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November 14, 2004
New Category: Be Your Own Geek (CDs)
I just realized how to add categories again in movable type (it had something to do with allowing pop-ups), which is appropriate given the category I wanted to add, which is: "Be Your Own Geek." This is my idea for a self-help book for (not to be sexist or to diss my she-geek friends) ladies breaking up with their geeky boyfriends/husbands and wondering what to do with all the equipment and cords that are left behind. It would be like those guides for women to work on cars or fix their leaky faucets or whatever that I assume were put out in the 1970s.
"Be Your Own Geek" probably exists, but I couldn't find it in about 2 seconds of web/Amazon searching, so for my purposes it doesn't exists. Chris has agreed to collaborate with me on this if I share the profits and we're off to a great start! I think if we wrote a cute forward and got some cute cartoon illustrations it could definitely sell. As far as I can tell, the divorce market is under-exploited, although I'll bet I'm missing something there. I DO think we need more divorce/breakup showers and parties and stuff.
This book would be an extremely general guide to things that geek boyfriends/husbands generally take care of, like hooking up stereo cables, buying technological supplies (like CDs), doing software updates, knowing what cool gadgets to talk about at parties, etc. I agree that incredibly general guides are often pretty useless, but keep in mind that as usual I'm more arguing for the market than the utility.
My actual implementation of this idea, to the extent that I implement it, is to create a new blog category, "Be Your Own Geek" and as I encounter problems that I need Chris's help solving, I'll blog about them under this category. That's the plan, and I'm sticking to it!!!
So here it is, without further ado, entry #1 in "Be Your Own Geek":
What Kind of Blank CDs Should I Buy Since You Took Them All When You Moved Out and Now I Need to Make CDs for My Sister?
[It should be noted that Chris gave me a bunch of blank ones as soon as I posed this question, but then he also answered the question in detail.]
Answer: I want CD-Rs. I don't need the kind that say they are for music, even if I'm recording music, because data and music CDs are identical, but the ones that say for music cost a little more because the record companies managed to impose some sur-charge on blank CDs. I probably won't ever take the time to re-write the CDs that are re-writable, particularly since they are cheap. The ones that we use are very cute because they have a good dye layer on them and no logos. I can get them at the audio store in NW. Dye layer matters in part because the CDs that you record are vulnerable to scratches that matter on the top rather than the bottom because of the way they are recorded.
I want to buy them in a spindle or cake packaging because it's cheaper, and I can buy the cases separately. I should make sure there is no lint on my CDs before I put them in.
I can check dealmac for deals on CDs.
I don't care about speed rating because the fastest my laptop can record is 16x (16 times real time) and all CDs are now faster than my laptop.
I should not be fooled by older audiophiles and debates which will tell me to record at slower speeds, because the faster speed is what my thing is designed to work at and slower speeds will make it fuck up.
I might want to get Toast sometime if I don't already have it, and what do you know, I do.
CDs degrade over time, especially if they are not in cases or if they are of poor quality.
OK! That's everything I learned about CDs! Look for more exciting installments in this category!! You can be YOUR own geek and figure out how to find entries by category!
Posted by mary at November 14, 2004 08:33 PM
Comments
Next installement!!
"How Do I Edit my Movable Type Blog to Set It Up So That People Can Sort By Category or Even See the Categories?"
Posted by: Mary at November 17, 2004 02:58 PM
Hey, what i like this be your own geek idea. But it should be a website, not a book, because geeky info is constantly changing. A sub-blog of your blog, perhaps.
So what brand of CDs do you buy?
Rachel *$
Posted by: Snakebite Sally at November 17, 2004 03:51 PM
Re: parties for divorces and such.
I just went to a party a couple weeks ago for a guy who had finally paid off his last alimony payment. You see...the partying can just go on and on even years after the breakup.
Posted by: Kathy at November 18, 2004 08:16 AM
I buy Mitsui media that uses MAM-A dye layers. Here's an example of a place that sells them: Data Media Store. Spendy but worth it, if you really give a crap about your data.
The ones we buy locally have an additional printable white layer applied to the top (rather than the shiny gold, which I think looks silly). The printable layers acts as both a protectant and a nice blank white space to write or draw on.
Another thing I probably forget to mention: never use stick-on labels on DVD-R's. I don't know if the same issue applies to CD-R's (I gather that it doesn't, or at least is not nearly as bad). Apparently many label adhesives corrode the top layer of DVD-R's, destroying the data layer beneath. I've had real world experience with this and it's nasty.
;Chris
Posted by: Chris Higgins at November 19, 2004 03:33 PM
And another thing I'm not sure is covered in Mary's post, but is theoretically important, is to store CD's (of all types, not just burnables) vertically, like LP records. The same logic applies -- gravity pulls directly down along the axis of the disc, and due to the vertical orientation can't do anything to distort or deform the disc. If you lay the discs flat or at an angle, gravity can (eventually...like after multiple years) deform the disc slightly, which is no fun. Nobody likes a wobbly disc.
;Chris
Posted by: Chris Higgins at November 19, 2004 03:35 PM