May 2008 eMonitor

Come to Our General Meeting on Thursday, May 15th at the Resource Center of the CCOKC

May General Session – RSVP of Central Oklahoma with Debi Menzer
by: Lee Wheeler VP of Programs

JP Williams gave a great Presentation (for the third time) on duping Cassettes and LP Records to DVD (he used up most of April). He had also purchased a few Multi-port USB hubs for the ones that wanted them. I will bring mine in for “Show & Tell” along with a VHS to DVD dubbing device at the SNUG meeting preceding the General Meeting.

Our Presenter for the May 15th General Meeting will be Debi Menzer. She is a Volunteer Coordinator for RSVP of Central Oklahoma and has been with them about 8 months. She was previously with a group called AT RISK KIDS at the Mid Del Activity Academy. She will be explaining the History of the organization and their impact in the local area as well as the various Services they offer.  The program should last about a half hour or more, depending on questions from the audience. She has also graciously agreed to give her presentation earlier to the SNUG group and then again at the General meeting.

After the speaker we will have our drawing for door prizes. Each month the Club gives a door prize to two of the members, and a free membership to a visiting non-member, and a prize to another visitor. This month the door prizes will be a LINKSYS Wireless – G Print Server and a set of Computer Speakers. Hope everyone enjoys this next Meeting…

Please join us for an informative lesson and stay for the drawing for these great prizes. THE FOLLOWING IS VERY IMPORTANT:  In fairness to all, no one will be allowed to register for the drawing after 7:05 pm. You MUST have a current Computer Club of Oklahoma City badge with you to enter the members' prize drawing. If you forget your badge, you have lost it, or it has expired, you will not be eligible to fill out a prize drawing slip. If you need a new badge, or need to renew your membership to the Club, please see or email Jack Milner, our Membership Chairman at least 24 hours before the General Meeting. No new or replacement badges will be printed the night of the meeting. Jack's email address is JMilner000@aol.com, and the phone number for the Club's Resource Center is 405-843-4300 (leave a message if there is no answer). This is a firm rule for all meetings, so please be sure you bring your badge with you each month. You are welcome to stay for the presentation without your badge, but you will not be allowed to participate in the drawing, no matter how long you've been a member of the Club.

The General Meeting of the Computer Club of Oklahoma City is on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 7:00 pm. The meeting is held at 3000 United Founders Blvd. Suite 201, Oklahoma City, OK.  (This address is NOT in the United Founders Tower.)  

Complimentary coffee and refreshments will be served, and soft drinks are available at a cost of $.50.  Please invite a friend to join you for this meeting.

April General Session Review
By Troy Segler, Immediate Past President of ccOKC

 CONVERTING OLDER MEDIA TO COMPACT DISKS OR DVDS

On Thursday, April 17th, members of the Computer Club of Oklahoma City were privileged to attend another very informative presentation.  J. P. Williams, one of our member-volunteers discussed with us his ideas and methods for converting vinyl records to a CD.  At the morning session of SNUG, hosted by Charlene Francis, J. P. made a similar presentation using a cassette player to transfer music to a CD.  He is awaiting a hardware device to use for converting VHS tapes to CDs.

J. P. was very emphatic in telling the audience that it would be best to buy equipment specific to the role you were trying to play.  He recommended obtaining equipment from www.ion-audio.com/turntables.  I located the web site that has information about their equipment.  It will provide you with ideas about the performance and specifications of their equipment.  The equipment recommended by J. P. comes with a USB interface to your computer.  He suggests that if one attempts to connect some of the older cassette or vinyl record players to your computer, there is a strong possibility that you will blow your graphics card, which could be a major expense when replaced.  New equipment is designed to connect to your computer without utilizing the inputs directly on your sound or graphics card.

You will require some software for controlling the conversion of your media.  I looked up some websites for software.  One is www.blazeaudio.com, which provides both audio and software supplies.  Another website I located is www.polderbits.com  and www.ion-audio.com/tape2pc

He downloads a great deal of music from the internet and stated he thought it was cheaper to download from the internet than to purchase CDs and make the one official copy you are allowed to create.  MP3 files use compression and are easy to utilize.  I understood him to say he converts the MP3 files to iTunes.  There is a great deal of time saved by using the MP3 format to bring music to your hard drive.

You will want to have some software for the purpose of editing information from cassettes, vinyl recordings and VHS tapes prior to placing them on a CD or DVD.  You can find software on the internet that assists in reformatting audio and video on your computer.  J. P. illustrated the process of removing noise from his transferred data.  He then illustrated the software he uses to list the titles from cassettes or vinyl or CDs and printing them out on paper.  He also writes information regarding the data to be stored on the CD or DVD onto the disk. 

USB capable equipment for migrating VHS tapes to CDs or DVDs is under development, but apparently isn’t available for purchase from ION at this time.

J. P.’s output appeared to be of very high quality.  The process didn’t appear to be difficult.  Of course, J. P. undoubtedly has quite a few hours of experience in duplicating data on CDs.  I remember his discussions about downloading music from the internet several years ago, and believe that interest has continued.  He does honor legal responsibilities and suggest others do also.

At the conclusion of the meeting visitor Helga Muenzing-Peters name was drawn for a free one year membership in the computer club.  John Thompson’s name was drawn for the other visitor prize, which was a copy of the Trend Micro Internet Security Pro.  The lucky members were:  Jim Ike, who received a UPS (Universal Power Supply) backup system and Rosanne Wells, who received a set of X240 Logitech speakers.

Visit our web site immediately after the first of each month to view that month’s upcoming presentation.  Lee is focusing on obtaining knowledgeable and entertaining speakers for our group.  You attendance and support will enable him to get commitments from the best of breed.

Hope to see you next month on the third Thursday evening at 7:00 P.M. 

Troy Segler

Click Here to Join the Computer Club of OKC. See the Membership form on the Website

What is a Study Group

     The Computer Club of OKC offers many different Study Groups. They are groups of 10-50 people who meet monthly to learn about a particular subject. The format is part presentation and part facilitated discussion. These meetings are supported by our membership. There is no charge, but a $2 donation is requested to defray the rental cost of the room.

     Come to a Study Group in our Resource Center at 3000 United Founders Blvd.!

We are located at the east end of the Center 3000 Building in Suite 201, so use Entrance One on the east side of the building.

      We are a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization of around 1200 members, with the goal of teaching each other more about using and enjoying their personal computers for business and pleasure. The sole purpose of the organization is reflected in its motto, “Computer Users Helping Computer Users.”

New Senior Combo Members (50 +) can now register for the Computer Fundamentals class at no charge.

Contact Charlene Francis 359-5675, if you have any questions regarding membership and/or registration for the class.