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Yes I have a Mac, where to go from here...

Started by whatapiper, May 23, 2009, 01:08:41 AM

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whatapiper

im still new to my mac and want to know what everyone uses for...

compressing files (i have xACT)
download manager (Vuze)
player for shn/flac (Play and Cog)
burning/archiving (toast titanium)
organization

basically my family and work takes up most free time so everything must be efficient.   i enjoy xact just fine and vuze is great as well, where i have issues is with "play" and "cog." i dont particularly like either of those, play is just ridiculous imo and cog ok, its a pain to add/remove files it seems.   toast works great so far except an initial corrupt download when i first bought.
as for organization im lost, everything seemed easy on a pc and now i have a mess!   dragging files is a pain and renaming for itunes is a major nuisance.   any suggestions?

also, my mouse decided to stop scrolling down with the ball and will only scroll up when at the bottom of the page.  i have messed around with the mouse settings with no luck.

We are all and we are all we are
Far flung bits of Sun and bits of Stars
From the  ocean from the land from the
beginning to end
Backwards forwards back toward
we belong

jephrey

xACT is good
Vuze is ok, but Transmission is much simpler like uTorrent. 
SHN/FLAC playback...  I don't play them back in those formats - I use toast titanium to convert to apple lossless and dump into itunes.
organization is an open-ended thing. 

For moving stuff, if you can get used to spring loaded folders and using column view with "shortcuts" in the "PLACES" section, drag/drop is very easy.  It just takes getting used to.  I use both this here and cut/copy-paste at work and can do both with equivalent speed.  I must say that since I use my mac for personal stuff, I like drag/drop better.

Did you have your files in iTunes on a PC?  It'd be the same on any computer.  You can use automator if you want to batch-rename files.  It's fairly easy but won't pull the names from a table or anything.  You should be able to find something to apply tags etc around the web.  If you can explain exactly how you need to rename files, I might be able to help more.

If you are concerned with organization generally, I can explain that too.  Force yourself to use spotlight and you'll be able to find anything, but if the folder structure is weird to you, give it a bit of time.  You'll realize how much better it is.

You can look up on the web how to fix your mouse.  I actually took mine apart, but you really don't need to go that far until the other methods just don't work any more.  Plus, you have to glue it back together and taking it apart is more like breaking it apart carefully.  There are videos on youtube, but generally flip it over on a clean sheet of paper and  roll it on the ball in a circular motion...  Applying a small bit of alcohol (even vodka works) or using an air-can in conjunction with the "rubbing".

In short.
-Use a "lighter" torrent client, Transmission
-FYI, even though I also use toast titanium, you can burn right in the finder with a right click and select "new burn folder" for archival and in iTunes by creating a playlist for audio and clicking burn.  Again, I still prefer toast because I'm used to it and use it for other things too.
-Column view is tits.  You can drag any folder to the "PLACES" section on the left and get to it easily.
-Utilize spring loaded folders with drag/drop.  You can adjust the delay in finder prefs.
-Use spotlight (cmd-space).  I even use it to launch apps that I don't keep in the dock.  It's really easy for that and finds stuff easily too.
-The feature that I think is the biggest win on a mac that you never hear about is quickview.  For most files, you can single click on the file, then hit the spacebar and the file is displayed in a window.  This works great with pics, text, and especially if you want to just hear a quick sample of a music file without opening an app - unfortunately it won't work with shn/flac but whatever.
There are 10 types of people in this world.  Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Mr Minor

Well said.  Listen to this man, he is wise with the ways of Mac.

jedifunk

using spotlight is like using the force!  i <3 spotlight!
Much Respect
(the other resident mac guy) [macbook air]
"Good Funk, real funk is not played by four white guys from Vermont.. If anything, you could call what we're doing cow funk or something.."
- Trey Anastasio

Caravan2001

Huge fan of Transmission here over vuze....

whatapiper

Nice, i had not heard of transmission, thanks for all the information, again, it is just a matter of getting used to.   over time i hope to get everything in working order and organized so i can participate again with projects.   i had to bail years ago for many reasons and have a lot of holes in my archives.   anyway, thanks again, it may take me a while but i will get going eventually and thank you all for the support.
We are all and we are all we are
Far flung bits of Sun and bits of Stars
From the  ocean from the land from the
beginning to end
Backwards forwards back toward
we belong

whyweigh5.0

^transmission^

I use something called Audialhub to convert everything and anything audio.  And Visualhub for absolutely anthing video.  And I use Toast Titanium for all my burning needs
The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. - Hunter S. Thompson
http://liquidgoggles.blogspot.com/

