Something Random
- Thread starter ddrueding
- Start date
Thanks. That's easier to open in another window at home. Samsung is not as simple from the back seat.
Stereodude
Not really a
What a Superb Owl last night. :bow:
Newtun
Storage is nice, especially if it doesn't rotate
D'OH! Now it is obvious.
Stereodude
Not really a
I don't want the NFL suing us for using their trademark.
Stereodude
Not really a
So I bought some used CDs last week via eBay and the Amazon.com marketplace. They were all supposed to be in very good condition. Of the 13 CDs, 3 had enough damage that I couldn't rip them. Several other were very dirty and needed cleaning. One of the unrippable CDs I was able to polish enough so it could be ripped accurately. The other two had damage to the reflective layer from the top side of the disc. Once the reflective layer is damaged you're done. I've bought a lot of used CDs in the past and didn't have this sort of miss rate due to damaged discs. Every once in a while I'd get one that needed a little polishing to rip, but basically never got discs that had damage to the reflective layer. :frusty:
Now I've got messages in to the sellers (one eBay, one Amazon Marketplace). I'm not expecting any grief, but it's still a hassle. I can only imagine what you get when you buy used CDs in acceptable or fair condition.
Now I've got messages in to the sellers (one eBay, one Amazon Marketplace). I'm not expecting any grief, but it's still a hassle. I can only imagine what you get when you buy used CDs in acceptable or fair condition.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
What are these CDs? Can't you find this music somewhere to purchase digitally that would be a lot less effort than buying and ripping?
Stereodude
Not really a
Buying digital music is generally against my principles.
1) I won't buy any lossy music at the current market prices. Paying $10-12 for an album of mp3's just isn't going to happen. There's 0 distribution or manufacturing cost, and it's an inferior product. But I should pay just as much as a real new CD? I don't think so.
2) Resale legality of digital music is questionable.
3) I'm not going to pay a premium for an inferior product. In most cases I can buy a used CD for about half the price of a lossy digital download.
If I could buy albums in FLAC for ~$5 or lossy albums for ~$2 I might consider it. Until that happens I'll happily keep buying CDs, preferably used.
This is a perfect example: http://electronicopus.com/support/
I really like BT's music. But there's no way I'm going to pay $15 for an album of lossy mp3s. $25 for "hi-res" FLAC files isn't going to happen either. Initially those were the only purchase options. I waited a bit and it eventually came out on CD. I paid ~$11 for a new CD. I paid less and got more. Sure, I had the effort of ripping it, but that's close to 0.
Stereodude
Not really a
Use Meguiar's PlastX and a piece of microfiber cloth. For a whole CD put something like a pea size dab of PlastX on the microfiber which you should have folded up some so you have something like a 1" x 1" piece in contact with the bottom of the disc. Work it around the bottom of the CD in small circular patterns. The polish will clear up as you work it in. Once it's basically gone from working it in wipe the bottom of the CD with another microfiber cloth or a dry part of the cloth you used for polishing. Examine the bottom of the disc to see your progress. Repeat as necessary. If you're only doing spot treatments, a dab of PlastX polish more like a grain of rice sized works. Unless you have really bad scratches one or two polishing passes should have it polished out. It goes surprisingly quick and only takes a few minutes of polishing.
If you have a lot of CDs that need polishing you can use a random orbital polisher intended for a car and PlastX. You'll need to get creative holding the disc though. Taping it down to a countertop or table with masking or blue painter's tape works.
You can do the same thing for DVDs. Don't try to polish a Blu-ray.
Thanks for the details on polishing my CDs. I'll look into that more for some I own that are in rough shape.
Damn, Blu-ray was going to be my next question. I have Blu-rays I own I can't use because they have a tiny stupid scratch.
Damn, Blu-ray was going to be my next question. I have Blu-rays I own I can't use because they have a tiny stupid scratch.
