Music Into the Phone

I have tons of music CD's.


I don't even listen to many of them any more - most only have a song or two that I care to listen to more than one time.


So it is time to get them all in order, and imported into my new phone.


iTunes is the only game in town when it comes to putting music on the iPhone, and I am finding it is a bit limiting.


The phone can only be synced with one PC.


I have music on two computers.  


Through my network, iTunes allows me to listen to the music on both of them through one computer, but I cannot "move" the songs onto the phone from the second PC.


That is just how it is.


So, since most of my music is on my old computer, that is the one I have synced the phone with.


But it only has 1 gig of space left on it - new songs from the CD's will eat that up with just a handful of songs.


So, moving the music onto an external hard drive was the only option available.


iTunes cannot run from the external drive, but it will access the music from it.


Which is just perfect - I have 40 gigs left on it and that's plenty.


So, after following the instructions that I found on this website,  my library now lives on the external drive, and the iPhone and iTunes have synced it with no problems.


The biggest "problem" I have though is of my own making.


The external drive needs to be turned on before iTunes is opened.


And that means, don't hook up the phone first either - it automatically opens iTunes as soon as it is attached to the PC.


Errors keep coming up when that happens - iTunes cannot find the library.


They say the memory is the first thing to go - I think I better write a note to remind myself about it.


To save myself the aggravation I keep inflicting on me.

iPhone 4S

In my last post I was worried about making the wrong decision on a new smartphone.


I chose the iPhone 4S and there has not been one regret.


I have only had it for three days now, and I really love this little piece of technology.


I can't believe all the stuff it does, and all the apps that make doing it so much easier.


I love the e-reader in it.


I love the camera - 8 megapixels with great clarity, color, and sharpness.


I love the apps that help in daily life.


I love the overall ease of use of this phone.


There are no glitches or lagging that I have noticed with the android phones.


Everything in it is smooth and flowing.


The sound and voice quality is the best I have heard in a cell phone.


I really love this phone - she even looks beautiful.


And best of all - it is small enough to still fit in my jeans pocket - many of the androids are much too big to do that.

Finally A Decision

The time has come - the new cell phone plan with devices is about to be signed.


We have spent quite a bit of time looking at our options.


And trying to decide what we all wanted to purchase.


Four out of the five are going with smartphones.


Since my husband and I are together most of the time, we can share mine.


Finding a "dumb" phone is a pain though - there are not many choices - I think his current one is better than any of the new ones out there.


I finally decided on the iPhone 4S.


It was a hard choice between it and the LG Nitro, which has superior resolution and a faster processor.


The cameras and videos are the same and both operating systems were given good reviews.


The iOS5 on the iPhone was thought to be slightly better than the Android.


The size of the iPhone is about the same as my current phone.


The LG is huge - there is no way it is fitting in my jeans pocket.


But it would be nicer as an e-reader with the bigger screen.


And the screen isn't glass like the iPhone's is.


It was really a tough decision, and I am hoping a made the one.

Search for Phones

We have about a month and a half before we need to seriously start searching for our new cell phones.


The two year contract will be up, and it will time for another one.


That means new phones with a new plan for all of us.


The phone selection is a bit intimidating.


Smart phone or "dumb" phone.


Smart is expensive and it needs an expensive plan to go with it.


"Dumb" has only one or two to select from, and they are really dumb.


Not even as nice as the ones we got two years ago - more like the ones we got four years ago.


And each time, the phones seem more fragile - they certainly aren't lasting the two years like they used to.


Oh the choices - not looking forward to this time around as we have the last ones.

Optical Cord

We purchased a new flat screen LED TV about two months ago.


We have been very pleased with the picture quality of this set, but the sound that comes out of those speakers built into it is just atrocious.


We have tried adjusting them with the settings to no avail.


We even plugged a pair of good quality speakers into the headphone jack to get a better sound.


It did sound better, but the volume on the TV set was in the high 80's.  It only went to 100.


We still couldn't hear it very well at times, and I kept thinking that the internal parts of the TV would blow up having the volume set that high, but not letting the sound come out at that high volume.


We searched online, and found a soundbar that we could add to help with the sound quality.


But it was expensive.


So we gave it some more thought, and wondered if we could set up the TV sound to come through the DVD player that has surround sound speakers attached to it.


By purchasing an optical digital cord, we could connect the two, and it should work.


It took a lot of configuring with the settings in the DVD player and the TV, but we eventually got it to work.


And the sound is great.


But when we play a VHS tape in the VCR, the sound deteriorates so badly, that all we hear after a few minutes is a mind-boggling deep hum.


It doesn't matter what tape we play, within 2-3 minutes that hum and vibration is all we hear.


We will have to do some research to find out what the problem is and how to fix it.


But we will enjoy the sound of the TV now as we use it regularly!

New TV

We finally bit the bullet on the TV situation.

Our set was an old one - the kind with a big picture tube in it.

And it has been steadily on the decline for the past year with the picture quality getting worse by the day.

So we did our research.

And spent a lot of time in many different stores - electronic and department - searching for the best picture and size at the best price.

We wanted a 1080 resolution that was at least 24 inches in size.

And we liked the LED rather than the LCD.

And there had to be enough connections in the back for the VCR, DVD, and Xbox 360.

And since we do not have cable - there had to be an antenna connection.

After figuring out all this in the stores, we went online to find a real deal.

And we did - a 26 inch Vizeo for $180.

It met all our requirements and was a great deal.

It took an afternoon to set it up, and set-up and access to the VCR, DVD, and game console is different, but we were able to work it out.

And it was worth all the work and time we put into finding it - the picture is beautiful!

 

Easy Prints

I have always either printed my own photos or used an online lab to have them printed professionally.

But my son needed a few printed right off for the next day, and he couldn't see spending so much money on replacement inks for his printer when having them printed at a lab was so much cheaper.

So down to the pharmacy with the quick print service we went.

They have the computers that take the images from the flash cards and then print what you want.

I had never used one of these services before so it was a learning experience.

And it was so easy - the software allows a bit of processing - cropping, lighting, and a few color correction options.

They were printed within ten minutes and were only 29 cents per photo.

The print quality was fine for what he needed.

It's a good thing to keep in mind for a few quick photos, and it is so easy to use.

 

New TV

I fear a new television set is on our future.

We have had the old set for almost ten years, and it is quite outdated.

So much has changed, both physically and technology wise with them.

I have done a lot of reading online about what LCD and LED are.

Even the screen sizes of them are measured differently now.

When we have decided on something, I will post more about it.

The one thing I am certain of though - it will be very easy and quite lightweight to carry it to the car and then into the house.

I can't believe how thin these new ones are!