about

I like:
- the social sciences, especially history (with interests in all types of areas) & sociology.
- computers -- doing an information systems major.
- reading; right now I'm into the classics and historical non-fiction.
- animals, especially dogs.
- helping people.
- travelling.
- being a repository of useless & trivial info.
- keeping up to date with world events & current affairs.

I hate:
- ignorance.
- fundamentalism.

I'm sure there's more.

advice

I've had my iPod mini for about eleven months and it's always worked fine. However, recently I've noticed a problem with playing music on it. There are certain songs that just won't play. If the iPod randomly selects one of these songs then it will just skip past it until it finds a song that will play. I've tried going to the albums that the songs are on and selecting them and trying to play them that way, but that doesn't work either.

Has anyone had this problem with their iPod mini or know how to solve it?

I've had songs like that before (not a mini, but on a 20gb original, so same generation as yours). Is your problem with songs that you've just transferred onto the iPod, or are these long-time songs which have just started with this strange behaviour? Possibly the former problem is easier to fix then the latter.

There might be many possible reasons as to why your songs won't play, but my problem was that some of my music files were set in read-only mode -- the iPod seems to skip those files. Try finding the files on the hard drive and seeing if they're set in that mode -- if they are, get rid of it (in Windows, right-click > Properties, look for box that says Read-only). Then transfer it to the iPod _fresh_ (make sure to get rid of its corresponding files before transfer, don't just transfer and overwrite).

That's just one suggestion. Even if it doesn't work, at least that's one less problem to consider. =)

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I got the Sims 2 when it first came out. It worked fine on my computer, but then we deleted XP, and I couldn't install it again. It said:
A problem has occured when trying to transfer the file 'TSData\Res\Sims3D\Textures.package' from the media. Do you want to retry to copy the file, or cancel the installation?
If I click retry, it goes up 1%, then it comes up again. It'll go to 100% and just stop. When my aunt came over, I asked her if she knew what it was or how to fix it, and she said that when we deleted XP, we deleted something and we need that to install it. She didn't have time to fix it. So, I was wondering if anyone knew what this was and how to fix it. Is it the graphics card? I asked someone on another website, and they said it was, but I wanted to double check. Thanks

Edited in response to feedback: It sounds like the disc might be damaged or faulty in some way then. I might have hypothesised also that your CD/DVD drive is failing in some way, except you haven't mentioned problems with installing anything else.

It's hard to recommend what to do over the net without seeing the actual situation at hand. Clean the CD/DVD and look for any scratches. If that doesn't work, you'll just have to try these solutions, straight from the horse's mouth:

http://tinyurl.com/palfu - Why is there a disk or transfer error during installation?
http://tinyurl.com/q6rbv - How can I manually install a game if a normal installation doesn't work?

Though I didn't have EA's instructions at the time, a manual install worked for me when my Sims 1 discs failed on me. If you know how to, clean the Registry of all relevant entries as well (just in case), in case some are left over from your failed installation attempts -- however, if you don't know how to, don't both, as fiddling with the Registry can be fairly tricksy.

---====---

A problem with the graphics card wouldn't affect the installation of the program. When installing, make sure you have no other programs running.

When you say you 'deleted' XP, what do you mean? Anything less than a fresh install of XP (that is, installing Windows XP on a reformatted/clean hard drive) can mean that bits of programs are often left over from previously.

The problem might also be with the media itself. Try what the previous columnist suggested.

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Ok theres this old game called Caesar 3 which I am playing through out of nostalgia. Now there was a cheat code for it where, when you punched it in, you would get attacked. The more you punched it in, the more armies attacked you (kinda like the opposite effect of most cheats).

Anyway, I cant remember it, and it seems to have disapeared off the net. I have tried googleing, yahooing, and even praying for it...

If by some chance one of you played the game and knows it please do tell (and btw I do know all the common codes eg. for money, instant victory, all the usual boring stuff)

Thanks.

The 'spawn army' code as listed on this page sounds like what you're looking for.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/code/63635.html

(I have played this game, but so long ago, and I don't recall using this code.)

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I have many (file - .avi) movies downloaded onto my computer. Is there a certain recordable disc I can buy so I can copy my movies on that disc and then play it in a DVD player on a TV? If so, where can I buy them, and are the expensive?
Thank-you.

You'll want to get a DVD-R or DVD+R disc (those are discs which can only be recorded to once). However, it's not as simple as that.

Are your AVI files encoded in DivX? If they are, then many of the newest DVD players on the market can play DivX AVI files, meaning you can burn those files direct onto a DVD and watch them. In any case, if you don't know if they are or not, it would be easier just to play it safe:

You'll have to convert the AVI files into proper DVD-movie format in order to get it to play in the DVD player, using specialised programs. http://www.afterdawn.com/ has some good guides, and for a simple program, NeroVision works well.

Expensive? They're more expensive than CD-Rs, but not excessively so, and if you buy it in bulk, it often works out very cheaply.

