Jim Oliver gave a superb talk at St Giles last month. I asked him to talk on making recordings from records, and I have to admit I left it pretty late to ask him, and he came to the party and gave one of the best talks we have had in ages. Jim didn’t want to bring his turntable so I brought my old hi-fi which was the weakest link in the demonstration. I still don’t accept the comments made about my Beach Boys records though!
Jim showed how to connect the turn table to the computer and demonstrated some really good software, freeware, which allowed you to edit, to adjust and to save the music to your computer. At the end of the demonstration he made copies of a CD containing the software, and demonstration videos which attendees took away. Thanks Jim – great one.
The committee decided this was an area where we could help our members and we have decided to buy a turntable to lend out. I know of several members who have record collections they haven’t been able to play in years because their turntable has been donated to a more worthy cause – normally space in the house. Now you have the opportunity to transfer those records to CD – assuming you have the appropriate equipment.
The turntable, from Dick Smiths, is surprisingly good quality. It is belt driven with a magnetic stylus, pretty well automatic and will play 33 & 45 rpm records. (Those of you with 78’s don’t give up - the software has a facility to adjust the speed). It plugs into the Line In socket of your sound card and the software does the rest. We will enclose Jim’s CD with even more software as well as a set of instructions so you should be able to hear those long forgotten scratchy records. (The software will remove noises and scratches but it can take time and patience). We will sort out how we handle the loan of the turntable at the next meeting.
There was an underwhelming response to my request for comments on whether we have Megabyte by post or by email. The person who expressed an opinion wanted to retain the status quo. However we did discuss this at the committee meeting and decided that, if you want Megabyte by email, you can let us know and we will set it up. Do be aware though it will come as a PDF file set up for the printers with page 1 then page 16 etc. If you don’t understand undo the staples in Megabyte and see how the pages are actually printed. It can be read electronically but with difficulty and imagination.
We have had a request from the Helpdesk for volunteers with different areas of skills. If you feel able and are willing to help the occasional person out send me an email at RogerC@Clear.net.nz with your contact details and speciality. We keep the contact details confidential – we ring you so you can ring the person needing help. Please help.
Another thing that was suggested at the AGM was a digital camera. Their costs are coming down so we decided to get one of these as well. It won’t be a top of the line model, if you read these articles you know my opinion on having so many megapixels that your computer can’t handle them. We are looking at a camera about 3mp+, battery operated, not rechargeable, with about 3 times optical zoom. And we want an easy interface with computers so photos can be uploaded.
If you get this in time you might like to go to the Hutt meeting where Microsoft are talking about the XP service pack – Monday night 7:30. Vodafone are going to show us what you can do with their latest toys, (whoops), developments in communication and computing at St Giles.
Ah well back to the Beach Boys – if only my hair was longer!
Rog