on holidays later this month.

Then I went into work early and stayed late. Then I was listening to a track…and there was a loud crack at the end…and later it just hung…..it reset later when I plugged it in.

Meanwhile, I got my new case….iSkin Exo2…..Arctic.

Kind of nice…clear enough so I can read the engraving on the back of my iPod now…but it covers up where I put the StuffBak sticker. It is really hard to get the front in without getting finger prints or trapping dust.

And, the iSkin logo is distracting….

Then I tried it with my accessories. I can’t dock it…I kind of knew the iPod one wouldn’t work, but I couldn’t get it work with SpeckProducts one either….though I suppose if I cut off the dock cover flap…it would work. Though I wasn’t ready to make modifications to a brand new case just yet.

I then got my Belkin battery pack. It makes contact, but the pack is still designed to be flush on the back of an iPod so there isn’t much flexibility on using it with the iPod otherwise. Well, I suppose if I left off the belt clip…it would work….except I want the belt clip, because I use that to carry it around.

Actually I carry in my pocket, but use the clip to hold it to the pocket to give that safety that it won’t fall out if I bend over….like my PalmIII used to do back when I carried that in my shirt pocket (it was because of this problem that led me to getting a holster….my first holster was for a Newton MP130….the current e-holster is my 3rd…)

Anyways…next was to see if iTrip would work….no, it doesn’t. But it worked with the FlipStand (well, I opened the top so that it get full access to the top….)

So I guess I’m going back to using the FlipStand. Wonder if there’s enough time to take a chance on one of the other battery pack offerings I’ve seen on eBay.

I discovered that the plug on the Belkin pack is kind of…disappointing. First it is wider than the Apple dock plugs, so that one reason it didn’t work with the FlipStand…the other is it is a 90 degree plug that goes to the back…and the Flip part would prevent me from having it behind the iPod….

But, it is also non-locking….which causes a problem with the iSkin..in that I have to compress the case material to make it connect, and then the case material pushes back and it loses contact.

And, since my battery is dead (except for a 30 second charge so that I could play around)….

The answer might be no case…except I need a belt clip…..wonder if anybody makes a clip that works like a cellphone holster…..

The Dreamer

Among them, was my iTrip and my Belkin Battery Pack.

Played around quickly with the iTrip….and that’s enough of that. Guess I’ll be looking for my CD thing (the one that holds CDs, a CD player and has a pair of flat panel speakers built into it.)

After getting it to work with iTunes and into my iPod….and getting it to change channel. I found the range to be quite a disappointment. And, so was the sound level. I had to crank the iPod to full to hear it on the radio without adjust the volume on there. So much for hijacking a car stereo from the backseat

Don’t know when I’ll get to trying out the battery pack…..first problem….it isn’t compatible with the Flipstand. The dock plug is bigger than the apple dock plug….and bigger than the opening in the bottom of the flipstand. And, have to flip it open to get at the dock connector….but then can’t hold the battery pack behind the iPod….and there isn’t enough to the cord to do much else with it.

Don’t know if I’ll be in the market for a new case, or whether the battery pack will just go onto some shelf.

The Dreamer.

Oh yeah…so far battery life is actually acceptable….the battery guage goes all the way to the bottom…but it still runs for a few hours. Though it could just be new…

Hopefully the metal….because that’s where I see scratches already.

A few minor ones on the back…and some bad ones around the headphone jack. I suppose I should’ve taken the iPod out of the case before making the opening bigger….

The Dreamer

As far as earphones go, you can NOT go wrong with these B&O’s:
http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sw1612.asp

I love mine! VERY comfortable, and I wear glasses.

Though I already modded the case today…..went to plug in my headphones, but couldn’t because the opening in the case isn’t big enough and the thickness is too much.

It’ll probably be a process of experimentation to figure out how it will fit into they way I use it.

I think the iTrip will probably get shelved after the holidays….it is the kind of toy that I want to have to show it off, but after that it will be of little use to me.

