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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OK. I’ll admit it it’s a pretty well-executed feature. And it does distract from some of the less-than-shiney features of this box of tricks.

I think when you take the MP340 for what it is (ultra-versatile portable storage device), rather than what the market probably thinks it is (MP3 player), it all gets rather interesting. It’s very much a plug-and-play device and likes filling its large-capacity memory with good old, premium grade drag and drop. And the video conversion tool is neat too.

My point is this: wouldn’t it be great if Acer bundled an MP340-spotting MusicMatch suite to help with the oh-so-dull Windows file swapping interface? I mean, Acer has just signed an agreement with Yahoo! to install it’s next-generation PCs with a co-branded toolbar and startup page as of, erm.. yesterday…

And with this agreement, Acer PC’s will now come with Yahoo as the default search engine and will include the usual Yahoo services, such as links to music, sports, messenger, and e-mail. ..

And Yahoo owns MusicMatch….

Just a thought…

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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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