I remember when my dad bought our first CD player but not the exact year (must have been mid-80s) - it was my mom's birthday present and he also bought a Beatles box set to go with it. It was about the size of a microwave.

My first CD player was the one my parents gave me when I went off to college. They got a new stereo system that summer so I got all the old stuff. A Sony Amp, a CD Player, and two big speakers that my dad bought in Thailand during the war.

What was amazing to me about DVD players is how the price came down so much faster than CD players did. And at first everyone thought DVD player pricing would follow the model of CD players.

I upgraded my computer. Since the whole basement--where my computer lives--was in disarray it seemed like a good time. My computer was all disconnected and up on a table anyway. For the first time I did an upgrade without having to change my two year old motherboard. That also meant no memory upgrade and no video card upgrade.

I went from a 2.2Ghz E4500 Core 2 Duo to a 2.8Ghz Q9550 Core 2 Quad. Microcenter is selling the Q9550 for about $40 less that the cheapest price I've seen anywhere else.

The same video transcoding went from 140 fps to 350fps. I can transcode a 480p Spongbob show MPEG2 to MP4 in two minutes. It's very nifty.

Windows 7 now tells me the limiting factor in my windows experience rating is my video card which is a 8800GT.

Windows 7 now tells me the limiting factor in my windows experience rating is my video card which is a 8800GT.

Interesting. Is that a feature of Windows 7? It tells you what's the slowest part of your 'puter?

I'm still using the same (and first) CD player I bought over 20 years ago.

I'm still using the same (and first) CD player I bought over 20 years ago.

Really? My first CD player skipped like a mofo. Eventually it got stolen and I got a much better one. Now I import everything into iTunes, so I never use a CD player.

I don't remember when I first got a CD player, but I was definitely still buying casettes in 1988. Nowadays everything is electronic.

Interesting. Is that a feature of Windows 7? It tells you what's the slowest part of your 'puter?

It started in Vista. I think the idea is to give create a number than can be used to see if your computer is up to piece of software, but I don't know that anyone uses it. It rates CPU, Memory, Video, and Hard Drive and gives your computer the rating of the slowest part.

It's in the properties of "My Computer"

Really?

It's a Phillips and it's never done me wrong. I also mostly use iTunes, so it's gotten a lot less use the past few years.

It's in the properties of "My Computer"

If I ever upgrade from XP, I'll check it out.