I say, “Not”!  And this article from TechRepublic writer, Debra Littlejohn Shinder gives my reasoning exactly.  I am especially in agreement with the even numbered items in the list.

I would add an 11th reason to the mix and that is I never want the first version of anything.  That includes tech stuff, cars, phones, etc.

The engineers and developers never consider every option and everything you and I can do with the device.  I have found that the 1st of anything is usually the poorest of the versions with more issues.

I would like to add that even though I have been reading the TechRepublic site for years to great techie benefit, I will have one of my articles appearing there within the next month or so.  It does require a membership to read all of the information and articles there.  However, it is free and I have never gotten spammed from them.

They send me updates on the specific parts of the site that I want to receive them for.

Tags: Apple, computer, desktop, iPad, iPod, Mac, not ready for prime time, storage, zune

Shannon and I were talking about our trips to work. He travels one way for a little over ten minutes and I travel about 40 minutes to work each day. He said he would go crazy having to go that long to work. Well the gas prices are driving me crazy but the time I find very useful.

From age 16 until recently I read two or three books a month but regrettably life is way too busy now. I have found in recent years I just don’t have the time to sit down and enjoy a good book very often. That is one of the things I use summer vacation for – time to read a book.

I have written before about listening to podcasts frequently but I won’t go into that again today. I have never mentioned audio books to you before. There are a couple of great sources for them online. If you like to read, have an mp3 player or want to burn them to CD and don’t have the time to read a book here are some I would like to suggest.

The first is named, “Audible“. These books are not free but if you are an avid reader of current authors try it out. They have had a deal on it for quite a while for your first book being free if you use a secret code (audible.com/night, thanks to Leo Laporte). Their standard offer is $7.49 for the first three months and then $14.95/month afterward for one book/month. They also have other offers but these are the least expensive. You can get most any current author in a wide range of categories from adventure to science along with some free mp3s. The quality of these recordings is excellent. The books last anywhere from four to 24 hours.

The other site that I like (since my pockets aren’t usually very full) is, “Podiobooks“. All of the audio books here are free, but the large percentage of these books have not been published on paper yet.

These are usually written by unknown authors who have never gotten contracts from the big publishers. You will have to search for them by the types of books you are interested in. I have found some excellent books here and some that I listened to for 20 minutes and then gave up. They are all originally done as weekly/monthly podcasts, read by the authors. Sign up with your email address to be notified each time another “chapter” has been posted to the site. However, if you are like me and want an entire book “right now”, search for the “completed” books and grab all of the podcasts at once and listen to them at your convenience.

One final site is, “The Gutenberg Project” where there is a very large collection of eBooks to be read on a computer or book reader. There is also a collection of books in audio formats, some read by humans (decent quality) and others read by computers (poor). These books have expired copyrights; therefore, they are free. So at TGP you can get most of the old classics.

If you have a long commute or a friend who likes to read but can’t see well enough to read well, these sites are great ways to go.

Tags: audio, books, computers, Firefox, google, iPod, mp3, mp3 player, Ron Doyle, zune

Around Christmas time I was in the market for a new MP3 player and had decided on the Microsoft Zune (www.zune.net).  I know that this was against most of the commercial wisdom of the day since I heard recently that 59% of all MP3 owners have an iPod (store.apple.com).

A day or two after I ordered the Zune online through Microsoft I received an email from them saying that it was on backorder and I would get it sometime in the next couple of months.  Being driven by instant gratification right that minute, I decided to go to the local stores and buy one.  However, since it was right after December 25th they were all out.

I did; however find an Apple iPod locally.  After talking to all of my iPod friends and checking out how they work…I switched and became an iPod owner.

Armed with my 80Gb iPod Classic I loaded onto it every CD my wife and I owned (about 100 hours worth).  Then I added five movies, three or four unabridged books, my standard seven podcasts and hundreds of digital family photos.

After doing all of that I checked and had used less than 20% of the hard drive space on the iPod.  I thought, “Hmm, what else can I do with all of that empty computer space?”

A friend then told me about free software out call “MojoPac For Individuals” (mojopac.com).  This software allows you to carry data files and computer applications (such as Word, Excel, Solitaire, Firefox, Maxthon, many games, IMs, etc.) on most any USB storage device or iPod. 

What is neat is that once those programs are installed on your device you can then plug your USB device into another computer and run the device as your own computer.  For instance, I could be traveling and need a spreadsheet from work off of my work computer.  As long as I have copied it to my iPod using MojoPac, I can hook up to the hotel computer and open that file in my own Excel (must be licensed) then edit/save that file and even email it right from my iPod.

I don’t really need to lug around my notebook computer any longer (which only has a 40GB drive), as long as I have access to another computer.  I know this is hard to believe for some of you geeks out there but go to the site and check it out.  You don’t even need an iPod.  I first installed it on my 2GB flash drive to test it out and it worked like a charm, I just ran out of space.

P.S. Microsoft delivered my Zune 5 days after they told me it could be a while but I stuck with the iPod.  Also, MojoPac will work with the Zune too!

Tags: Double Click, iPod, microsoft, mp3, mp3 player, Ron Doyle, zune