A little over two years ago we were one of the lucky ones who sold our house on the east coast and moved to the desert southwest where we were one of the unlucky ones to pay nearly full-price for a new house.

In preparing for the move, I had to consider the weight of my dozens of LP records. They were dinosaurs, but I still couldn’t bear leaving all of those memories behind. I didn’t want to pay to transport them either. The solution I finally adopted was to convert the LPs to CD-format. This was a very time-consuming task as it was done in real time. I played the records on a turntable designed to be connected to a computer and used Audacity to record each side. I will spare the readers the gory details of this procedure as it was very labor intensive and it is not the focus of this article.

I packed up my CDs, some with two albums on them, and shipped them to our new home. They were like old friends when they were unpacked; ready for a party! That remedy was fine for a while, but now I wanted to digitize the music so I could move them to any one of a variety of music players. My car radio has a USB port, CD player (which plays MP3s, wavs or wmas) and an auxiliary port for an iPod or other music player. It was just begging for tunes. Using the CD player requires lowering the radio faceplate so this is a little less than convenient, although not too bad.

As a proponent of technology and sometimes resource for family and friends, I wanted to be part of the hip crowd (not if I keep using terms like that) and use an MP3/4 player. I decided to take the plunge and move my songs from all my CDs to the computer.

I purchased a 500 GB hard drive to dedicate to this endeavor. I had a secondary drive for backup purposes. With the new hard drive in place and iTunes installed, I began the process. I started with my many original CDs. They were a snap as the program would go out to the Internet, find the CD name, track title, artist and other information and copy the CD. This worked well and in no time at all my commercial CDs were part of my collection and dutifully filed away. NOTE- I configured iTunes to import CDs in MP3/4 format.

Now came the task of digitizing those CDs made from my LP collection. I tried to locate a program that would mimic the iTunes software and retrieve album/CD data once I entered the name and artist, but apparently there is none. iTunes didn’t want to have anything to do with naming these self-created CDs and would only list the tracks as Track 01, Track 02, etc.

Alas, I was forced to hand-enter all of the data myself once the tunes were moved from the CD to the iTunes collection with their generic “Tack #” name. I first attempted to use Songbird and although most of the reviews claimed that it was very intuitive, it was an enigma to me so I stuck with iTunes. This was definitely laborious, but I was able to uncover several tips and tricks that streamlined the task as much as possible and increased the efficiency with which I was able to move my CDs to iTunes with much of the correct data needed for the digital age.

Following is the procedure I developed and I hope that it will assist others who are caught in the same predicament. While I love the Macintosh, I am now between computers and I used my HP laptop for this project. I look forward to purchasing a new iMac as soon as the next change in architecture is released.

NOTE – Backup the collection at appropriate intervals to preserve the work that has been done up to that point!

IMPORTANT – This tutorial assumes the user knows how to use the basic functions in iTunes. You may have your iTunes software configured in a certain way which presents a slightly different look. For most people, these directions will work fine. If you have questions, feel free to contact me via the comment field for this post and I will try to provide appropriate advice and or feedback. I read every comment.

Let’s begin!

1. Insert your homemade CD and pull down the FILE menu and select Import Folder. Navigate to the CD you just inserted and highlight the CD and, if necessary, click OPEN. The tracks should begin to copy. If there are intervening dialog boxes, answer the questions as needed.

If you see a dialogue box that informs you that the song names could not be found in the database and it asks if you still want to copy the songs, click YES.

2. iTunes will copy the CD. You can monitor the progress if you like. Those that have a green check mark have successfully been copied. The song with the orange electronic waveform is the one being copied. Those without any demarcations have yet to be addressed by the software.






3. When iTunes is finished copying the “tracks”, you will be presented with a listing of all of your music. It may seem as though the tracks have disappeared because they are not visible at this point. This happens because the songs now have the generic name of “Track #” and they are alphabetized and probably out of sight. Enter the word track in the search box and use the pull-down menu to select NAME as the selection criterion




You should see the tracks that were copied and they should have names like Track 01, Track 02, etc.

