Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Air That I Breathe

So it begins.............again.

I loved my MacBook Pro.  If Rick Santorum would have let me marry it, I would have.  But we all know how he is and what he thinks of inter-species and inter-laptop marriage.

Oh yeah, and I'm already married.

I waited almost a week to replace the Mac.  On one level, I hoped the PO-lice would have found the guys, but let's face it, that sucker is gone.  Maybe in months, after it's been wiped clean and the cops finding someone "accepting" stolen property, it might be the only way we'll ever see that shit come back to us.

But I've moved on.  I had to, at least for my own well being.

Knowing I cannot (or at least, should not) use my work laptop for personal things I knew I had to replace.  Really it was more of a mental thing to not tread water on the robbery thing.  Truth be told, Denton had to push me a bit.

So I have a new Mac.  I opted to go with the MacBook Air.

It has its pros and cons, but the good clearly outweighs the bad.  The process is faster than my old MacBook.  It is half the weight.  It has a lot of gig for storage, but not as much as the MacBook Pro.  But at this point, I don't need 500G of space.

The con is really the lack of a DVD drive.  For 90% of what I do, I do not need one.  All I ever used it for was to burning music for my nephew, who is now at college.  Or from any music I checked out of the library and wanted to rip as my own.  For a little price, I bought an external one for those tasks and can keep the laptop at super light weight toting.

So, there is a certain thrill to starting out with a new machine.  Everything is so clean and uncluttered.  Of course, it's uncluttered because now you have to reload all those things you really need to operate.

Those 500 or so songs from iTunes, I had to get back.  Actually, it wasn't too much of a hassle......I think.  I'm not 100% sure I got all songs back.  How can one be totally sure?   I never kept track that closely.  I'm sure I'll find something someday I want and it is not there.

iTunes did give me two songs I did not purchase.   One I would have, but I know for a fact I got it from the early days of Napster (before they got sued).  So now I have two versions.  The other song, trust me, not only would I have not bought it had I ever heard it before, but I had never heard it before.   I'd say I got $1.29 off for my troubles, but it's not a $1.29 I ever would have spent.

The one thing I did not get back were the digital booklets for any of the album downloads.  iTunes says, and I quote:  After reviewing iTunes in the Cloud, it appears that the digital booklets are not covered in the redowloading. 

Fuck you.  That costs them NOTHING.  And, I already paid for it.

I also went through a similar process with amazon about the one album I purchased from their .mp3 store.  The first try I got 11 of the 13 songs.  Then I got 12.  Finally I got 13, but it was a lot of back and forth with their 'help' desk and we know how easy amazon is to contract regarding 'help.

Admittedly, what I don't have back-up for is some of my Limewire songs that were "shared" peer to peer.  I have them on my iPhone, so I need to find a "work around" to get them off and into my iTunes library.  And I'm sure some of my actual public library scores are missing so I'll have to make treks back there to get some of that back as well.  Bother.

Overall, I'm pretty frickin' happy with the Air.  I mean, not the parting with the money, but insurance is covering most of it.  Still....it hurts to hand over the credit card to purchase this all.....again.

See how happy I am?


Actually, I took this snap (and the title one) just to get into the People of the Apple Store, but it's not a very well kept up blog, so I'm not hopeful that I'll make an appearance.  There.  I said it.  Let the chips fall where they may.

With Apple's new OS, I'm also dealing with format changes.  The two finger scroll, as they are making much of this stuff to mirror the iPad.  I've been cursing a bit, but trying to get the hang of it.  I could go into the settings and change them all to what I am used to, but I'm trying to be adaptable.

So, I'm on the road to recovery.  At least it seems that way.



Song by: the Mavericks

4 comments:

Unknown said...

There is nothing quite like the feeling of a virgin hard drive. I'd love to know what you think of the Air after using it a while. Keep us apprised!

Nick said...

I picked up my MacBook Air when I started traveling for work and I would never go back to a MBP. All of the things you mentioned are my reasons, plus the amazingly fast boot up time.

I was surprised how easy it was to transfer everything from my old laptop using the Time Machine feature. In only a few clicks, programs, data, and settings were all perfectly brought over. Fuck the Time Capsule; it's all about the Time Machine.

Enjoy your new light weight baby.

Birdie said...

Oooh, MBAir! I know this was hardly a joyful upgrade, but I do envy you your shiny new toy. Keep us apprised of your ongoing experience with it.

Ur-spo said...

"get well soon" !