mariness

So, the main computer is, in the cheery words of Best Buy, "undergoing several significant structural problems," which is a kindly term for "completely fried." (The key here was the fact that the computer spontaneously went into System Restore without my permission, which I thought was odd at the time, and turns out to be very odd indeed.) Adding to the problem, HP, which insisted on having the computer sent to them for repairs, and which then added to the fun by not actually doing said repairs, wants the computer back again.

Under the circumstances, Best Buy has agreed to offer me a full refund that I can put towards something else in the store, which is nice, I guess. So, any recommendations for a brand other than HP? I'm going to be stuck with what's in the store because for various reasons I absolutely must have the computer by Sunday, but, if anyone has any warnings, now would be a good time.

(Frankly, if I didn't need the thing so much for communications - it's my phone and the way I shoot out little manuscripts to irritate editors with - I'd be very tempted to just put the money towards a plasma television. Sniffle. I have a feeling that would give me considerably more pleasure.)

Also, for iTunes users, is there an easy way, other than contacting Apple, to deauthorize a computer from my iTunes account when I no longer have access to that computer?

(typed on the netbook. The entry is about the main computer.)

So. I got this computer in April 2010. April. Let's remember that month, shall we?

Earlier this week it didn't want to start in the morning, claiming that Windows had closed down improperly (probably true) and therefore didn't want to open up properly, or for that matter, improperly. I checked, and realized that somehow or other it had come unplugged; I figured I must have left it on, somehow unplugged it, and then let the batter drain. These things happen. No biggie. I turned it off, charged up the battery, started the computer, and All Seemed Well.

This afternoon, I did a bit of writing, got stuck, decided to get caught up on Burn Notice on Hulu, midway through got a message that HP was doing some maintenance, and then...bluescreen of death. When I tried to restart it, I was told that the computer couldn't find a boot drive. Meanwhile, the computer was seemingly burning up - so I unplugged it and let it rest, and tried restarting it once it seemed cool. This time it restarted, but, once Windows was up, sluggish is an understatement. I started making backups of and emailing myself some recent documents, and --

Bluescreen of death again.

The computer's under warranty, and I guess, if I had to get the computer repaired, getting it repaired just as I'm leaving for a bit is the best of timing, but, AUUGH. I have really had it with computers today. We'll be taking the computer back to Best Buy tomorrow.

I blame Burt Reynolds.

(What? I'm supposed to think it's a coincidence that he was guest starring on Burn Notice and I got a blue screen of death?)

From multiple sources, a couple of recent articles explain again why most musicians make no money from record sales - and why most of that money ends up heading to the record label.

This is why some artists - the one that comes to mind is Jane Siberry - have given up on the concept of record sales altogether, while many others survive on touring and/or creating their own CDs/flash drives as best they can without the assistance of a major record label. I've met a few musicians who, if not exactly living life up in mansions and privately owned jets, are doing decently enough with independently produced CDs and small to large performances here and there. And others that are not doing financially well at all, which could be chalked up to the starving musician syndrome, but in part has to do with a large portion of an audience's limited resources going to record labels and the evil that is Ticketmaster (the last two times I've bought tickets through Ticketmaster - for Stephen Lynch and Jonathon Coulton, the Ticketmaster fees were 1/3 of the cost of the ticket.)

What's not mentioned here is another issue: the fees charged to record copyrighted songs. It's been awhile, so I don't remember the exact numbers involved, but some time ago, the singing group that I was directing was considering putting together a CD. One song we did rather well was "White Christmas," and since we certainly had no problems crediting and paying the Irving Berlin estate, and besides, didn't want to get the independent recording studio considering helping us out into any trouble, we figured we would just get a license for the song, pay whatever fees/royalties and move on.

The problem was, the initial fee - for a song, remember, written in 1940 and made famous not so much by Berlin but by Bing Crosby - was in the thousands of dollars. Thousands. Regardless of whether or not we sold a single CD. So, we rapidly dropped the idea of including "White Christmas" (and ended up not doing the CD at all, at least not with my involvement, but that's another story). The same thing - fees/royalties for copyrighted songs - are also part of the money musicians will owe record companies if they aren't playing their own work.

Off topic, while typing this up I lost a key from my three month old computer - maybe four month. Ok, yes, I realize I bought a cheap computer, but still!

(It's just the top of the left cursor key. I really don't type that hard. Maybe it was a cat.)

The power supply for the Toshiba turned distinctly cranky today, refusing to work unless the cord is held at a very, very particular angle which seems to shift on a whim. Since waving power cords around at weird angles is not my idea of entertainment, and for a variety of reasons I am not buying a new computer until January (if then), I'm shutting this computer down until the new power supply arrives, just using the netbook for a few days.

This mainly affects my writing (since the netbook is not good for long term typing), TV viewing (which really only affects those of you desperate to hear my snarky thoughts on V, since I still haven't gotten around to seeing the last two episodes) and those of you who contact me via Yahoo/AIM/Messenger since I haven't and won't be putting any im clients on the netbook. So if you im me, and I ignore you, it's not personal - I just haven't seen your im.

And yep, everything of importance has been moved to the external drive. Let's hear it for speedy external drives!