4. We now want to enter all of the information that pertains to all of the tracks at once. Highlight all tracks for that particular album by clicking and dragging through them. With all of the tracks highlighted (they should be a darker color), select File –> Get Info. The following dialogue box should appear.
   

5. At a minimum, enter the name of the Artist (group or individual performer), the Album name (i.e. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) and genre.

6. Add any other information that would be common to all tracks such as Year or Disc Number. Once all the “common” information has been added, click OK.



You will notice that after a few moments, the program will enter the new information for each song as shown in the sample Andy Williams album below (no snickers please!).









7. Return to the search field and enter the name of the album title as it was entered in the Get Info box and then select sort by Album. You should see all of the tracks from the newly copied CD listed. The reason this step is necessary is that it keeps the album tracks together. Once the tracks are renamed, they would disappear from the window if this step is eliminated because the sort criterion was the name “track”.



8. Now that the information applicable for all tracks has been added, we need to enter the individual track information. Highlight the first track and select File–> Get Info.

   

   NOTE – This is different than before because we are only working on ONE track.

   

9. When the window opens, click on the Info tab if it is not the active tab (see picture below). You should see all the information previously entered.






10. Enter the name of the first track so it replaces “Track 01”.

NOTE – After each track title is entered, check the information to make sure it is correct. This will save time as you will not have to go back and re-edit certain fields.

11. Once the information for that particular track has been added, click the Next button at the bottom of the window. NOTE – the Next button can be sensitive and may skip a track. ALWAYS check the track number before adding the information for the next song to make sure the information and track # are synchronized. Making an error by entering the wrong track name can be quite a time-consuming nuisance to correct.

12. Once the NEXT button at the bottom of the window has been clicked, the information for the next track (Track 02, etc.), will be visible. Enter the title of the song in the Name field. Repeat steps 11 and 12 until all track information has been added.



13. When you are at the last track, there will be no NEXT to click since you are at the end. At that point, Click OK. When this step is finished and the dialogue box closes, the order of the tracks may now change because they may be alphabetized. If that happens, click the Track column heading so the tracks re-sort by track number. This will help keep the songs in the proper order.

14. Once all the track names have been entered, conduct one final check of the track names by comparing them carefully against the information you have written down for the CD. If you notice an error, highlight the track and select File –> Get Info and correct any errors. NOTE – At this point, I played a small bit of each track just to make certain the song was appropriately named. Performing this double-check now will prevent a much longer corrective process at a later date.

Repeat this process for as many CDs as you would like to convert. Remember to backup your files once you stop for the day.

Look up the album on the web and find a site with track listings. This can generally be accomplished in multiple search engines by entering the album name followed by the phrase “track list”. Another method that can be used is to enter the artist name followed by the word “discography” which should produce a listing of all the albums. Locate the album that matches the CD. After locating the CD information, begin with step 4 above.

Good luck to those who use this technique and be sure to let me know how this has helped. Also include any hints you might have to streamline this process.

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

Movie tickets are getting more expensive each year and there are few things worse than being hyped into seeing a film that is a real stinker! Nowadays bringing the entire family to the movies is quite an investment. That is why I try to hedge my bets (to the best of my ability) to see only those films that I think will be the most entertaining and worthwhile. Please understand this is a personal choice, but I think the following procedure will allow anyone to pick the movies most likely suited to their film viewing preferences.

Here is the procedure I follow on a weekly basis to try to ensure wise entertainment expenditures:

Coming Soon

The first essential is to determine what movies are being released for the targeted time-frame. It is very easy for a hidden gem to fly in under the radar, spend a month at the artsy theater and then disappear without a trace and thus the chance to see an interesting movie is gone with the wind.

The site I use is ComingSoon.net [ http://www.comingsoon.net/movies.php ] which lists new releases by month. Click on the month and then find a date to see what new movie releases are scheduled. Keeping that tab open in my browser, I open two movie review sites so all three tabs are available simultaneously.

