I hate computers
Still working on a post about that movie. I’ve been trying to write it during class, but the professors are always talking and breaking my concentration*.
I think it’s the number one or two rule of blogging (on my imaginary list) that if you ever promise to post about something, that post will NEVER HAPPEN. I’ll finish it tomorrow, really.
Anyway, the reason I’m here now is to bitch about computers, and how I wish I knew how to use them.
I’m trying to edit a video I’ve shot, but before I can upload the video from my camcorder to my computer, I need to get all the other videos that are hogging the rest of my hard drive off into some form of external storage. Ok, I have a DVD burner—no problem, right?
Turns out I actually have a CDRW/DVD drive, which apparently burns CDs and reads DVDs but does NOT burn DVDs***. What use is that? Why would I buy something that *plays* DVDs but doesn’t burn them? I don’t watch movies! Stupid!
So now I have a CD writer, a DVD reader . . . and 50 blank DVDs. I’ve opened the package, and they were hugely discounted, so I don’t think I can take them back. I don’t have any blank CDs, so I suppose I’ll have to go get some.
My idea: Every new computer sold to a non-techgeek should come with a little laminated card that says what’s on the computer. The gigahertz, the megabucks, what all the holes in back are for, etc. Then, when I want to buy something computer-related, I take my little card to Best Buy, I give it to the friendly people in the blue shirts, and they lead me to the shelf where the things-that-work-with-my-computer are located so I can pick out the color I want. Is that so hard? Criminy.
———
* Kidding. I totally pay attention the whole time**.
** More than half the time.
*** Every time I put a blank DVD in the drive and fire up any sort of burning program, it tells me the drive is empty and would I please put a CD-RW in? Thanks.
Tags: miscellany
June 15th, 2006 at 8:39 am
The good news is that it won’t cost you much to upgrade to a DVD burner. New DVD burners are all DL capable (they can make dual-layer disks) and you can buy an internal DVD for less than $100.
June 16th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
What file types are your videos? .avi? .mpeg? You should just be able to burn them as data files onto CD-Rs or CD-RWs. You won’t be able to pop them into a DVD player and watch them, but you can still put them back in your computer and watch them whenever you want.
If they’re funky file types, you might just try downloading a free converter from download.com and using it to convert the files to .avi or .mpeg. Then it’s cake, just burn them as data files (just like you can burn songs as data files using the .mp3 extension).
June 16th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
people in blue shirts at best buy are there to help you? god save us. $50 can easily get you the newest and greatest in internal dvd+/-rw+dl if you shop around. Try sams or wallyworld, of all places. Or Fry’s. I miss Fry’s. If you decide not to go the +/- route.. I could use some media…
PB
June 17th, 2006 at 12:07 am
@ Jim & Paul: Does “internal” mean I have to take the laptop apart to install them? Sorry if that’s a dumb question, but really, is there room in there?
@ Jenni: Yeah, I was going to burn them as data files onto the DVDs in the first place — I don’t have a TV, much less a DVD player. =) The problem (easily remedied by a trip to the store…when I get around to it) is that I have a bunch of blank DVDs, but no blank CDs.
June 19th, 2006 at 9:57 am
Or you can buy an external harddrive. The cd-rom on my old computer did not always work, so I just put stuff on the extra harddrive instead of burning things.
Right now you have an internal harddrive. An external harddrive is one that you connect with like a USB cable. Also, I am not sure if you would be able to buy an internal DVD-RW for your laptop to replace the cd-rw/dvd drive. When my cd-rw/dvd thing went screwy, I was told that I would have to send it back to the manufacturer to get it fixed.