Where PC means Personal Care® · March 2005 · No. 51
Bill's Latest Find
by Bill Hibler
Despite what people believe, I'm often behind the technology curve. I can be slow and resistant to change and sometimes I just don't understand what all the fuss is about.
For a long time I've heard about people getting a computer for a music server, and I had this vision of some big elaborate system that was a whole lot more complicated than I wanted to mess around with. I now have a music server – and it is just my old computer. But what's neat is the "thing" I got that allows me to play the music through my home stereo system – even though the computer and the stereo are not in the same room!
I started by putting my CDs onto my computer. Well, this is about as easy as it could get. Windows Media Player (WMP) will "rip" CDs (as will I-Tunes or any software that comes with a CD burner.) "Rip" is a fancy word for copying the music of a CD to your hard drive. I set mine up so that any time I put a CD into the computer, it would automatically copy it to the hard drive. Over a few weeks, doing a few CDs a night, I copied the well-over-200 CDs that I owned – music from 60s and 70s rock to easy listening and progressive jazz and classical. I was delighted to note that with few exceptions, as the CD was being ripped, WMP automatically picked up the name of the album, the name of the artist, the individual song titles and even the genre of the album.
So now I had nearly 4,000 songs on my computer.
The speakers on my computer are very low-end – adequate sound, ok for most things but not particularly great for music. On the other hand, I have this nice 6-channel surround-sound system for my stereo and television. At Christmas time we brought into the store two types of wireless media adapter. This is a little box that connects to a home stereo and television system and uses wireless communication to read music, pictures and video files from a computer's hard drive. There are a few companies that make these but the one from Linksys allows you to select what you want using a remote control from your television. And while I haven't done it yet, I can program the controls from this into the Harmony remote (featured in a story in our last newsletter) so that I can easily switch from watching TV or a movie to listening to any part of our music collection with one press of a button.
As exciting as this is, the installation didn't come without some pain! In the process I learned a lot about the way this device – the Wireless Media Adapter (pictured below) – works, and how it can work best on your system.
To make a very long story fairly short, when I first installed the WMA on the computer, even the set-up routine didn't work. My computer did not see any adapter to configure. With one telephone call to Linksys tech support (10 minutes on hold), I learned that if you don't already have an existing network in your home (I don't, I only have one computer), you have to connect this device to your computer with an Ethernet cable. Unfortunately, the kind of cable you need to directly connect this to your computer is different from the cable they provide in the box. You need what is called a "crossover cable" (which we sell in the store.) So, after a trip to the store and back, I had the Media Adapter configured and was ready to use it.
I connected it to my stereo and television, and excitedly waited for the screen to allow me to start playing the music – and it never came. All I saw was "Looking for host..."
Here's where I'm going to save you all of my pain. Many phone calls, many emails and about 12 hours of technical support later, I learned that Linksys really doesn't want to do this on a system that is not an existing network. In my case I have a standard Ethernet card in my computer that is connected to my DSL modem. I bought a separate wireless network adapter to work with the Wireless Media Adapter. The Media Adapter tends to see both network adapters (which confuses the heck out of it.) Consequently, in order to use it I must first disable the Ethernet adapter connected to my DSL modem. (Yes, it's a bother.) Lest you think this means the whole thing is more trouble than it's worth, the easy solution is to set up my home system as though I had more than one computer, and use a wireless router instead of a wireless network adapter. The cost is nearly the same. By the time this newsletter is printed I will have made that change!
The results – it is truly enjoyable to be able to create play lists of my favorite songs. I can make lists grouped by artists or by general music type, or select any number of CDs and exclude any songs I don't care for. I can then play them all through the six-channel surround-sound system that we have connected to our television and DVD player. Price of the adapter is approximately $150.00 and a wireless router is about $60.
| Want to record your music? Burn a CD? QUIDNUNC has everything you need! |
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Business By Referral
We have been very fortunate that many of you have sent us your friends and neighbors as new customers for their computer needs. You may not realize that we can also be a source of referrals for many other kinds of business. We have strong referral relationships with contractors, health care professionals, people in the financial and real estate business as well as many other types of home and business services (in addition to other computer-related businesses, of course.)