The Review Is the Thing

Rotten Tomatoes (RT) [ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/ ] is one of my favorite movie review sites because I have found that there is a high degree of correlation between what they like and what I like. This correlation is a very important factor when trying to rule out movie bombs. Rotten Tomatoes is hard to please and I want a critical opinion before I put down my cash.

Once at the Rotten Tomatoes site (Make sure the RT radio button to the left which is generally the default is selected), I enter the name of the film in the search bar at the top and hit ENTER. The computer grinds away and presents a new “Search Results” page. I scroll down to the section that is for movies and find the title. There should be a year of release on the right side of the title. This is important because there are numerous remakes or duplicity of titles. Once I find the correct film, I click on the link. Once again, the browser grinds away.

After a moment or two the detail page for that particular film will be presented. Across the top will be the TOMATOEMETER with a percentage number to the left. You can read how to interpret that number here:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/help_desk/faq.php#tomatometer

Generally speaking, if the movie gets a fresh rating (positive) of 60% or higher, there will be a red tomato (or a Certified Fresh symbol – highest ranking) next to it. That means overall, this movie was well received. Anything less than that and it will receive a green tomato splat (negative). If it is close, you can decide by reading the reviews and synopsis whether or not you would still like to see the film. Across the top of the Tomatometer are several tabs which will let you view the ratings by RT Critic opinions, Movie Critics (Professionals), RT Community (supplies quick reviews of people who use the site), My Critics (Critics you select based on those that match your opinions) and My Friends (Friends you enlist who have to register, etc.). Frankly, I don’t use the last two tabs. I am more interested in a quick review, but I can see the value of the My Critics section.

After perusing the RT site, I visit the Metacritic.com website [ http://www.metacritic.com/film/ ] for additional opinions. If you arrive at their home page, select the “Movie Reviews” option to see the movies. Here is how they rate their movies as quoted from their site:

“METASCORES range from 0-100, with higher scores indicating better overall reviews, and lower scores indicating less favorable reviews from critics. Various ranges of METASCORES are also identified by different colors, so you can tell at a glance how critics felt: generally, green scores indicate favorable reviews, yellow scores denote mixed reviews, and red scores are used for unfavorable reviews.”

There are multiple lists on the main movie page. Along the left-hand side, toward the top, are those movies that are in wide circulation presented in alphabetical order. Below that is a list of movies that have been released on a limited basis. Check both lists for the title you are reviewing. On the other side of the page are the specialty lists of best pictures, etc.

I particularly like the color-coding, which makes it easy to see those films that are better (green) than others. This is truly a “drive by” review and I use it to basically corroborate the impression I receive from the RT site. If the film gets good reviews from both sites, I generally give it a greater weight and would be more inclined to pay to see it in a theater. If one site likes it much better than the other, I may rent the film to watch at home. If neither site rates the movie high, I would have to really like the plot or genre before considering it. I don’t allow these sites to make my selections for me, but they certainly do help.

Netflix to the Rescue

If I decide I want to watch a movie, I enter it into my Netflix que so I don’t forget about it. It is very easy to have a movie “escape” so this keeps it on my list until I watch it or remove it based on further consideration. If you don’t have a Netflix account, I recommend trying their service. I have been a member for a number of years and have been more than satisfied with their programs and the flexibility they offer. In addition, it is a handy way of keeping track of potential future movie viewings.

HINT: During football or vacation season, I reduce my membership or put it on hold for several months. This is a nice no-fuss option offered at Netflix.

Hopefully, using these techniques, you will waste less money and time and avoid most of the “stinkers” while maximizing your viewing pleasure. Good luck and happy movie going!

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

How to Play the Game

Here is how the game might work. All you need is a computer with a browser and an Internet connection:

Divide the group into teams of two, three or four people depending on how many people are to be included and the composition of the guest list.

• Navigate to The Ethicist website – http://topics.nytimes.com/top/features/magazine/columns/the_ethicist/index.html
• Note the different episodes/problems presented in date order.
• Click on the title of the first problem.
• Scroll down until you see the podcast box on the left-hand side of the page.
• Click the link for “listen to the Podcast” (mp3)
• The podcast should begin to play in whatever application you have established as your podcast player, i.e. iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc.