whatapiper

Quote from: whyweigh3.5 on May 24, 2009, 02:50:13 AM
^transmission^

I use something called Audialhub to convert everything and anything audio.  And Visualhub for absolutely anthing video.  And I use Toast Titanium for all my burning needs

nice, i will check that out as well.   
We are all and we are all we are
Far flung bits of Sun and bits of Stars
From the  ocean from the land from the
beginning to end
Backwards forwards back toward
we belong

inourdr

Good info here. I'm currently a PC user, and HATE it! I'd like to switch to a mac, if I can find the funds. Any of you recently make the switch? If so, I'd like to get your thoughts... ie. learning a new system, transferring PC files to Mac and so forth. I have a ton of photography software on my PC, do I have to reacquire the programs? Would you recommend the switch? Input is appreciated.

jedifunk

i would recommend the switch in a heart beat... without a shadow of a doubt.

unfortunately you would have to re acquire all your software.

moving files from pc>mac is fairly straight forward, and not terribly difficult.  and apple does provide an easy to use way to do that
Much Respect
(the other resident mac guy) [macbook air]
"Good Funk, real funk is not played by four white guys from Vermont.. If anything, you could call what we're doing cow funk or something.."
- Trey Anastasio

jephrey

My bro just built a Hackintosh for $475 (which includes 2TB).  He used an old G4 case, but he's overclocking a chip (can't remember which) and finishing up working out bugs like adding drivers for the vid-card etc.  He has stuff like it won't sleep, can't change resolution, etc but working them out.  As soon as he hooks it up, I'm going to look into doing the same with his plans.

I looked at some speed tests and even my "G5 powerhouse" is no match for the mini.  This thing is only 5 years old!  It still works IMO better/faster than my dual processor Dell at work.  Meaning, you can get something really good from Apple or made yourself for well under 1K.
There are 10 types of people in this world.  Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

whatapiper

I definitely recommend the switch, you just need the time to get figure it all out.  Transferring is painless unless you don't have a lot of externals like myself.   I still have way too much on my PC to transfer over.   My mac only has a 230 gig HD and i have one external with 100.  not even close to enough, i had four HD on my PC and had a total of close to 1k.   Any good externals out there suitable for a mac? i really need more memory!
We are all and we are all we are
Far flung bits of Sun and bits of Stars
From the  ocean from the land from the
beginning to end
Backwards forwards back toward
we belong

kellerb

Quote from: whatapiper on May 31, 2009, 12:29:56 AM
I definitely recommend the switch, you just need the time to get figure it all out.  Transferring is painless unless you don't have a lot of externals like myself.   I still have way too much on my PC to transfer over.   My mac only has a 230 gig HD and i have one external with 100.  not even close to enough, i had four HD on my PC and had a total of close to 1k.   Any good externals out there suitable for a mac? i really need more memory!

I'd probably look into setting the pc up as a closet server of some sort, instead of transferring all the files over

jephrey

Any drive is good for a mac, just has to be formatted to HFS+.  You could serve files from your pc or just get one new drive, same size or larger than your biggest  and make a bunch o transfers.

format new drive(larger than largest), transfer from pc drive number 1(largest)
erase and reformat pc drive 1, transfer to that from pc drive 2(next largest)
erase and reformat pc drive 2, transfer to that from pc drive 3(third largest)
etc.

That'd create some headspace too.

The 1TB drives are under $100, so that'd cover a lot (maybe everything) and then any one of the free'd up drives could be reformatted for additional data.
There are 10 types of people in this world.  Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

inourdr

Looks like I'm going to be making the switch from PC to Apple soon than anticipated... my PC keeps freezing or restarting on me every half hour or so. :x A couple of questions for the Mac savvy...

I'm looking at getting the new 13 inch MacBook Pro.  I'd rather not sell out $1500 for the 250 GB/4 GB ram model. Think about the 2 GB ram and upgrading the 160 GB Hard Drive to the 250 GB HD. Saving me $250. Thoughts?

I also have a TON of pics and mp3 on my PC that I'd like keep but do not want to clog up the Mac HD with this stuff. Can I transfer them to an external HD and still be able to access them with the Mac? I've looked into external HD's already and noticed that some of them are formatted for Macs and some are not. Any recommendations on an external HD that will work with both?

AppleCare Protection Plan? I usual steer clear of extended warrenties. They're basically worthless IMO, but I'm thinking about purchasing this one mainly because I DL everything for software to music (can't afford $700+ for CS4!) and would like to have some "insurance".

Airport Express with AirTunes. Anyone use one of these? Sounds awesome but some people comment on it cutting out occasionally. Hows the sound quality?

replies or PM's are greatly apprecited. Also, is there a "mac4n00bs.com" someone could point me to?