casp

Hi, I do not have an apple TV but these gentlemen ([email protected]) have a podcast which has been very helpful to me and they are more than willing to help. On this page (http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/features/mac_geek_gab/) you can find out more about them. They usually answer direct to you via email. Usually very knowledgable. Hope this helps and do let us know if you solved the problem/learned something useful.

Yes I agree, the credit card companies stand by their clients. I have had a few occasions when they stepped in and argued my case. Very nice to know that they are there when you need them. In this case I used paypal on ebay. I have written to both arguing my case and it is now down to "wait and see". I am pushing this because I want to know where we as consumers on ebay find ourselves concerning responsibility/obligation. In the end I hope we all can learn something so thus the effort. On another forum it has been put forward the possibility that I could have received the product and then act as if not and the seller has no way of knowing this. It is a an argument difficult to prove as how can I prove I did not receive anything?(innocent until proven guilty) I still claim that it is the seller who has taken the chance here and not I. He is putting his trust in the postal service and the honesty of his clients. In a perfect world that is what we all would like to do but we are not there yet. If I was in his shoes I would accept the incident,compensate the customer,learn my lesson(always ship with signed for receipt) and keep my 100% positive feedback on ebay! Nondum omnium dierum solem occidisse! (we have yet to see the last sunset) casp

Thank's for writing. Well as stated earlier customs is not an issue within the EU. This is one of the advantages we have within europe. Strangely enough the VAT is very different within the EU that should provide an equal opportunity marketplace. From Sweden with 25% VAT to the U.K. with 15% VAT. This makes it interesting and profitable to do cross border deals. Returning to the subject. My seller maintains that shipment was made 17/2-2009, paypal gives you the opportunity to open a controversy within 45 days if you have not received the product. All cases has to be closed within 90 days(as far as I can understand). My fault was that I let too much time pass before contacting the seller, 60 days, because I know that delays happen. But the real argument in my view is who takes the economic hit for the undelivered goods? I continue to argue my opinion that the seller is responsible for the shipment and if it get lost,damaged etc he the seller has to deal with the carrier for compensation. My responsability as a buyer is to pay and have confirmed from the buyer that he has received payment. Someone might ask how much we are talking about here and to me that is not relevant. It is the principal that is important to me and to make way for a better system for everyone in the future. But to not leave you totally frustrated with curiosity the amount is £25.50:-. I had this happen to me years ago with a shipment from the U.S.A. The company in this case immediately shipped me another while asking me to return the first should it arrive while their complaint went to the carrier. I have remained a long time costumer with them. Cheers, casp

Well I do have to say I am sorry for you too. That must have been a real blow. Did you recover confidence later on or burned forever? If you have some hard earned lessons to share I am all ears. My case moves on as my seller is claiming that it is the mail systems fault and that he is without blame and should remain without loss . I maintain that the buyer can not be held responsible for more than the payment and it is up to the seller to make sure that the packaging, insurance and carrier are all chosen with care. Any losses during transport falls on the shipper not the receiver. Any views folks? Cheers casp

Hi there, I hate to be the messenger of bad news but after my latest experience with an ebay seller I felt forced to "rant" and warn others. I happily ordered a HD650 sennheiser cable from: http://cgi.ebay.it/Sennheiser-HD650-HD600-HD-650-600-580-Headphones-Cable_W0QQitemZ190299841325QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_AudioVisualElectronics_ HomeAudioHiFi_Headphones?hash=item190299841325&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177 That was a mistake! Paid with paypal 15/2.2009 and have not seen anything yet! The seller answered my emails in the beginning with "have patience etc" but already had we seen 60days passing without wind of anything. Then he starts to accuse the post office in the country I'm in at the moment and I had enough, I gave him a chance to give me a refund but again nothing. Later I looked closer at his feedback on ebay and pardon my french but they look suspiciously the same. I have now read up on feedback scams on ebay and wished I have read it earlier.......but hey I hope some of you may benefit from my experience! I am a believer in the net and it's possibilities(as this forum e.g.) and will keep on using it but as many things in life it is built on trust, take away that and all comes falling down. At last though I want to thank those who do give an excellent customer experience on the net and just to mention a few here goes: RSA(Ray Samuels Audio). U.S.A. Cyberport. Germany Amazon.co.uk. U.K. BOW.it. Italy SignalCable. U.S.A. DNaudio Italy Teknikdirect Germany and the list goes on(fortunately)......... casp