What I do need for sure is another firewire cable for it….since I picked up another charger…and need something to link it to the iPod. It will mainly be so I can charge the unit at work. I expect running the battery down during the day will be a big problem for me. Since, I already have this problem with my old MP3 player….where I get about 10 hours from a charge.

Of course, I’m sure I’ll buy tons of other stuff I’ll only use once before I’m done.

I didn’t bother to open the white headphones that come with it….I never liked the ear buds….only because one of my ears is bigger than the other….or something, because it fits fine on one side and won’t stay in on the other side.

But, I haven’t really found a pair of headphones that I like…..I thought switching to contacts would help….except that I need to wear readers when I’m at the computer…..which is where I need tunes…with headphones, etc. And, I spend a lot of time infront of the computer in my life.

Contacts are only nice when I’ve got my head pressed up against the back of a camera…..which is my other passion. Well, that and contending with winter. Though at the old office….I had the problem whenever I came out of the computer room on hot and humid days.

The Dreamer.

A box in my basement contains an FM transmitter, multiple carrying cases, the iPod remote, and the original headphones. Your mileage may vary, but I stopped worrying about scratches after a year, the transmitter bugged me after a few months, the remote lasted maybe a month, and the original headphones lasted about a year — and I only kept them that long because it was like a status symbol to wear white earbuds.

I wonder if the inmotion speakers would work with my iPod in the FlipStand.

The Dreamer.

Which reminds me…I was thinking about getting a 1GB CF card, though I might not bother with dragging my camera along on holidays this year….

Only problem was that next year was supposed to be for a new compact digital camera (I’m leaning towards PowerShot S50 rather than the smaller S400)….and not until at least the year after that before I get a(nother) big digital camera.

The main trade off I’m seeing between the Sony and the Minolta is the Minolta has anti-shake while the Sony has AF assist which means I would expect it to better focus in low light (which would’ve come in handy while trying to take pictures of my iPod).

The Dreamer

Now I’m torn between buying some $300 in accessories for my iPod or drooling over my next digital camera….I’m thinking Minolta DiMAGE A1…..largely because my hand tremor interfers with my photography interest….

And, it was really hard shooting the iPod pictures using available indoor lighting.

Though actually using the iPod…hmm, maybe I’ll start using it next month :rolleyes:

The Dreamer

Oh yeah…the belt clip obscures the engraving

Today the final part for connecting a slot loading drive to my PC to aid in ripping CDs into iTunes arrived.

Only problem…is that I finished ripping my CD collection last night….6700 songs/24GB worth. (well at least all of my collection that I would want to listen to).

Though I have a stack of new CDs that I got recently (had to use up my cdnow.com PBC credits before the site closed….since the accounts weren’t going to be preserved when Amazon.com takes over).

My Amazon.com wishlist has tripled now that I have music CDs in it now….though there were a lot of CDs in my cdnow.com wishlist that aren’t available through Amazon.com.

I don’t know if I’ll bother setting up the drive. It is a 10x Pioneer slotloading DVD-ROM drive (from my old PC, I’m putting a CDROM drive in its place…..since I was going to turn it into a Linux box at first…though I might stay with W2K, because it is easier to run DVArchive as Windows Administrator than having to be root to run DVArchive…..plus the X software doesn’t support my built in video and there’s no AGP slot in the machine). I had picked up a firewire external enclosure.

Perhaps I’ll buy a bunch of 120GB harddrives to do drive upgrades on my 5040s and use the firewire enclosure to support that.

I haven’t decided which is better yet…paying Amazon.com 9.99 for the CD or getting most of the album through iTMS for 9.99. I guess I still prefer physical CDs, even though I need to get a new CD stand/shelf. My two 500 CD units fell over a while back. They kind of leaning forward after the move….so it was only a matter of time.

Kind of like the shelf that used to hold all my electronics next to the TV….it was leaning to the right (away from the wall). I replaced that before it got any worse. Next is to replace the wood cart my TV is on with a similar stand (even though I probably won’t be getting a 300lb TV to replace my old TV now).