Once the problem is completely explained, and before the answer is given (right after the name of the person and location are given), stop the podcast from playing.

Every team should record the following information on a sheet of paper:*

• Is it ethical to do what the query suggests (Yes or No)? Alternatively, what is the ethical action that should have been taken?
• Upon what basis is the above answer given?
• Are there any other considerations?
• Update (this is not always provided, but if it is, can be included) – What do you think the person submitting the query did?

Then play the end of the podcast and score the above answers as follows:

1 point – If the yes or no answer is correct/if the action offered is what is suggested
2 points – if the basis is the same as the Ethicist
1 point – for every consideration mentioned or substantially mentioned in the podcast*
1 point – for guessing the update; if given

* If you know ahead of time that this exercise will take place, printing forms would make this easier, but it is not necessary
** In the event of a dispute, the entire group shall decide if an answer is point-worthy

Each podcast has several quandaries. The game is over after four podcasts and the team that is ahead on points wins. If the game goes over well, play another round of four podcasts. If two teams are tied, continue playing until the tie is broken; “sudden death!” Of course you could also declare the game over when the first team reaches 15; there are no set rules. See what works for you and your guests. We have played games similar to this with groups of adults and have enjoyed them.

Podcast site:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/features/magazine/columns/the_ethicist/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=the%20ethicist&st=cse

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Why are talk shows so popular? Phil Donahue had quite a run. Oprah and Dr. Phil have likely amassed an even greater audience. One of the draws of this type of show involves the audience in the “what if” scenario. Would I share my lottery millions with ne’er do well siblings? What if I found a large diamond ring on the pavement? Would I tell my best friend if I learned that her spouse was having an affair?

That is why I like to listen to Randy Cohen, the Ethicist. Mr. Cohen writes a column for the New York Times in which he discusses the ethics behind various situations readers send to him. Some of the time they are large issues and often they are less than earth shattering, but interesting nevertheless. These columns are also presented as podcasts for the listening public. There are generally two or three ethics problems posed on each of the podcasts.

To give you an idea, here is an example of a problem that was sent to the Ethicist and highlighted on his show or in his column August 3, 2008. I quote and paraphrase as follows:

“A student is taking a course at a major business program and the professor has assigned a group project that will account for a major part of the grade. One member of the group has taken an ‘egregious free ride’ and hasn’t pulled his own weight. The work has already been submitted so there wouldn’t be any direct benefit for the members of the group by telling the professor about this situation. Should the freeloader be ratted out?”

And the answer by Mr. Cohen – “Rat away, right away.” (in other words, tell the professor)

The reasoning behind the answer as explained on the podcast and once again I have taken the liberties of paraphrasing:

• This shouldn’t be done to punish the student, but rather to give the professor all the details about how the project was completed.
• The professor can respond to such problems only if he/she knows about them.
• The professor should have been apprised of this when the problem was first recognized and perhaps there were contingency plans for dealing with such an occurrence.

Update: The student’s behavior was not disclosed to the professor.

As you will note from the paraphrased transcript above, there are several parts to each podcast:

• The problem statement
• The Answer
• The reason for the answer
• Other considerations

When I was commuting two hours to and from work each day, I would save several episodes and listen to them in the car during part of the ride. This was my form of entertainment. These are often very interesting and challenging problems and I enjoyed listening to them to consider what my advice would be and how it would differ from that of Mr. Cohen. Of course, I am not an ethicist and I think that is the point. How do common folks like us differ from Mr. Cohen in their reasoning?

NOTE: Mr. Cohen is often quite humorous and clever with his retorts. I find his philosophizing (if that is a word) quite entertaining and I think you will too.

Even more intriguing than determining the correct answer is to determine the reasoning that Mr. Cohen will use to validate his answer. I often agree with the answer to the ethics question, but not necessarily to the reason behind the answer and some of the time, I don’t agree with the response at all. I always thought this had the potential to make an interesting intellectual parlor game if you have a group of friends who would enjoy such entertainment.

