The Acer Guy

It looks like I’m about to go down with my fifth flu this winter (no, I am not kidding) but before I do, I need to ask if there’s someone out there who knows his or her way around iTunes under Vista.

Got a mail from Liz who’s having problems burning CDs which is one of the main reasons she bought her Extensa 4620Z in the first place.

In her mail, Liz writes:

When I go to burn a disc using iTunes I get a message that reads “attempt to burn a disc failed unknown error 2131″ & it ejects the disc automatically. After some research on Apple Support and reading user discussions it seems that many Dell users that have the same cd drive as I do have had the same problem. Some were able to get Dell to provide new cd drives for them and now Dell has made a patch that you can download to fix the problem and burn cd’s.

I e-mailed Acer Technical support yesterday and am yet to hear a response.
I phoned Geek Squad at Best Buy where I purchased the Acer and they couldn’t help me. I then phoned Acer Technical Support and was told Vista and iTunes are not compatible and there was no patch coming from Acer and nothing that could be done so I can burn cd’s from iTunes. I asked if downloading the Dell patch would work and if it would void my warranty and I was told that if I did that and had a hardware malfunction it would void my warranty (I’m not even sure the Dell patch would work just grasping at straws here).

It is very frustrating that burning cd’s from iTunes was one of my primary reasons to buy a computer and this computer doesn’t do what I want. Any help or suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated!

Now I’m relatively familiar with iTunes but have never heard of this particular problem. Also Simone doesn’t have access to an Extensa model so he suggested trying to burn using NTI CD-DVD maker / MPlayer or any other burning software by changing the settings within iTunes so that it imports audio files in the MP3 format which you can then burn with NTI CD/DVD Maker but it’s a long-winded solution…

Liz is toying with the idea of downgrading to Windows XP and I’d really like to help her out before she does. Anyone out there with suggestions?

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I’ve finally taken the MP340 out of the box and it’s sitting on my desk charging. I’m going to leave it there this week-end and explore it more on Monday before the kids clap their eyes on it.

One of the things I did though was connect it to my PC and launch iTunes. Surprise surprise, it didn’t see it. I guess this has been written before but I think it’s a pretty sneaky move to proprietizing music playback. It’s like selling a CD and then only being able to play it back on a player from a single manufacturer. Don’t know what’s on the accompanying disk but maybe I’ll re-install Music Match or Real Player - that should smooth things out.

I suddenly have an issue with Apple’s system of patenting everything. Their products are undeniably slick, I’m not so sure I can say the same thing about their business practices.

But I digress. The MP340 is a cute little thing. I’ll post about the performance when I’ve had a chance to play with it a little.

What I like about it so far is what it stands for. Suddenly, Acer is right smack in the middle of mainstream consumer products and convergency as a result is a little bit closer to becoming a reality.

As a concept, convergency is definitely something I’m in to. Bringing the best of both worlds (IT and consumer electronics) together is a killer idea, and I really like that Acer is making the first moves. I mean, there aren’t too many Pioneer PCs knocking about are there?

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Like the title says, If you look at this photo, you’ll see it’s a 20GB Acer MP340 that’s been getting quite a bit of re-circulated articles about how it’s the only one out there with Sudoku on it…

OK. I understnd that these sites were pushing the same piece to add content to their own, and while I’m the last person to the work of others, is that all there is to say about it?

The end of the iPod is nigh because of Sudoku? Really? Can’t see many Nike-clad joggers lining up for this then…

Normally I’d jump at the chance to write my own review of this but as it’s been sitting where it is on my desk for the best part of two weeks, I guess it’s not something that’s going to happen soon.

Now fair’s fair. One of the reasons I haven’t unwrapped it yet is that I’m in love with my own iPod. A 6GB iPob mini that my wife bought me a year or so ago.

I have had no experience with other media players so it’s going to be like switching from a Nokia to a Motorola. But if there’s something I don’t like about the iPod it’s iTunes (I know they’re separate entities but think about the natural link between these two for “the rest of us”). The number of times my iTunes store (Italy) hasn’t had something that is freely (in the figurative sense) available in other countries actually gets right up my nose and has contributed to the not-inconsiderable erosion of the appeal of the iPod (simplicity and slickness).

And as my own music tastes have taken me to obscure places like K7, Kompact, Music for Robots or even the brilliant Real Audio from Switzerland, I’m beginning to discover that there’s a lot more out there than play-it-safe iTunes.

OK. I’m weird. I have a serious music fever disorder and love everything that has a beat so my tastes aren’t exactly mainstream but my move away from mainstream music supply chains just happens to coincide with the arrival of the MP340 on my desk which, as I haven’t seen it mentioned in ANY home entertainment magazine or online review, is about as far away from mainstream as you can get.

In fact, maybe it’s so uncool that I’ll be named a national hero for being brave enough to take it out in public.

It’s gotta be worth a try no? OK I’ll start unwrapping it right away!

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