I wonder if the fridge would cause clumping or something. Ziplock might work. Dunno.

Thanks, amy. I'll give it a shot.

OK, my vcr is dying. I just use it to record stuff (programmed by me) when there is a time conflict. I don't need to save anything for posterity and don't usually have more than a couple shows in backlog. I don't want a subscription service. What are my options that are pretty much plug-it-in and no mucking and cheap enough that just buying another-soon-to-be-obsolete vcr is dumb? I do enough mucking for work.

eta: I'm being dragged screaming into this century, I swear.

TiVos have gotten ridiculously cheap -- still subscription, but they pay for themselves in making life easier! There was one at Best Buy the other day for $169 IIRC.

I also have an HP Media Center PC that comes with a TV/Cable tuner and software with "TiVo"-like functionality and it's a good backup (it also lets me burn the episodes to DVD so I can watch them on the big screen downstairs).

Most cable services will now supply you with a cable box/DVR for not much extra cost.

i'm attempting to burn some dvds and the files i'm using are about 500MB at the most. however, when i get to the part where it tells me how much available space there is, it's telling me one file is, like, 6GB. any ideas?

i'm using Ulead because i can't seem to find my Nero cd anywhere. argh!

I maybe have to tape something once or twice a week, so subscription is more $$ than it is worth.

sarameg, you can get DVD recorders that can use rewritable discs. They're not super-expensive ($100 - $200 range) and work basically like VCRs with better quality, and you can also replace your DVD player with it. They should have them at any Best Buy / Wal-Mart / Circuit City type of place, or even cheaper online.

An example: [link]

Hello, immense hivemind and a new thread!

So, I'm getting a laptop as a present from my folks. And the three of us could use directions. I was thinking about Lenovo, but I have no idea about their models. It needs to be as much as maintenance and trouble free and user friendly for the computer-killer-by-mere-presence-person-moi (for I won't have a lot of time to get it fixed and will need it on a daily basis), good for the university freshwoman, and some memory won't hurt for the music junkie who likes to have her music next to her at all times. Also, regarding OS - and I'm hoping I'm not opening any Pandora box - do I want Linux or Windows XP, considering all university farms are with the latter and I'm gonna need to transfer files between those OSs?

Any advices?

At my last job, we used Thinkpads exclusively, but had enough in-house expertise with minor repairs that I may have an exaggerated sense of how reliable they are -- and also, this was before Lenovo took over the line. My sole personal laptop ownership is a Mac iBook that's chugging along nicely after three years+, even though I've worn the letters off a significant part of the keyboard.

(Mac OS runs a version of Unix underneath the fancy interface which makes them more Linux-compatible than you might think.)

It looks like most of the details of today's new MacBooks have been leaked. Apple hasn't been as good at clamping down on rumors lately.