In this and following newsletters, I'm going to tell you about other businesses that we recommend that may or may not have a relationship to our computer business. This time I want to tell you about Angele Nelson of Creative Memories. Regardless of whether your photograph collection is printed on paper, or stored in a digital format on a CD or hard drive, Angele can help you organize and protect your most valuable and irreplaceable photographic treasures. You can contact Angele by telephone at 206-932-6606 or by email at creativeangele@yahoo.com. If you do, please tell her where you got her name!
You can also go to the "Friends and Customers" tab on our web site and click on "BNI" to see a complete list of our business partners.
Featured in this newsletter:
· Bill's Latest Find
· Business By Referral
· Computer Security...
· Income Tax
· No Apple in this MP3 Player!
· Faster Data Access...
· Personal Digital Assistant
Also:
Coupons
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Computer Security for Family or Office
For those who are security conscious, especially in large families or some office environments, you can now protect your computer access with your fingerprint. The Microsoft Fingerprint Reader can be used to access almost anything that requires a password. You can use this for your Windows login as well as web sites that require passwords. With fast user switching enabled in Windows XP, you can change users with a touch of your finger and not have to log off Windows.
This requires a 233 MHz or better processor (about an 8-year old computer), any version of Windows XP, 128MB of RM and a USB port. $49.99 at Quidnunc.
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Income Tax
If you paid more than $30 to have someone do your income tax, why don't you try an experiment? Get this year's edition of TurboTax or TaxCut. Apply it to last year's data. See how it does your taxes and just how close it is to your prepared tax return. You may be surprised at how easy the program is to use and how the results mirror (or beat!) what your paid preparer did. You may want to do it yourself and save some money.
(This version works for both Windows and Macintosh computers.)
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No Apple in this MP3 Player!
If you've thought about getting an MP3 player, but don't want to spend the heavy ticket price for an
iPod, then check out 
the Creative Labs ZEN series. It is the only one rated among the top 5 by C-Net that is not an Apple. The 5MB series carries 2,500 songs and starts at about $250 with most features comparable to the iPod. The Zen is also easier and less expensive to change the battery when it wears out.
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Faster Data Access for High Speed Business Networking
If your business needs to send large files between computers or run key applications across the network, Gigabit speed networks (1000 Megabits) are here, and available at a price not much more than the previous 100 Megabit networks. People in businesses running database applications (including point of sale systems) across their network will notice a dramatic increase in the speed of accessing their data files. A Gigabit network will require new network adapters, new switches and probably new cabling. The incremental cost of this new hardware is relatively minor. Many adapters are $30–$50 and 5-port switches are usually less than $80.
| Quidnunc: the friendliest computer, software & Internet store in Seattle |
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A Personal Digital Assistant
Complete with Reveille!
If you've ever been thinking about getting a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) but know you don't need a lot of fancy accessories such as digital photos and tape recorders, Palm makes two models with the basic functions of a calendar for appointments, a contact list that will synchronize with your computer and the ability to track business expenses, to-do lists and other notes.
The two models that will fit most people's budgets are the Zire 21 and Zire 31. The 21 is $100 with a black and white screen and 8 MB of memory. The Zire 31 has 16 MB of memory and a color screen. It sells for around $160 and includes an expansion slot for additional memory. Both synchronize to your computer through a USB connection.
Bill recently bought the 31 because he's been having trouble keeping track of appointments in an increasingly busy schedule and he needed something he could carry around with him that would BEEP at him and remind him. (You can select your alarm-of-choice. One option plays Reveille – the WHOLE thing!)
| Custom-built Computers! Games! Productivity! Utilities! Modems! CD-ROM! |
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Save Quidnunc postage and trees!
Get this newsletter by email and prevent at least one postal worker (and maybe Bill) from developing a bad back. To subscribe, send us an email — we currently distribute nearly 2,000 of these newsletters electronically.
We will recycle old computers, printers and monitors for a nominal fee of $15/computer or monitor, and $5/printer.
Remember to bring in empty ink jet and laser toner cartridges. Keep them out of the landfills!
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