Click Here for The Ethicist Website

Click Here for the The Ethicist Game Part II

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Step 5 – Where to buy

This is a decision that I don’t take lightly. I consider the reputation of the reseller, their financial health (will they be there tomorrow should a problem arise), customer ratings and past experience.

I considered purchasing my radio at a car audio specialist even if it cost a little more. I figured they do this and only this for a living so they should be good at it. On the other hand, I read a couple of positive reviews of the Circuit City installation. I understand completely that this strongly depends on the individual store and their employee and that a good job at one of the chain stores doesn’t necessarily mean a good install at another. At the Crutchfield site I read about users who, without much prior experience, installed the radio themselves and although I am not that adventurous, I figured if others can install it themselves, CC should be able to get this right if they install radios on a routine basis. CC has also been publicizing their Firedog installations and considering the positive reviews, I decided to take a chance on the CC install. After all, this wasn’t major surgery. ( Although I did worry whether my windshield wipers and lights would still work after all was said and done.)

CC did the installation and they indicated that I could return the radio within 30 days if I wasn’t satisfied. This gave me an additional level of comfort although I wasn’t sure if there would be a hassle attached to that option if invoked. When offered the extended warranty, I declined because I wasn’t sure CC would be around over that time period. Additionally, I paid for the car radio with my Platinum American Express Card which extends the original manufacturers warranty. This is a security blanket that I have used in the past and thankfully have never had to call upon; at least up to this point.

While the installation was to take about an hour, it took more than twice that amount of time because the bracket used to install the radio didn’t hold it as snuggly as it should have and I persisted in having CC remedy this. The young man who did the installation worked diligently on it and finally improved the fit. It wasn’t perfect, but it was at the point where I thought it would work for me.

Step 6 – Immediate Problems

On the way home, I listened to a commercial CD that I brought with me. It sounded as good as my other radio which wasn’t a surprise. As soon as I got home, I recharged my MP3 player, a real simple Sansa 1GB m240. Once the batteries were charged and inserted, I ran to the car to play the songs. The radio seemed to be trying to read it, but stalled. I then took an older USB drive and loaded songs onto that. The same thing happened with the added insult indicating that there were no compatible files found.

The JVC manual for the radio is a bit obtuse. In other words, it does cover the functions of the radio, but it doesn’t explain them well and the directions are not intuitive. I really had to study some sections and experiment to figure out how to do certain things.

So it was back to the manual and back to the car. After trying several permutations of the directions, the same results continued. I quickly logged on to the JVC site, but couldn’t find any additional helpful information in the FAQs. I immediately sent an email to JVC highlighting the problem and explaining what I had tried that didn’t work. I also called the JVC support center. I spoke to a representative who disappointedly was of little help. He was very quick to say “Then you may have a defective unit.”

NOTE - I generally call and send an email when I have a problem with a new product. If the email gets answered, then I have a written response with potential directions related to the issue. If the email is not answered, I hopefully have derived some helpful information from the person on the call support line. To date I have not received a response to my email.

I turned to the back of the manual and in one of the troubleshooting areas there was a line that suggested appending all the audio files with the extension of their format, i.e. – .wma, .mp3 or .wav. I took this to heart and loaded a few songs on the devices with this modification. I was able to get one USB drive to work with the modified file names. I also noted that this was my newest USB thumb drive so I concluded that the thumb drive had to support the USB 2.0 protocol and was not backward compatible. I also reinitialized the MP3 player and just dragged the revised songs on to it. Success! I then began to experiment and found I could also play songs on an old compact flash card I had for a camera that no longer functions. I just plugged the card reader into the USB slot. I was now in business.

I have had the radio for about twelve weeks now and while I haven’t had time to “play” with all the features, I do like what I have heard so far. I really need to sit in the car with the radio and the manual to tweak the system. Since it is still 110 degrees in Arizona garages, I think I will wait for cooler weather.