Edit: Oh, and you can get them at just about any good computer store, even some supermarkets. There are many different brands, and although this isn't always the case, generally the more expensive the disc, the better quality it is.

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I was just on a website, www.rotten.com, and i pretty much clicked on every picture on it. I'm not a murderer or anything, im a 15 year old girl. Basically i'm trying to say that i dont know what to do becuase I feel so dizzy and sick, and I think those pictures are going to be stuck in my head for the rest of my life? I dont know what made me look at them all, but i did and theres no turning back. How do i stop feeling so..i cant even find the word for it, and stop thinking about them, and function normally? Thanks, i'd really like to sleep, hah.

Hey, your curiosity's just natural -- I was the same as well. =) It'll soon fade from your memories though... everyday activities tend to have that effect, and also, it'll help if you keep yourself too busy to think of much else.

Okay, so that advice was very mundane, but really, don't feel guilty for looking at them, just accept that you did it, and after an appropriate amount of time berating yourself, move on. There's worse things happening in the world, so you don't need to feel bad for what you did.

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I got bought the new Yellowcard CD. I'm trying to put it on iTunes on my computer, but nothing happens when I put the dis into my computer. I try to open itunes and somehow find the cd, but it says the disc is not formatted. I also have tried to play it using the computer CD player, but it keeps telling me to put a disc in the drive when I already have.

What's going on and how do I get the songs on the cd into iTunes?

Xomegaroni has some sensible advice -- if you've done all that, if you can rule out the computer being temperamental, and the disc being damaged or scratched in some way, then...

Does it say on the cover whether this CD is playable on computers? An odd question, I know, but some CDs, especially new-release ones, have copy protection measures built in, meaning that some CDs, especially the newer ones courteous enough to display the warning 'will not play on PCs or MACs', will look like blank discs to the computer. Even so, a lot of CDs without warnings are also copy-protected.

It seems to me that your CD might be one of the copy-protected ones. If you also _think_ this is the case, you can try various solutions to rip music proposed by forum members @ ilounge.com . In some areas, it might also be in your rights to refund/exchange your disc on the basis that your CD appears to be defective.

There are some interesting articles and sites regarding copy-protected CDs:
http://ukcdr.org/issues/cd/ (Corrupt audio discs, aka "Copy-Protected CDs")
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3020 (NewScientist.com: Copy protection on CDs is 'worthless')
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec01/articles/cuttingedge1201.asp (scroll down to Copy Rights, Copy Wrongs)

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I think i'm gonna sell my iPod and buy an iPod video. However, I've been thinking about whether I should wait for apple to come out with the next iPod or not. Should I buy the new iPod now, or wait and see if a newer one comes out?

You should think of why you would want the newer one -- and when you say 'wait and see', do you mean wait for a more up-to-date one, or wait for a 6th generation iPod? I doubt that a 6th-gen one will be available soon.

What's your needs? Do you need more and more GBs? Is this only for music, or do you think you'll be a heavy user of videos? Are you an audiophile, or do you just like having a portable music player? If you want a newer iPod just for the pleasure of being up-to-date and trendy, by all means, wait, but otherwise, the iPod video might be sufficient for your means, depending on what they are.

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Soon, I will be getting a new computer. The one I have now we've had for four or five years and it's getting slow. I have an iPod and I don't know how to save my songs so I can put them on my new computer. I don't have a CD burner so that won't work. Is there any way I can send them to a friend's computer and they can send it to my new computer? I really don't want to have to buy all my songs again that would be way too expensive. Thank you in advance.

First of all, to those who insist otherwise, iTunes is NOT a CD burner! It's burn-capable, but first and foremost you need the correct _hardware_ (i.e. a CD/DVD drive capable of burning to CD-Rs and CD-RWs) to burn discs.

That aside, Asc's method is good as it makes your iPod like any other disc drive on the computer, yet you can remove and plug in this particular drive. You could just copy back and forth as you choose. However, if your songs are already stored on the iPod, you can use third-party programs to copy songs from the iPod back onto the computer (iTunes can't do it apparently because Apple wants to discourage piracy). I use AnaPod Explorer for such copying, but I think there are freeware alternatives out there as well.

EDIT: Almost forgot... when iTunes on the new comp asks you if you want to associate your iPod with it, say NO, otherwise its Auto-Sync will format all the files on the iPod. Transfer music back onto the computer first.

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okay.. so right now i use mozilla firefox so would i be able to delete internet explorer off my computer ? or would that be bad.. because even though i use mozilla.. there are some popups from internet explorer and causeing spyware and nasty popups.. please help thanks

There is the program IEradicator (http://www.litepc.com/ieradicator.html), though like the other columnists, I wouldn't recommend removing IE -- the browser's integrated tightly into Win98 and later OSes.

Presumably you've already run anti-spyware programs. If that's the case, next you should change the settings in IE, by going to Options > Security tab, then choosing High Security setting for the Internet icon. If you're certain you won't be using IE, it would also be best to disable ActiveX -- it's a scripting language unique to IE which could possibly allow malicious scripts and programs on your computer to run.

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