[Jeff Carpenter]

Hard to say. You have a site saying it sounds the worst, here’s another that says it tested as one of the best:

https://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/iphone-scientifically-rated-verdict-great-call-quality-273914.php

Who knows?

[Jeff Carpenter]

Here’s a good, list-based review:

https://daringfireball.net/2007/06/iphone_first_impressions

[Jeff Carpenter]

All I can think of is the fact that holding down the mouse button on startup will open the tray. Try switching mice. Try cleaning out the USB plug. See if you can get anything to change.

However, I thought of that before I opened your post and saw that there are THREE computers doing it. That seems like some kind of software problem in some program you use. The mouse-thing is my only guess, though.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Start in the PREFERENCES > ADVANCED > IMPORTING section.

If you’re going to stay with iPods or the Zune, I’d go with this setting for compression: AAC (Higher Quality) 256 kbps

If there’s any chance you’ll be moving your music to who-knows-where in the future, go with this: MP3 (Higher Quality) 192 kbps

The first choice is better, the second is more compatible with other devices. I go with AAC, but those are your two best bets.

Next, go to PREFERENCES > ADVANCED > GENERAL. Make sure that “Keep iTunes Folder Organized” is checked. Then, make a folder on your external drive and click the “Change” button there to select that folder as your music’s home.

Now, any future imports will go there. To move all your current music, go to the “Advanced” menu (in iTunes, not Preferences) and select “Consolodate Library.”

That will move everything in your library to the new location. Your iTunes library and playlists remain in your home folder on the internal drive, but all media goes to the new folder you’ve set on the external drive.

After it consolodates, check the music folder in your home directory. I THINK that the music will still be left there. Find the folder with the sound files and erase the contents of that folder, leaving everything else you find (iTune files) intact outside of that folder.

While those files are in the trash (but BEFORE YOU EMPTY THE TRASH) test iTunes and make sure it’s playing the media from the external drive just fine. If it works, feel free to empty the trash and erase the original music.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Run your software update again. A superdrive update just came up last night. I’m wondering if some problem came up in 10.4.10 that needed to be fixed. I didn’t have any problems, but you should double check it.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I don’t know the answer to any of these, but I CAN tell you that the startup sound isn’t gonna change. It’s built into the hardware as it is activated before the computer even boots up. There might be some way to disable it (I don’t knwo) but I’m sure you can’t change it to something else.

Anyway, I can’t help you with the rest, but I figured I’d throw that bit of info out there before you spend too long looking for an answer on the startup chime.

[Jeff Carpenter]

You can get away with some Final Cut Studio stuff on a Macbook, but not other stuff.

Rather than list the “cans” and “can’ts” I’d just repeat gineric1 and say that the Macbook Pro is a better bet.

If budget is an issue, go to Apple.com and type “refurbish” in the search bar. There are good deals on refurbished computers and they come with the same warranty as the new ones. You’ll be getting the last model (dimmer screen, slower video card) so only do this if you can’t afford the new Macbook Pros.

But if it comes down to price, I’d say that an older Macbook Pro is still better than a brand new Macbook.

[Jeff Carpenter]

It will work, but you’d do better to get a PCI firewire 800 card and plug the drive into that. This will seperate the hard drive from the system bus. You’ll get better performance.

Be sure to consult your computer’s manual as the type of PCI slots change frequently from model to model.

[Jeff Carpenter]

You should leave the device (camera, hard drive) off until you’ve plugged the cable in on both ends, but I wouldn’t worry about turning the computer off.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Well, something doesn’t match between the footage and the timeline. It could be frame size, frame rate, or some other random thing.

I can’t tell you what it is, but that’s what you should be experimenting with…looking at every minute little detail in the conversion process and the setup of the sequence.