Car Stereo: How to Buy – Part I
Car Stereo: How to Buy – Part II

This post was originally published by Gardening on the Moon

Step 3 – The Search is Narrowed

Now that the search has been narrowed to five or less models, I visited sites that had reviews of the specific radios on the list. At first I focused on reviews from companies or organizations that had no particular stake in the review (as far as I can tell). CNET, PC World and TrustedReviews are a couple of sites that review a wide variety of gear. Once I read these general reviews and any user comments offered at these sites, I visited the Crutchfield site to see if they have a review.

Crutchfield is involved with the audio and car audio markets and they write very detailed reviews. Their customers also have very positive comments about Crutchfield so I believe their reviews are reliable even if they sell the product. Once I found a review for a model on the short list, I checked their Hands-on Research section for that particular model. The Hands-on Research area provides a detailed yet understandable commentary about the major features and qualities of a particular radio. For the Sony CDX GT620IP there were many positive things to said concerning the cost-benefit ratio, http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=158GT620IP&tp=5684&tab=detailed_info While at the Crutchfield site, I headed for the customer reviews as these are generally very savvy users who tell it like it is.

Surprise, surprise!

Now it was off to see the wizard. I headed to Best Buy (BB) and Circuit City (CC) to check out the various models. I wanted to see how they looked and felt. Were they solid? Did I like the color of the display? Was there anything I discovered that I didn’t know or didn’t fully appreciate?

I have been so long removed from the car stereo scene that I didn’t realize that many of the new models require the user to press a button to expose the CD loading mechanism hidden behind the faceplate. I thought this would be a real drag until I considered the fact that I would be recording in wma or mp3 format which would allow me to load 60, 70 or more songs on a CD. I won’t be changing CDs that often. I will also be using my mp3 player so perhaps it was a feature with which I could live.

NOTE – In actuality my first mp3 disc was able to hold more than 80 selections, some of which were over 20 minutes in length. The total playing time for the disc listed in Windows Media Player was 6.6 hours. Now that’s a WOW!

Step 4 – The Final Candidates

At this point in the process, I came up with three car stereos that seemed to meet my criteria and in which I had some interest. They were the Sony CDX GT620IP, JVC KD-PDR80 and the Pioneer DEHP400UB.

I liked the Sony model a great deal. The Pioneer wasn’t as impressive and to be honest, I was turned off a bit by some of the user comments although it did get basically good reviews. The JVC had reviews that were almost as good as the Sony and it had a couple of other things going for it that drew me in that direction. It was about twenty dollars less than the Sony; CC would throw in free installation even though I had to purchase the mounting brackets and other accessories needed for the install. The JVC had one feature the Sony lacked that I found very attractive. It had a USB port to play songs off of a compatible USB thumb drive. I liked this option a great deal since the price of thumb drives has come down considerably. The idea of different thumb drives with various types of music on them appealed to me.

I had several JVC products before and they were all good and some were very good. In general they were all a “good deal” so my decision to select the JVC product was clear.

To be continued …

Car Stereo: How to Buy – Part 1

Car Stereo: How to Buy – Part III

This post was originally published by Gardening on the Moon

I finally decided to take the plunge even though my car is an older model 1999 Honda CRV. I was going to upgrade the CD player radio that came standard with the car. I must confess right up front that I am not an audio geek. I am not too demanding since I am no longer a spring chicken and my hearing doesn’t demand too much as far as broad spectrum sound is concerned.

