The rumour mill is grinding away in advance of the Apple media event coming up in the next few days. Most it's concentrated on the Apple tablet (iSlate? iSlice? iSlab?) but some brave souls have been speculating on an implementation of iTunes which draws on the latest IT hot topic - cloud computing. What would this mean to most users?
The answer has to be peace of mind and convenience. Let me explain why.
About the only thing you can be sure of with computer hard drives is that sooner or later, they will fail. Today users have massive amounts of data, unbelievable only a couple of years ago. When we began ripping CDs we stored clients work on an 80 Gb drive and it tooks weeks before it was filled. Just a few years later this laptop has the same amount of storage, small by many of today's machines. Can it be backed up? Technically yes but very few of us have the discipline to backup our discs, and what do we backup to? Yes, another hard drive with all the risks of that failing. Our moves into photo scanning have shown how people are adding to their storage demands.
CloudTunes would allow you to migrate your precious music from your local PC or laptop away to a centralised data warehouse professionally managed. A location where systems and hardware are in place to keep your music safe.
Convenience? Suppose you're working late in your office and you'd like to listen to your music. Simply point your PC to your iTunes part of the cloud and play away. Kids at uni? Draw on the cloud. Pump music around the house? Just point each PC to the cloud. Tired of waiting for music to download? It will appear instantly if your library links into the cloud.
If it's not this week it is surely time for clouds to gather over iTunes.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
iTunes Error 2131
Contacted by a client who suddenly found he couldn't burn CDs from iTunes. When he tried he just got an error message - the code was error 2131. How can that be fixed?
Reasonably on getting Error Code 2131 as he ran iTunes he naturally assumed that the cause of the problem was something within iTunes. Of course any single software application relies completely on interaction with the operating system which in this case was Microsoft Windows. iTunes does some things, Windows handles thousands of other tasks. For an exercise to be completed correctly, such as burning a humble CD, both iTunes and Windows need to play their part.
It is difficult to quickly see where the source of any error might lie, but my immediate thought was that this stems from Microsoft who offer a wide range of Error Codes. When we've been ripping CDs I think we've seen most of them but this one was new to me.
First stop - Google the error code. Wow, aren't there a lot of people hit by Error Code 2131 was my first thought. Looking at their posts to forums and blogs this has been going on for years. One common complaint - why doesn't Apple fix this? In my experience Apple does so having seen the age of the issue my suspicious eye turned to Microsoft.
Reading through the posts I felt that the majority of users complaining were laptop users. Next, why doesn't Microsoft fix this? Reading deeper into the messages from those who had beaten error 2131 they had done so either through an edit in Windows Registry or by downloading firmware for their drives. If you're not familiar with the term firmware its a small program a device such as a DVD or CD writer needs to function. Logically it sits "under" the operating system and therefore out of Microsoft's remit; physically it is stored on a small microchip on the logic board driving the writer.
Dell, Fujitsu and Toshiba owners were all hit, odd in itself as these are better quality manufacturers. I can't prove it but my suspicion is that they have all sourced CD / DVD drives as components from the same manufacturer. At some point something has happened resulting in a clash between Windows and the drive. Indeed this is what the error code is trying to say.
If my analysis is correct this really is the responsibility of the manufacturer and indeed several Dell users have downloaded a new version of firmware for their writers which has put an end to 2131. Owners of other makes have said this has worked for them too.
What should you do if iTunes stalls with Error 2131? Try Googling 2131 with the name of your PC manufacturer and that might give you access to a firmware update. Try your suppliers support website too, and log this as a fault with them. If you purchased your machine recently from a decent supplier think about contacting them and maybe even rejecting the machine. In my opinion far too few people do this.
Beyond these comments and suggestions I'm sorry to have to say if you get both iTunes and Error 2131 I'm sorry, I don't have an instant solution.
Reasonably on getting Error Code 2131 as he ran iTunes he naturally assumed that the cause of the problem was something within iTunes. Of course any single software application relies completely on interaction with the operating system which in this case was Microsoft Windows. iTunes does some things, Windows handles thousands of other tasks. For an exercise to be completed correctly, such as burning a humble CD, both iTunes and Windows need to play their part.
It is difficult to quickly see where the source of any error might lie, but my immediate thought was that this stems from Microsoft who offer a wide range of Error Codes. When we've been ripping CDs I think we've seen most of them but this one was new to me.
First stop - Google the error code. Wow, aren't there a lot of people hit by Error Code 2131 was my first thought. Looking at their posts to forums and blogs this has been going on for years. One common complaint - why doesn't Apple fix this? In my experience Apple does so having seen the age of the issue my suspicious eye turned to Microsoft.
Reading through the posts I felt that the majority of users complaining were laptop users. Next, why doesn't Microsoft fix this? Reading deeper into the messages from those who had beaten error 2131 they had done so either through an edit in Windows Registry or by downloading firmware for their drives. If you're not familiar with the term firmware its a small program a device such as a DVD or CD writer needs to function. Logically it sits "under" the operating system and therefore out of Microsoft's remit; physically it is stored on a small microchip on the logic board driving the writer.
Dell, Fujitsu and Toshiba owners were all hit, odd in itself as these are better quality manufacturers. I can't prove it but my suspicion is that they have all sourced CD / DVD drives as components from the same manufacturer. At some point something has happened resulting in a clash between Windows and the drive. Indeed this is what the error code is trying to say.
If my analysis is correct this really is the responsibility of the manufacturer and indeed several Dell users have downloaded a new version of firmware for their writers which has put an end to 2131. Owners of other makes have said this has worked for them too.
What should you do if iTunes stalls with Error 2131? Try Googling 2131 with the name of your PC manufacturer and that might give you access to a firmware update. Try your suppliers support website too, and log this as a fault with them. If you purchased your machine recently from a decent supplier think about contacting them and maybe even rejecting the machine. In my opinion far too few people do this.
Beyond these comments and suggestions I'm sorry to have to say if you get both iTunes and Error 2131 I'm sorry, I don't have an instant solution.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Lock Closes iPod
Panic phone call yesterday evening from a CD ripping client. She was moving her music from an old to a new laptop when for some reason her iPod became locked. She couldn't do anything with it, couldn't play music or synch with new library. Help.
First, why a lock? Well it beats me, it's the last thing I'd want on my iPod but maybe I'd think differently if I had younger children or jape oriented colleagues. It is an effective way of stopping access to anyone else. But once in place you need that four digit code to unlock it. As far as I can tell there isn't a master code as that would rather defeat the object of the lock, so once in place it turns your humble iPod into a small bank vault.
Here's how you overcome the problem. You have to connect the iPod to its original computer, the one it was connected to as its master library before the lock code was put in place. Once connected to that computer you have from the standard iPod menu in iTunes the option to reset to factory defaults. If you take that option the iPod is reset (minus the lock) and you have to download all your music back onto the iPod. For more information search for iPod lock in the Apple support pages.
First, why a lock? Well it beats me, it's the last thing I'd want on my iPod but maybe I'd think differently if I had younger children or jape oriented colleagues. It is an effective way of stopping access to anyone else. But once in place you need that four digit code to unlock it. As far as I can tell there isn't a master code as that would rather defeat the object of the lock, so once in place it turns your humble iPod into a small bank vault.
Here's how you overcome the problem. You have to connect the iPod to its original computer, the one it was connected to as its master library before the lock code was put in place. Once connected to that computer you have from the standard iPod menu in iTunes the option to reset to factory defaults. If you take that option the iPod is reset (minus the lock) and you have to download all your music back onto the iPod. For more information search for iPod lock in the Apple support pages.
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