This may be obvious, but be sure to buy a camera that uses MiniDV tapes. Don't consider cameras that use older, obsolete analog formats (ex. Hi-8) that may be selling for less.
A digital format will enable you to copy your films to a newer technology in the future, with no loss of quality.
Also, make sure you can input NTSC signals, so you can connect the camera to a VCR and copy your old VHS movies, should you have any.
Avoid overpriced, proprietary Sony battery technology. I'd rather spend my money on a second, backup battery than a $100 battery that tells me how many minutes it has left, gets it wrong, and dies prematurely.
Using folders has its limitations, as has been pointed out. I might want all of aunt Mae's pictures, including the one taken at my wedding, my son's wedding, the 1999 family picnic, her husband Joe's funeral, etc.
We simply dump our photos in \PHOTO1, \PHOTO2,... and start a new folder when there's about a CD full. The photos are stored [1] at home as well as [2] at the office, [3] backed up on CD for convenience, and [4] backed up on 4mm DDS tape for long-term.
Metadata is too tricky. I just sit my wife in front of the computer, fire up ThumsPlus, and by simply pressing F2 she can change the name of each photo to include the names of the subjects. By typing DIR *GRANDMERE*.JPG we can find all the pictures of my mother.
BTW if you're concerned about longevity, your best and only backup could be a 3"x5" print. You can use ThumbsPlus' batch-stamping feature to have the name & date of each photo blended into a corner of a copy of the JPG, and it will appear in the printed copy.
(You don't realy think you'll be able to view those CDs thirty years from now, do you?)
Yes, the rollover is disappointing. My Sony Cybershot uses five-digit numbers (DSC01234), which lured me into thinking I was all set, when the darn thing went from DSC09999 to DSC00001 after three years. What a gyp! Sony doesn't answer tech support email.
There is another purpose for MP3 players besides music. Book narration. I bought an Otis from audible.com. It's given me an incentive to get out and walk 1 hr/day.
It only has 64MB, which is plenty: 8 hrs of voice-grade audio. An important feature is the ability to restart from where it stopped the last time you turned it off. You can skip through 3-min tunes, but you don't want to fast-forward through 8 hrs of voice to find your place.
They have a great selection (6500 titles). You can also get an ASCII text-to-voice program, transcribe Slashdot items and listen to technical papers while you're strolling in the park.
No! No! I didn't mean one single operating system. I mean one unified Linux, with a standard GUI API, which developers can confidently write to. Why fritter away precious resources sparring with Linux brethren, when the time and energy can be better put to use competing with Windows?
BTW j'suis d'nationalite canadienne francaise, et ces billots j'les ai coupes a la sueur de mes deux pieds dans le terre glaise.
Here's a simple solution: get an Otis MP3 player from www.AUDIBLE.com, download electronic narrated books. Coming home from work, park your car 3 km from home, then walk the rest of the way while listening to interesting books.
Next morning, walk back to the car & drive to work.
Pretty soon you're walking 30 km a week, and having a blast. I've heard more books in the last month than I have time to read in a year.
Slashdot Mirror
A digital format will enable you to copy your films to a newer technology in the future, with no loss of quality.
Also, make sure you can input NTSC signals, so you can connect the camera to a VCR and copy your old VHS movies, should you have any.
Avoid overpriced, proprietary Sony battery technology. I'd rather spend my money on a second, backup battery than a $100 battery that tells me how many minutes it has left, gets it wrong, and dies prematurely.
We simply dump our photos in \PHOTO1, \PHOTO2, ... and start a new folder when there's about a CD full. The photos are stored [1] at home as well as [2] at the office, [3] backed up on CD for convenience, and [4] backed up on 4mm DDS tape for long-term.
Metadata is too tricky. I just sit my wife in front of the computer, fire up ThumsPlus, and by simply pressing F2 she can change the name of each photo to include the names of the subjects. By typing DIR *GRANDMERE*.JPG we can find all the pictures of my mother.
BTW if you're concerned about longevity, your best and only backup could be a 3"x5" print. You can use ThumbsPlus' batch-stamping feature to have the name & date of each photo blended into a corner of a copy of the JPG, and it will appear in the printed copy.
(You don't realy think you'll be able to view those CDs thirty years from now, do you?)
Doesn't every document have its name & folder in the footer? Or somewhere in the intro?
Yes, the rollover is disappointing. My Sony Cybershot uses five-digit numbers (DSC01234), which lured me into thinking I was all set, when the darn thing went from DSC09999 to DSC00001 after three years. What a gyp! Sony doesn't answer tech support email.
No, no: he means a _single_ file (one copy) linked to more than one directory.
There is another purpose for MP3 players besides music. Book narration. I bought an Otis from audible.com. It's given me an incentive to get out and walk 1 hr/day. It only has 64MB, which is plenty: 8 hrs of voice-grade audio. An important feature is the ability to restart from where it stopped the last time you turned it off. You can skip through 3-min tunes, but you don't want to fast-forward through 8 hrs of voice to find your place. They have a great selection (6500 titles). You can also get an ASCII text-to-voice program, transcribe Slashdot items and listen to technical papers while you're strolling in the park.
BTW j'suis d'nationalite canadienne francaise, et ces billots j'les ai coupes a la sueur de mes deux pieds dans le terre glaise.
[1] volunteers only work on the fun stuff.
[2] There are not enough volunteers to go around.
[3] Some stuff is not sexy and will never get done by volunteers
[4] Some types of software you will always have to pay for.
You gotta laugh at the Gnome/KDE/etc wars. Get your act together and standardize if you ever want to overtake the Redmond Devils.
I think this is an excellent pun, and deserves to be congratulated.
Here's a simple solution: get an Otis MP3 player from www.AUDIBLE.com, download electronic narrated books. Coming home from work, park your car 3 km from home, then walk the rest of the way while listening to interesting books. Next morning, walk back to the car & drive to work. Pretty soon you're walking 30 km a week, and having a blast. I've heard more books in the last month than I have time to read in a year.
Bite your tongue! Foie Gras is an expensive delicacy, made from the livers of force-fed geese.
Spam is a meat product made from every salvageable bit of the hog: lips, snout, etc (use your imagination).