Step 1 – Initial Research

I had no idea of what the current state of car audio was so I did what I usually do, I Googled “car radio ‘what to look for’ purchase” and several sites with related articles appeared. Among them were:

From Crutchfield:

Introduction to car stereo – http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/learningcenter/car/car_stereo/intro.html

CD Players Shopping Guide – http://www.crutchfield.com/Learn/learningcenter/car/car_stereo/cd_players.html

Car Speakers (for those who are interested) – http://www.crutchfield.com/S-u1egK3uQR6H/learn/learningcenter/car/speakers.html

Edmunds also has a good series of articles related to car stereos:

Understanding Car Audio Systems

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/audio/articles/43831/article.html

Understanding Car Audio Systems: What to Buy, What to Avoid and What to Add

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/audio/articles/44900/article.html

After reading some of the introductory articles, I had a good idea of what was being offered as “standard” and what I did and didn’t need. As I said, I was looking for a rather simple, low-to-mid-range priced unit. I wasn’t going to upgrade my speakers, get a separate amplifier, have satellite radio and I didn’t want HD audio. The features I focused on were:

• Ability to play WMA, MP3 and standard CDs
• An auxiliary input jack for an MP3 player
• A decent set of controls
• A detachable faceplate for added security

I also needed to keep the price around $200 since I didn’t know how much longer my car would hold out although I do anticipate having the CRV for at least five more years. It currently has 150,000 miles on it and my mechanic expects it could exceed 250,000 miles.

Step 2 – What’s Out There

I visited the Circuit City (CC) and Best Buy (BB) sites to see which radios they had in my price range and which came closest to matching my limited criteria. When I saw a model that had some potential based on CC or BB customer reviews, I Googled the make and model of the radio followed by the word review, i.e. brand name model XX1234 review

Customer Reviews

I read the customer reviews when I visit store sites. It has been my experience that more people are apt to complain than to praise so a customer who doesn’t like something is more likely to write a review than one who finds the product satisfactory. With that in mind, if most of the customer reviews for a specific model provide moderate to high praise then that is one to be considered.

Customer reviews are quite interesting since they offer insights from those who have actually used the product. Notice how long the person has owned the product and keep that in mind when reading the remarks. A day or two of ownership doesn’t qualify one to make many insightful comments.

Users often point out features that work well or that do not work well. They also highlight features that one might have overlooked until it was too late. A number of people commenting about the Pioneer model listed below (see next post) indicated that they felt the controls were not as easy to use as they should be since the main knob was used for too many purposes. This sent up a bit of a red flag for me because one part of a product that is over worked is liable to break more quickly.

I also read customer reviews at Epinions.com and Amazon.com before making my final decision.

To be continued …

Car Stereo: How to Buy – Part II

Car Stereo: How to Buy – Part III

This post was originally published by Gardening on the Moon

Noticing The Problems

My wife and I recently took a two-week vacation to Peru. Vacation may be too generous a term… because there were a number of days when we went to sleep late and arose at two or three o’clock in the morning to make necessary connections. There were fourteen fellow travelers and just about everyone had a digital camera of some sort. One person took pictures with a film camera. To my amazement, there were two people who seemed to be very interested in photography, but were using their cameras for the very first time the day the trip began. This is not a good idea.

Trial, Error and More Trial

A new camera should be tried at home before leaving on the trip. There are a number of good reasons for this:

• The camera may be defective
• Any new camera has to have the settings modified ( if only the time and date)
• Acquire a feel for the camera and to test it to see if any accessories will be necessary
• Get a sense of how many flash storage (memory) cards might be needed
• To make sure the battery charger works

In addition to the new camera users, one person had a proprietary battery ( one of those unusual kinds that is manufactured for only a few cameras and which requires a special charger or can be charged in the camera) AND they inadvertently left the charger home. About three days into the trip, they were among the non-shooters.

Two other people had cameras that used AA batteries, but they had only the standard battery like the Duracell Coppertop or the Energizer equivalent so after a couple of days, they were out of luck as well. I happened to bring four sets of rechargeable AA batteries and two chargers and two converters so I was set. One young lady on the trip was having a rough time and her Canon camera used only two AA batteries so I served as her supply source, recharging as we went along.

I explained to the people with the standard, AA batteries that at a minimum they would need batteries specifically designed for digital cameras. I then explained how I purchased several sets of NiMh batteries and a very good charger. After all, these supplies are the digital equivalent of film. Without batteries and a good charger, a digital photographer is out of luck. The battery charger that I purchased is able to run on foreign current (needs a plug adapter) or USA current. The charger can accept AAA or AA batteries and it automatically conditions the battery each time it is charged.

