thanks to all the apple groupies on this site, i went out and got a mac. im really diggin it so far, but its a little frustrating b/c im so used to the win environment, control and feel. i need some advice on how to customize it with widgets and other s/w. please let me know if you have any ideas for:
1 a video player. i cant stand how small quicktime is in the firefox browser. i want o play mpgs, wmv, and other formats in one app
2 any cool and useful widgets
3 how do you have the mouse setup? i know this is personal preference. just want to hear ideas
4 desktop corner 'hotkeys'(?). same as above.
5 ITUNES is sorta driving me nuts. at first it was great b/c it was really fast. but i realized that it copied all 150 gb of the music on my external hd to the itunes default folder and on top of that there was a bunch of duplicated songs. why?? i didnt want to waste the space on the main hd, so i fooled around with it and unchecked the 'copy music to itunes folder', made the itunes folder my external hd music folder, but left the 'let itunes organize the music'. well, this screwed me b/c it took all my music on the external hd folder and rearranged them and now some of my music has been moved. this really ticked me off, but i can deal with it. the point of this rant is, is there a better audio tool for playing, organizing, and linking my ipod?
6 bootcamp / parrallels. parrallels was initially working great until i updated the mac o/s and updated win xp after i installed it. now its really slow and freezes. should i reinstall parrallels. how do i uninstall it?
is bootcamp better? i just want to have xp available in case theres some s/w that only runs on win.
throw out any other ideas or suggestions. thanks for your time people! i really appreciate it.
Mac advice: s/w and other stuff
Moderators: Cleantone, harrymcq, Phrazz
Mac advice: s/w and other stuff
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Cleantone
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Check out VLC for videos, although it wont play .wmv as far as I know. Quicktime can using Flip4Mac to play .wmv. You need quicktime pro to play full screen images though. There is a windows media player for OSX as well.
in iTunes go to "preferences", "advanced" and deselect "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library". That will stop them from being copied into the iTunes folder. I don't use it yet but you might want to check out Songbird for a player.
in iTunes go to "preferences", "advanced" and deselect "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library". That will stop them from being copied into the iTunes folder. I don't use it yet but you might want to check out Songbird for a player.
Hey Diesel - enjoy the new toy!
1. VLC plays anything and everything very well - and it's free - although it won't handle embedded videos, but rather those that you've downloaded.
2. I don't find widgets all that useful - but use one called iStat Nano to monitor system temps, fan speed, etc.. I also like Radar in Motion (doppler radar for weather)
3. I'm on a laptop, and hook it up to an external keyboard and wireless mouse (3 button logitech) when i'm at a desk, and use the track pad otherwise. At work, I have my apple mighty mouse set up to acknowledge only "left" clicks.....the "right" click sensitivity was a bit too weird for me. I've just gotten used to pressing "control".
4. "Hotkeys" - I think you've got to fool around with some things. Mine is - bottom left = dashboard, top right = "see all", bottom right = clear all. To be honest, I probably use F9-F11 more often for this sort of thing.
5. I use an external drive for iTunes and actually find that if I let iTunes have more control, things turn out fine by me. If you have things properly tagged, iTunes organizes them in an effective way....I'll have to write about this when I have a little more time.
6. I'm not sure - I use parallels very occasionally, and haven't found any problems other than frustration with XP!
7. One of my favorite app's is called Quicksilver, and essentially, makes any program, file, contact, etc. easily accessible through keystrokes. You activate the program (which runs in the background) with a hot-key, and then type the first few letters of what you're looking for...once it finds the file, you then can search for an action that you'd like performed (play in iTunes, compose email to..., open url, display contact info, etc.) Definitely check it out; I love it, my girlfriend not so much....
1. VLC plays anything and everything very well - and it's free - although it won't handle embedded videos, but rather those that you've downloaded.
2. I don't find widgets all that useful - but use one called iStat Nano to monitor system temps, fan speed, etc.. I also like Radar in Motion (doppler radar for weather)
3. I'm on a laptop, and hook it up to an external keyboard and wireless mouse (3 button logitech) when i'm at a desk, and use the track pad otherwise. At work, I have my apple mighty mouse set up to acknowledge only "left" clicks.....the "right" click sensitivity was a bit too weird for me. I've just gotten used to pressing "control".
4. "Hotkeys" - I think you've got to fool around with some things. Mine is - bottom left = dashboard, top right = "see all", bottom right = clear all. To be honest, I probably use F9-F11 more often for this sort of thing.
5. I use an external drive for iTunes and actually find that if I let iTunes have more control, things turn out fine by me. If you have things properly tagged, iTunes organizes them in an effective way....I'll have to write about this when I have a little more time.
