A lot of people have a big collection of MP3 (music) files on their computer. Many people have hundreds of these files that have been downloaded through iTunes or elsewhere - you might even have thousands of them. These files can be played on your computer, or on your iPod or other MP3 device. But what if you want to play them on a regular CD player, such as in your car?
To do that, you need to do two things: convert them to CD format, and then burn them to a CD. Fortunately, you can do this in one easy procedure using software that you already have on your computer.
If you already know how to do this with a program such as Nero or Roxio, then there is no reason to change and do it a different way. The procedure that I will describe here uses Windows Media Player, only because virtually every Windows based computer already has it installed. You can open Media Player by going to Start - All programs - Accessories - Entertainment - Windows Media Player. Of course, you will also need a CD burner drive and some blank CD-R discs.
First, put a blank CD-R in the burner. Wait for the computer to recognize it, then close the window that automatically opens. Now, open Windows Media Player. You should see a tab somewhere called "Burn" - click that.
Now, open the folder where your music files are stored in MP3 format (just about any music file that you download will be an MP3). What you want to see are two windows open on the desktop - the folder that contains your music files, and the Media Player window. One at a time, drap the MP3 files to the "burn list" portion of the Media Player window.
When moving files over, remember that most CD-R discs can hold up to about 80 minutes of music (you should see a running total at the bottom of the window so you can tell when you are getting close to the maximum).
When you have the files moved over, you are ready to convert and burn. Click the link at the top of Media Player that says "Start Burn". I recommend that you not have any other windows or programs running during the burn process - if anything messes it up, you have wasted that CD-R and you have to start over again with a new one. You will see Media Player go through and analyze each file, convert it to CD format, and then burn it to the CD. When it is done, the CD drive should open, so you can just pick up the newly recorded CD and go try it in your CD player.
Happy listening!
Video clip - well, sort of a video. There is a group based in New York City called Improv Everywhere. Their motto is "causing scenes of chaos and joy in public places". What they do is create some great studies in human psychology. You can spend a lot of time on their site reading about what they have done. For today, here is the story of how one of them got lost at Yankee Stadium during a baseball game.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Using special characters
Here's a cool trick:
Open Word (or WordPad or any other word processor program). While viewing the blank document, hold down the Alt key and type the numbers 0161. Instead of those numbers showing up on the screen, you see an inverted exclamation point. Now, this might not be of any use to you (unless you type in Spanish). However, there are lots of special "characters" available for you to use in a document - and many of them are not on your standard keyboard.
To see these characters, go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Character Map. A new window will open, and you can see those fun little characters in a grid. You can copy and paste directly from this window into your document. However, if you use a particular character often, it is cumbersome to have to open this new window each time. Click on one of the characters to highlight it, and then look in the lower right corner of the window. You will see the Alt-key number combination that will display that character. Just make a note of it, and use that key combination whenever you want to type that character.
Video clip: the worst weatherman ever! Actually, this is a local college television station in Athens, Ohio. The "weatherman", Louis, was actually filling in for someone that day and had no experience. He has become somewhat famous for this clip, which has been circulating on the internet for a few years.
Open Word (or WordPad or any other word processor program). While viewing the blank document, hold down the Alt key and type the numbers 0161. Instead of those numbers showing up on the screen, you see an inverted exclamation point. Now, this might not be of any use to you (unless you type in Spanish). However, there are lots of special "characters" available for you to use in a document - and many of them are not on your standard keyboard.
To see these characters, go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Character Map. A new window will open, and you can see those fun little characters in a grid. You can copy and paste directly from this window into your document. However, if you use a particular character often, it is cumbersome to have to open this new window each time. Click on one of the characters to highlight it, and then look in the lower right corner of the window. You will see the Alt-key number combination that will display that character. Just make a note of it, and use that key combination whenever you want to type that character.
Video clip: the worst weatherman ever! Actually, this is a local college television station in Athens, Ohio. The "weatherman", Louis, was actually filling in for someone that day and had no experience. He has become somewhat famous for this clip, which has been circulating on the internet for a few years.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Help find an abducted child
This has got to be one of the best uses of technology today - and just about everyone can get involved. From the website:
"Statistics show that the first three hours after an abduction are the most critical in recovery efforts. By signing up for wireless AMBER alerts you could play an integral role in the recovery of an abducted child."
