MYTECH BLOG

Windows 7 Starter and VLC Media Player

5/6/2011

My wife and I just purchased a small netbook for my son as a high school graduation present. IT came with W7 Starter. After reading about W7S, I can't say that I am real impressed. You can't even change the desktop background image on it. It also does not come with codecs to play a dvd, if you were to hook up a portable dvd player via a USB port. You can however download VLC media player to get around that small misfortune. I like VLC because it plays nearly every video and audio format I have found.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Archos 5 - Internet Tablet

4/17/2011

I bought one of these back in May of 2010. It's a pretty neat gadget. When I bought it I was assured by the salesman at Tigerdirect.com that it would play YouTube videos even though older reviews declared it wouldn't. I was sadly disappointed. It is great for checking non flash websites and email accounts. It has a few handy applications. You cannot download apps from the Android Market as it solely utilizes it's own application library. It is very limited in use for the $250 I paid for it. I should have bought an IPod. I did have to return the unit after it failed to power up and charge. They sent me a new one. While the unit itself lacks functionality and "pizzaz!" I can't complain about the customer service. I won't buy another one. It is network capable and can be tethered with some cell phones data plans via blue tooth...unfortunately not my cell phone.

Recording -

4/14/2011

I have a Roland Boss BR-8 unit (64 virtual tracks) that I used to record cd projects. It's very easy to use and extremely professional in quality. It's no longer in production as it has been replaced by newer models with more bells and whistles.

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=437

I use Audacity Freeware to record podcasts and other audio projects that involve spoken word. Occasionally I will use it to edit a music track but I prefer Goldwave for that.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

For audio podcasting and vocal production I have the Blue Yetti microphone which is the best you can get for usb recording. They can be found at Amazon.com and run about $110. This is the same microphone that my good friend uses to broadcast election night results for the local newspaper.

Windows 7 Starter and VLC Media Player

Archos 5 - Internet Tablet

Recording -

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