Oh, I also got it before I added 4 ReplayTVs to my setup…..like new furniture suddenly gives me more room to add toys :wow:

Since the recent furniture addition was another shelf in my computer room, I guess that means more computer stuff is next…..

The Dreamer.

Didn’t realize that QuickTime needed to be configured…..

Now that iTunes isn’t using DirectSound and Sound Check is off..the audio output matches the output of my normal tunes player.

Though Sound Check still lowers my normal songs in volume…though it is useful for boosting the volume of the quiet stuff like Classical.

But, at least now there is range in the volume slider in iTunes so I can tweak the volume up and down.

Before…I had it maxed and still quiet compared to the other (WAV) sounds on my computer….

The Dreamer

Actually, I tried quickly over lunch….except the flash and the shiny back of an iPod don’t get along very well

Meanwhile…I’m still ripping my CD collection into 128k AAC files. I’m at about 22GB and 7000 songs (remembering that a 20G harddrive only holds about 18.6GB….) I have definitely passed the point where I was at with my old MP3 player.

Strange coming across stuff I had forgotten that I owned…because I didn’t have room for it before. Eventually I’ll get to the stack of new CDs that I want to add….

Found something weird last night…..the audio from iTunes was consistently lower than all the other sounds on my computers…which was annoying. If I crank the volume to get an acceptable level out of iTunes, the other computer sounds would be too loud. Don’t really need the whole world hearing “You’ve Got Mail” being announced, just because I’m straining to hear my tunes….

Though the sound was fine on my iPod.

Well, the answer was turn off Sound Check. Down side is the it doesn’t boost the volume of the quiet stuff in my collection. Wonder how I would find what it thinks is normal volume for my tunes. Most of the stuff I peeked at it was adjusting to -6 to -4 db….though some classical pieces it wanted as much as +12 db.

Now I wonder how things will sound when I play them back on my iPod….

So far I haven’t really used my iPod much yet….it hasn’t left home yet. But, barring any major distractions, I should have the rest of my collection ripped this weekend. Though as I was going through…I couldn’t help checking to see if there was anything new that I wanted to add to my collection. And, then there’s the…should I use iTMS or buy the CDs…..I do have a huge accumulation of ‘points’ in my BMG music club…..which could result in many CDs of tunes for much less than 99 cents per track

The only thing I’m looking at right now is getting another firewire cable (the dual lead cable doesn’t fit very well in the Speck Flipstand base, and I wanted one for my laptop bag for charging when I travel)….and an iTrip….except that I don’t know if anybody can get me one before Xmas….

The Dreamer

I had a song list already picked out and had registered at their Music Store. Good thing I checked before laying out the cash!:o

You can’t play purchased songs on devices like the T|T or other typical MP3 players. That’s because they are AAC format files and not MP3s. There is a way around this limitation though… You can burn an audio CD using iTunes, and then rip that CD into MP3 files Sneaky sneaky

I assumed that since you could also do MP3, the file could just be moved to a non-iPod player. However, their agreement states they can be used on a PC, Mac, or iPod.

Anyone tried using an iTunes purchase on anything other than an iPod or desktop computer? :confused:

Actually, what I’d be curious is whether it has enough power to overpower a local station (in a car…) Or if it is capable of working one off from the frequency. So that I won’t have to mess with somebody else’s presets Yeah…that’s the reason

The Dreamer

Regarding cases, I still like my Vaja I-Volution best.

Flipstand info….hmmm…. how about:

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/speckproducts-ipodflipstand-review.html

Except that it has been updated for all newer iPods…and it is clear.

http://store.yahoo.com/speckproducts/newflipstand.html

Now I just need to figure out how I want to carry it around with me…..this is probably the only reason I might consider a PDA/phone combo device…..

Right now I take the risk and leave my Jukebox in my cubicle, and so far it hasn’t disappeared. Though I’m not sure I’d want to do the same with an iPod. Last year a digital camera vanished from my cubicle.

The Dreamer

I recently received the iTrip FM transmitter from Griffin Technologies to review. I’d like to get some type of dock for my vehicle too…

I’d like to hear more about the Flipstand. Do you have a link?