How it works is pretty simple. You go to the website https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org and sign up for a free account. You just enter your cell phone number and your zip code (it's safe and your data remains private). Whenever there is a child abducted in that geographical area, you will receive a text message with all available information such as a description of the child and perhaps a description of the abductor, vehicle, etc. With hundreds of people in the vicinity of the abduction all aware of what is going on, the chances of spotting the child, and maybe saving a life, is greatly increased. And it costs you nothing. Go and sign up now!
Sign up here
"Statistics show that the first three hours after an abduction are the most critical in recovery efforts. By signing up for wireless AMBER alerts you could play an integral role in the recovery of an abducted child."
How it works is pretty simple. You go to the website https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org and sign up for a free account. You just enter your cell phone number and your zip code (it's safe and your data remains private). Whenever there is a child abducted in that geographical area, you will receive a text message with all available information such as a description of the child and perhaps a description of the abductor, vehicle, etc. With hundreds of people in the vicinity of the abduction all aware of what is going on, the chances of spotting the child, and maybe saving a life, is greatly increased. And it costs you nothing. Go and sign up now!
Sign up here
Monday, March 12, 2007
Know what your computer is doing
I like to always know what is running on my computer. As you probably are already aware, the more programs you have running, the slower they all run. Why have programs running when you aren't using them? The problem is, you most likely don't even know they are running.
When you use the default settings for your Windows desktop, part of your system tray is usually hidden. The system tray is that row of icons in the lower right corner of your screen. The way Windows usually sets it is so that you might see a few of those icons, and the rest are hidden. The reason for this is that it won't take up much space on your taskbar (the taskbar is the bottom bar on the screen, on the same level as the Start button). You can tell if yours is set that way - just look for a small circle with an arrow inside it. When you click that circle, your row of icons expands to show all of them - for about 2 seconds. Not really long enough for you to see what is there and decide if you want to keep all of those programs running.
My personal preference is for those icons to show all of the time. To do that, find an empty space on your taskbar and right-click. Choose Properties. A new window will open. Under the Taskbar tab, UNcheck the box that says "Hide inactive icons" and click OK.
When the window closes, you will see your whole row of icons there. Probably more than you expected to see! You can right-click and Exit whatever ones you don't need at the moment. If you are not sure what something is, don't close it. Your goal should be to only have the essential programs running at any given time, and nothing more.
Video: See a professional pickpocket demonstration
When you use the default settings for your Windows desktop, part of your system tray is usually hidden. The system tray is that row of icons in the lower right corner of your screen. The way Windows usually sets it is so that you might see a few of those icons, and the rest are hidden. The reason for this is that it won't take up much space on your taskbar (the taskbar is the bottom bar on the screen, on the same level as the Start button). You can tell if yours is set that way - just look for a small circle with an arrow inside it. When you click that circle, your row of icons expands to show all of them - for about 2 seconds. Not really long enough for you to see what is there and decide if you want to keep all of those programs running.
My personal preference is for those icons to show all of the time. To do that, find an empty space on your taskbar and right-click. Choose Properties. A new window will open. Under the Taskbar tab, UNcheck the box that says "Hide inactive icons" and click OK.
When the window closes, you will see your whole row of icons there. Probably more than you expected to see! You can right-click and Exit whatever ones you don't need at the moment. If you are not sure what something is, don't close it. Your goal should be to only have the essential programs running at any given time, and nothing more.
Video: See a professional pickpocket demonstration
Monday, March 5, 2007
Get back that embarassing email!
Have you ever typed an email, and hit the Send button too quickly? I know I have. Right after you hit Send, you see a blatant typo that you would have preferred to fix before sending the email. Or you realize that you just sent the email to the wrong recipient. Or (and this is the worst) you send an email that has some rather harsh language, and you wish you had thought it out more before sending it on its way.Wouldn't it be great to be able to just reach out and grab that email back? Well, it just may be possible!
Now, in order for this to work, you and your recipient have to be using Outlook 97 or later (such as Outlook 2000, Outlook XP or Outlook 2007). This won't work with Outlook Express, Thunderbird, or any of the web-based emails such as Yahoo or Hotmail. I use Outlook 2007.
After you have sent the offending email, as soon as possible open Outlook and open the "Sent" folder. Find the email and double click to open it. Click on Actions, then click on "Recall this message". You can either just delete the message, or replace it with a different one. Don't rely on this to save you though - even though you might use Outlook, the majority of people still use Outlook Express or a web-based email account. The best policy is to be deliberate about writing and sending your emails, so you don't have to worry about being able to recall one.
Video: interesting guest on David Letterman:
