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<strong>Big</strong> <strong>Blue</strong> & <strong>Cousins</strong><br />
that I could view on a TV set. And such tapes can be distributed.<br />
Can I cut such a tape to a CD?” I found that indeed I could,<br />
even in a situation where I could not burn the same program<br />
when it had been recorded on the MC PC directly.<br />
The instructions provided for hooking up a VCR to an<br />
MC PC are unnecessarily complex <strong>and</strong> the various cables<br />
that are provided are not nec-<br />
essary. All one has to do, is to<br />
plug the RCA cable running<br />
from video-out on one’s VCR,<br />
into the video-in port of the<br />
MC PC. The original TV set<br />
doesn’t have to be turned on,<br />
<strong>and</strong> no connections to it is<br />
necessary because one doesn’t<br />
need to view two TV sets<br />
simultaneously when transferring<br />
a VHS tape. In effect, the PC becomes the replacement<br />
TV set where one can watch the VHS tape playing as it<br />
records. One can even do other work on the PC if so desired.<br />
Indeed, as it is possible to simultaneously plug the co-axial<br />
cable that had been running to the old TV set to the antenna<br />
port on the PC (which is not the same as the video-in port),<br />
a future experiment will be to see if I can watch the VHS<br />
transfer in one window <strong>and</strong> a live TV program in another.<br />
Burning vinyl LP music records to CD<br />
It is the portability of the notebook that seems to be the<br />
leading factor here. I have a magnificent six-foot long stereo<br />
cabinet of ancient 1960s vintage with a (then) high-end Kenwood<br />
200 watt amplifier, <strong>and</strong> a top-quality (even for today)<br />
built-in turntable with a Schure magnetic cartridge in mint<br />
condition. Previously, because of the location, massive size<br />
of the stereo ensemble <strong>and</strong> non-portability of the turntable,<br />
I was not prepared to run connecting wires through several<br />
rooms in my house, in order to hook up with my desktop<br />
PC. Now, I once again ignore the complex directions provided<br />
by the MC PC documentation <strong>and</strong> simply connect<br />
the headphone jack from the stereo ensemble to the line-in<br />
port on the notebook using a st<strong>and</strong>ard, RCA stereo cable,<br />
with a jack converter at the notebook end. A sufficiently<br />
lengthy cable with gold-plated connectors can be had for about<br />
$15.00 at most electronic supply shops. One then runs the<br />
software — Roxio, Nero or whatever (according to the file<br />
formats) <strong>and</strong> makes the recording firstly to the PC’s hard drive<br />
(preferably), <strong>and</strong> then burns to CD. Pops, scratches, hisses<br />
<strong>and</strong> other noises can be removed by the software. In my view<br />
the outst<strong>and</strong>ing digital audio editing program is Audacity.<br />
This is an absolutely free, open-source program which does<br />
not throw popup ads in one’s face. I downloaded my copy<br />
from audacity/sourceforge.net/. If this link is no longer active,<br />
go to Google using the search terms: audacity, digital audio,<br />
software <strong>and</strong> you are likely to find other sites that have free<br />
archival copies of the program.<br />
www.bbc.org<br />
“In my view the outst<strong>and</strong>ing digital<br />
audio editing program is Audacity.<br />
This is an absolutely free, open-source<br />
program which does not throw popup<br />
ads in one’s face. ”<br />
<strong>Oct</strong>ober 2004<br />
Non-support for removable hard drives.<br />
The Toshiba MCE PC that I used would neither read<br />
from, nor write to, removable hard drives. I found this to be<br />
an inconvenience for general computing. When an earlier<br />
desktop PC bit the dust, wanting to save all my old data, I<br />
removed <strong>and</strong> enclosed its hard-drive into a case that could<br />
be plugged into a new PC via<br />
a USB 2 cable. This removable,<br />
portable hard drive can<br />
be connected to virtually any<br />
PC sprouting an unused USB<br />
port. However, the notebook<br />
PC I used would not accept<br />
it <strong>and</strong> this fact is stated in<br />
the documentation. I suspect<br />
that a major reason may lie in<br />
Microsoft MCE’s inability to<br />
‘control <strong>and</strong> monitor’ such devices. Toshiba seems to regard it<br />
as a ‘security’ issue.<br />
Non-support for certain Norton products<br />
Current MC PCs often have hyper-threaded processors,<br />
which Norton’s software interprets as multi-processors. Norton’s<br />
documentation gives a list of products that will not work<br />
with multi-processors. Norton Anti-Virus, for example, only<br />
partially worked on the Toshiba.<br />
In summary<br />
I tend to regard a multimedia PC loaded with WinXP<br />
MCE more as a superior communications <strong>and</strong> educational<br />
tool, than as an entertainment device or ‘happiness machine’.<br />
Hence I have not tested all of its entertainment possibilities,<br />
nor do I anticipate doing so. I have not even begun to exhaust<br />
all the possibilities of interest to me; but so far I have found<br />
the MCE — multimedia PC combination more than adequate<br />
for all the things that I like to do. I have recently moved<br />
into digital photography <strong>and</strong> anticipate doing considerable<br />
experimentation in that area. In that regard I expect that the<br />
software that I use, <strong>and</strong> my skill at using it, will be of far<br />
greater import than the operating system used.<br />
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