short takes

[cellio]

As we go through the process of digitizing our non-digital music and ripping the CDs, both Dani and I have had multiple instances of iTunes crapping out on us in various ways. Usually the failure mode is that it takes over all the CPU, won't respond, and forces a reboot. Or it'll just decide to stop paying attention to the CD drive and not acknowledge the disc I just put in. Is this iTunes' doing, or Windows'?

Anyway, yesterday we ripped about 100 folk CDs. Progress. I've been going through tape-recorded Clam Chowder concerts. I hope to one day identify the source of the five stray tracks at the end of another concert tape -- a tape I had actually catalogued at the time, but I didn't record those additions. Hmm.

Links:

One Velociraptor Per Child, from jducoeur. I hope they're offering a buy-one-get-one program; Dani really wants his own velociraptor.

From shalmestere: dressage... with a camel (video). I didn't know they could do that.

From siderea: feline cavalry (video).

kyleri passed on this twist on animal rescue.

From a locked post: curry can stave off Alzheimers?. If so, I'm even happier that Sree's is now selling Indian food across the street from my office.

Comments

[byronhaverford.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty confident that you can blame iTunes. I am led to believe (by Mac users) that iTunes is really a rockin' piece of software when it runs on a Mac. But even Apple fanatics have to agree that it doesn't work right in Windows.

I've started using Windows Media. Is it an excellent program? Goodness, no. Does it cheat by having illicit knowledge of the inner workings of the OS? Yup! I find the interface annoyances to be different, but of similar severity, when compared to iTunes. The reliability of WindowsMedia is substantially higher.

Years ago, I used Roxio software, and I liked it, but it is no longer available to me for free. I cannot vouch for recent versions, but it might be worth purchasing, given the large scale of your operation.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tips. We are a blended family -- Windows and Mac -- so want to have a common platform. We just defaulted to iTunes without doing any research, but you're probably right that there are better options.

On the other hand, the Mac ratio is likely to go up, so over time this will be less of a problem. The Unix base was necesssary; it looks like Vista-avoidance will be sufficient. (Dani's made that decision already; I'm going to watch and probably follow with my next machine.)