6. I'm not sure - I use parallels very occasionally, and haven't found any problems other than frustration with XP!
7. One of my favorite app's is called Quicksilver, and essentially, makes any program, file, contact, etc. easily accessible through keystrokes. You activate the program (which runs in the background) with a hot-key, and then type the first few letters of what you're looking for...once it finds the file, you then can search for an action that you'd like performed (play in iTunes, compose email to..., open url, display contact info, etc.) Definitely check it out; I love it, my girlfriend not so much....
D-
You did a good thing.
As it turns out, we have other users on this board who are more into their Macs than I am into mine. I use f11 to make windows hide and let me see the desktop. I use iTunes for as much as I can, and I'm happy with it. I also love Big Brother.
I don't usually do much with my machine outside of watching movies and playing with music, the occassional run at the <a href="http://www.netflixprize.com/">Netfilx prize</a> notwithstanding. The one gizmo I'd recommend is Yamipod. It lets you pull stuff off of your (or anyone's) iPod - something iTunes won't necessarily allow.
I know, copyright infringement, etc. Here's a question:
A friend of mine recently gave me all of his CDs. ALL of them (sweet). He had ripped them to his computer/iPod and didn't want them anymore, so he gave them to me. So here's the question: I've heard the argument that once you buy an album, you can ethically make copies for yourself as many times over as you like. So when my friend gave away his cd's, did he give away his right to have the music on his iPod? It seems clear to me that one cd should not lead to iPod copies on two people's machines, but it's unclear who should give their copy up. Bueller?
Anyway, glad you listened to the crowd and got a machine that doesn't suck. You'll thank yourself. Really.
You did a good thing.
As it turns out, we have other users on this board who are more into their Macs than I am into mine. I use f11 to make windows hide and let me see the desktop. I use iTunes for as much as I can, and I'm happy with it. I also love Big Brother.
I don't usually do much with my machine outside of watching movies and playing with music, the occassional run at the <a href="http://www.netflixprize.com/">Netfilx prize</a> notwithstanding. The one gizmo I'd recommend is Yamipod. It lets you pull stuff off of your (or anyone's) iPod - something iTunes won't necessarily allow.
I know, copyright infringement, etc. Here's a question:
A friend of mine recently gave me all of his CDs. ALL of them (sweet). He had ripped them to his computer/iPod and didn't want them anymore, so he gave them to me. So here's the question: I've heard the argument that once you buy an album, you can ethically make copies for yourself as many times over as you like. So when my friend gave away his cd's, did he give away his right to have the music on his iPod? It seems clear to me that one cd should not lead to iPod copies on two people's machines, but it's unclear who should give their copy up. Bueller?
Anyway, glad you listened to the crowd and got a machine that doesn't suck. You'll thank yourself. Really.
The world really is magic
big thanks everyone!
some great ideas so far. lumpy, i got VLC last night, and i think i also have iStat Nano or something similar, both very useful. songbird looks really cool and yamipod is a great idea. keep them comming. im waiting for dan's expertise to chime in!
some great ideas so far. lumpy, i got VLC last night, and i think i also have iStat Nano or something similar, both very useful. songbird looks really cool and yamipod is a great idea. keep them comming. im waiting for dan's expertise to chime in!
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
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Dan
- Camp Shuey Counselor
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Hey! haha
- First off I had to make sure I had my right click. So I am assuming you purchased a laptop. What i did was checked off most of the options to allow two finger scrolling and taping the track pad with two fingers. I bet you have done that already though.
I recently downloaded songbird mainly just to play flac but im finding it pretty cool.
As far as parallels make sure you download the most recent update. The versions that are shipping in a package to my knowledge do not have the most recent update. if windows is bugging out you can reinstall windows via parallels... Also there is a nifty thing in parallels desktop called transfer. It takes an image of your previous windows environment from say your older computer and then syncs it with new drivers to run in parallels eliminating the need to reinstall many programs you had before...
istat pro is my main widget just to get quick stats on what my computer is doing. Also when prallels is running i use coherence mode and I set windows to maximize efficiency by eliminating all the pretty stuff XP added such as rounded edges. I went to the old start menu theme. not sure how much it helps but anythings better then nothing.
Ill add more later
-Dan
- First off I had to make sure I had my right click. So I am assuming you purchased a laptop. What i did was checked off most of the options to allow two finger scrolling and taping the track pad with two fingers. I bet you have done that already though.
I recently downloaded songbird mainly just to play flac but im finding it pretty cool.