Stereodude
Not really a
I've found Blu-rays are quite a bit harder to scratch than DVDs or CDs. However, the reflective layer is on the bottom of the substrate, not in the middle like DVDs or on the top like CDs. They have some sort of scratch resistant coating over the reflective layer that's supposed to be somewhat self healing, but because it's so thin and somewhat pliable due to the self healing it doesn't generally lend itself to polishing. You might try taking a hair dryer to it and see if you can't heat the coating and encourage some self healing if the scratch is shallow. Otherwise if all else is lost and you've got nothing else to lose you could try polishing it carefully. Just keep in mind you can't just keep polishing over and over till it's gone like you can on a DVD or CD. Deep scratches on Blu-rays are fatal.
Speaking of optical discs...I just filled out my claim for a few optical drives for this class action.
Stereodude
Not really a
:frusty: ARGH!!! The 2nd Lexar 200GB microSD is misbehaving. I did a bit of moderate torture testing on the card after I got it to see if was robust and it seemed okay. (I was doing a few 5x 1GB CDM runs on the card a day for a few days.)
So today I attempted to copy "200GB" of music to it so I could confirm the card worked correctly in my new Sony Walkman and the copy crapped out after copying about 61GB to the card with an IO error. I've power cycled the reader and the card, but any attempts to copy additional data to the card results in the same IO error. I know it's not the source since I can copy the same folder to the internal SSD without issue.
So today I attempted to copy "200GB" of music to it so I could confirm the card worked correctly in my new Sony Walkman and the copy crapped out after copying about 61GB to the card with an IO error. I've power cycled the reader and the card, but any attempts to copy additional data to the card results in the same IO error. I know it's not the source since I can copy the same folder to the internal SSD without issue.
Stereodude
Not really a
What do you mean by host device? The source of the data for the file copy? I've tried other folders and files with the same results, and I can copy those same folders and files to other drives.
Or, do you mean the USB reader the card is in?
Stereodude
Not really a
I don't have another one with me, nor another uSD card to test with (I'm not taking the one out of my phone). I also don't have a microSD to SD adapter which would let me use the reader in my laptop. So, I will have to wait until I get home, but it reads fine, so I wouldn't expect the reader is to blame.
Stereodude
Not really a
I have no idea how many optical drives I bought during that time period. I'm sure it was a lot more than 0 though.
Stereodude
Not really a
I decided to go peruse my e-mail...
I bought two Dell laptops with optical drives in that timeframe
LG GGC-H20L - 1
NEC ND-6750A SLIM - 1
NEC ND-3540A BK - 1
SAMSUNG|SH-S203B - 1
LITE ON SOHD-16P9SBLK RT - 2
So I guess that's 8. There may be more, but going e-mail by e-mail to look is not a good use of my time.
ddrueding
Fixture
Customers are realizing how ineffective polys actually are and the vendors are trying to outrun the efficacy results with "new methods".
I didn't think of it that way, but I see what you mean.
time
Storage? I am Storage!
I'm going to guess that "poly" is short for polygraph?
Does anyone outside the USA even use this fatally flawed device?
Does anyone outside the USA even use this fatally flawed device?
ddrueding
Fixture
Doubt it. The only time I've had to was for government work.
Stereodude
Not really a
So I sent this to one of my coworkers across the big pond this morning after telling them that they never ceased to fall short of expectations.
I didn't get a reply.
I didn't get a reply.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Also known as precision vs accuracy.
I'm wondering how long this new job will last?
Stereodude
Not really a
Anyone know of a free utility that can make a video recording of an area of the screen in Windows, or a particular window?
ddrueding
Fixture
I just use the nVidia screen cap utility and then crop in post.
Apparently there is a facility in France that has a new procedure.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Sounds exotic and expensive.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
Today, Trump could launch the nuclear missiles targetting China, it still wouldn't make the headlines here. The only there is on TV is the local hockey team's coach Michel Therrien being fired and replaced by Claude Julien, the ex-Bruins coach.
Now I remember why I stopped paying for cable TV a decade ago.
Now I remember why I stopped paying for cable TV a decade ago.