Whether automatic or not, conditioning is important because it makes sure the battery is as charged (full of electricity) as it can be. I haven’t actually counted, but it is my sense that I can usually get many more than 100 shots from a set of newly charged batteries, especially if I keep the camera display off when I am not actually shooting. The charger was a little pricey, but since it’s the lifeblood of my hobby, I thought it was important.

The Search for the Perfect Battery

At one time it was hard to find quality rechargeable batteries, but the consumer battery market has jumped on the bandwagon and has provided some very good options. One thing you need to know about rechargeable batteries is that they are rated according to how much of a charge they hold. As you might expect, the higher the number, the more “juice” they will provide when it is needed. Theoretically, a battery rated at 2000 will hold less of a charge than one rated at 2500, however this may not always be the best indicator of quality (see the next paragraph).

If you want to read about the technical aspects of AA batteries and which are the best, visit the Great Battery Shootout at the Imaging Resource website. Dave Etchells, the Publisher, has provided this great resource for digital photography fans and does an excellent job of keeping us informed about new camera releases and the quality of those and related products. Among the batteries he recommends is the Energizer 2300 rechargeables. They are silver and green and can be found at a number of the box stores. I purchased a couple of sets at Target for around $10 or so. I even bought one set at CVS because of an in-store sale and I had an additional $2 off coupon. What a steal!

As far as chargers, the Imaging Resource currently is touting the Maha C-204W which you can read about here and the former favorite Maha C-204. Read about the C-204 here. I purchased the MH-C401FSB because of the international aspect and the lifetime warranty and I have been happy with that model as well. I ordered my charger from Thomas Distributing. They were friendly, courteous and helpful. All those numbers can be confusing so if you have questions about their products, call them or send an email and I am sure they will be glad to assist you. I currently have no relationship to either the Imaging Resource or Thomas Distributing; these are just my personal views.

Let me put in one other plug for the Imaging Resources site. If you are going to purchase something and you can link to it from their site (I am not always sure you can), then give it a try to help support them for all the info they provide for digital photography enthusiasts.

Once you get those new batteries home, give them a charge and use them and then recharge them again just to make certain everything is working well. Don’t forget to read the instructions that come with the batteries and the charger. For those who don’t use “standard” batteries in your camera, I suggest purchasing a separate charger and at least one extra battery.

A Wristed Development

On the trip I also noticed people hanging their camera over the side of our boat (we took about six boat rides) and out of the bus windows (we took several buses as well) without using the wrist strap. One of the new users didn’t even have her wrist strap on the camera. It is a sad tale when a person drops their camera and it is ruined when putting a hand through the wrist strap and then grabbing the camera would have prevented the mishap. Using the strap is also important when taking pictures at arms length because some less than friendly locals may try to grab the camera from you. Another good thing about using the wrist strap is that it generally keeps it away from the lens and out of the photo!

Shooting Large

When setting up a new camera, especially if you are a serious or a “serious-wannabee” digital photographer, set up the camera so that it takes the largest picture possible, that is the with the most detail and best quality. This will provide you with the greatest freedom if you want to edit or alter the picture in Photoshop or GIMP. If you start out with a reduced image, editing it will only further reduce the quality. Some people will complain that it takes up too much room on the memory card, but the price of memory cards has really dropped over the last several years so they are more affordable. When I bought my first 512 MB compact flash card at COSTCO, it was more than $60. You can by a 4-GB SDHC flash card for much less than that. I prefer to use additional memory cards than reduce the amount of information my camera will give me for each picture.

Once a couple of sets of rechargeable batteries are in hand, the camera is appropriately set up and the wrist strip is attached, you will be ready to capture the world.

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Article References:

The Great Battery Shootout – http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM

Maha C-204W battery charger – http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/C204W/C204WA.HTM

Maha C-204 battery charger – http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/C204/C204A.HTM

Thomas Distributing (Batteries and Supplies) – http://www.thomas-distributing.com/index.htm