As far as parallels make sure you download the most recent update. The versions that are shipping in a package to my knowledge do not have the most recent update. if windows is bugging out you can reinstall windows via parallels... Also there is a nifty thing in parallels desktop called transfer. It takes an image of your previous windows environment from say your older computer and then syncs it with new drivers to run in parallels eliminating the need to reinstall many programs you had before...
istat pro is my main widget just to get quick stats on what my computer is doing. Also when prallels is running i use coherence mode and I set windows to maximize efficiency by eliminating all the pretty stuff XP added such as rounded edges. I went to the old start menu theme. not sure how much it helps but anythings better then nothing.
Ill add more later
-Dan
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Can we keep our old rips if we give away CDs?
Yes. Technically, the legal right to reproduce the content of the original resides with the owner. Since you are the new owner, the old owner lost that right. The right to fair use copies is not transferable. However, there may be a grey area if you both decided he *loaned* you the CDs for safe keeping in case his house was caught on fire. By relegating you to the duties of "Backup Administrator" you could say you never listen to them, you merely store them for your friend. This would be very hard to prove in any court and would be a complete waste of time, IMO.etahn wrote:So when my friend gave away his cd's, did he give away his right to have the music on his iPod?
I'd say you have a great friend there, Ethan. Most people would sell the originals on eBay instead of just giving them away.
But it gets scarier than that:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060215-6190.html
The RIAA wants to change their own stance to try to prevent people from even making backup copies or ripping their own CDs!!! This is both selfish and stupid, but this is overreaction from the rampant abuse of the laws by most kids who really don't care to pay for CDs anymore. It's just too easy to get them online. And the whole police state we seem to be devolving into.
Fortunately, the EFF is fighting these ridiculous attempts to change the laws and hopefully will win (with enough support).
Last year, Don Verilli (RIAA) testified in Supreme Court proceedings that owners have a right to copy or rip their own CDs, "according to his clients in the record industry". So RIAA is trying to take a harder-line approach (and IMO, this is doomed to failure and will hurt CD sales tremendously, maybe pushing them right into the gutter). Draconian approaches never have helped any free market.
The whole "Fair Use Doctrine" battle being fought by our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation can be tracked at: http://www.eff.org/IP/fairuse/
-Phrazz
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rhythmicstorm
- Get Me with Fuji
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my fave trick:
apple-shift-3 takes a picture of whatever is on your screen.
apple-shift-4 lets you select an area to take a picture.
it puts the pic as a pdf on your desktop.
love it!
i really love the mail app. so much better than going online for your email.
i like how you can add your top-frequented folders/documents to the left-hand column in your finder window. if you click on finder, a window comes up. find whatever folder, file, etc you need to access a lot. drag and drop it into that left column. i love apple for it's drag and drop ability.
apple-tab will let you tab through your open applications.
if you hit it just once and let it automatically goes back to your last-used application.
when i updated from panther to tiger i was really excited about the dashboard/widgets but now i never use it!
anyway, enjoy your mac diesel
apple-shift-3 takes a picture of whatever is on your screen.
apple-shift-4 lets you select an area to take a picture.
it puts the pic as a pdf on your desktop.
love it!
i really love the mail app. so much better than going online for your email.
i like how you can add your top-frequented folders/documents to the left-hand column in your finder window. if you click on finder, a window comes up. find whatever folder, file, etc you need to access a lot. drag and drop it into that left column. i love apple for it's drag and drop ability.
apple-tab will let you tab through your open applications.
if you hit it just once and let it automatically goes back to your last-used application.
when i updated from panther to tiger i was really excited about the dashboard/widgets but now i never use it!
anyway, enjoy your mac diesel
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Dan
- Camp Shuey Counselor
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azureus
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Cleantone
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holy crap. never new about that one.try this one folks - hold the following: [cntrl] + [option] + [apple] + [8]
oh by the way...
http://www.freemacware.com
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magpie
- Flood of Joyful Existence Waters
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woa.... that's cool wild!
thanks for that nifty trick
any more?
and,
i was recently perusing freemacware the other day, actually...
grabbed a bunch of little programs. unfortunately, while downloading i was working in photoshop at the same time, and somehow the icons for photoshop and imageready got messed up, so the programs would no longer open. my computer thought they were some kind of music file and tried to open it with snitch (used for converting mwa's to mp3s). i had to throw away a few programs i'd just downloaded *and* snitch to get photoshop to work again. weird. i have no idea what happened there...
thanks for that nifty trick
any more?
and,
i was recently perusing freemacware the other day, actually...
grabbed a bunch of little programs. unfortunately, while downloading i was working in photoshop at the same time, and somehow the icons for photoshop and imageready got messed up, so the programs would no longer open. my computer thought they were some kind of music file and tried to open it with snitch (used for converting mwa's to mp3s). i had to throw away a few programs i'd just downloaded *and* snitch to get photoshop to work again. weird. i have no idea what happened there...
<i>become...
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are</i>
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