Hi there, It has been known for some time that when you upgrade the HDD in the Mac-mini if you are not careful and put the heat sensor back correctly on the HDD the fan(s) will go into full RPM. Before giving up I would open it up again and check everything once more....there should be a piece of tape or something to hold the sensor in place on the HDD. Best of luck, casp

Hi everyone, Yes the headphone out is a combined optical/headphone output as it is on the Airport Express. The optical output from the Mac has been measured by Chris on this site and been found to have bit perfect output. I have tried USB vs Optical on a Stello 100 signature DAC and had a hard time telling the difference, I think it depends on equipment combinations(as always) Remember that you need a special optical cable for this,can be found in the AppleStore. What have been VERY satisfying to me though is when I got it all running in Apple style, how you ask? Start with an Apple AirportExtreme or TimeCapsule (you want the wireless function activated here). Put an Apple AirportExpress in the vicinity of your sound equipment and connect the AirportExpress OPTICAL out to your DAC. You have now wireless(bit perfect) connection between the ITunes computer(which can be in another room if you like) and your DAC. BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE! If you have an IPhone or, like me, an IPod Touch you can get a program(ca: 20:- Euros) called Remote Buddy which let's you control your Mac from the IPod Touch. Well my lingering question was until this weekend, how much control do I have over the Mac with this program, well little is missing. I can... Start the Mac with the power button and after that go to my IPod Touch from which I can choose everything I can in front of the screen, control the built in camera,launch programs. Music when started will display the cover in the IPod Touch(as saved in ITunes) and give you cd-player like controls. I could go on but I urge you to go to their site should you find this intriging; www.iospirit.com Oh yes I allmost forgot you CAN shut down,force quit and sleep the computer from the program(IPod Touch).This opens up the possibility of using the Mac-mini as music server to me(no display needed) I hope this was not too confusing but helpful! casp

Chris you are absolutely right. As my Drobo is connected to the apple "Time Capsule" it behaves like an ordinary diskdrive. From the Drobo knowledgebase: Article ID 0193: Time Machine / AirPort Extreme / Time Capsule Question: What do I need to be aware of when using Drobo and Time Machine with an AirPort Extreme and/or Time Capsule? Answer: Using Drobo and Time Machine with an AirPort Extreme and/or Time Capsule: 1) Drobo on an AirPort Extreme works, but it must be formatted as HFS+. With firmware 7.3.1 the Airport Extreme works with journaled file systems. When it first shipped, in 2/2007, non-journaled file systems were required for disks greater than 1 TB in size. 2) Time Machine with Drobo direct attached (DAS) works fine, but it might be best to create a separate partition for Time Machine with Disk Utility. 3) Time Machine with Drobo connected to an AirPort Extreme or network attached (NAS) works. Just make sure you have updated Time Capsule or Airport Extreme to firmware 7.3.1 or later. 4) Time Machine with Drobo on Time Capsule works, no special formatting is required. NOTE: All of this may change as Apple releases new OS and/or firmware updates, so stay tuned. With the Droboshare you are getting a Nas unit since the Droboshare contains a operating system(some form of Unix I would guess). I do not have the Droboshare but since there are now free "Droboapps" to download there must be some sort of operating system in there,right? . However it seems(have to be confirmed) to me that the Drobo itself does its system maintenance within the Drobo without any action from the user, hence storage robot. Article ID 0298: Dashboard does not see Drobo connected to Time Capsule Question: I have connected my Drobo to the USB port on my TimeCapsule. However I notice that Dashboard does not seem to know of its existence and I can't find a way to point it at the TimeCapsule location. Does Dashboard work in this configuration? Answer: No, dashboard will only work over the network when using a DroboShare. Article ID 0014: Do I need to defragment my drobo? Question: Do I need to defragment my drobo? Defrag does not seem to function.Answer: You don’t have to perform normal disk maintenance on Drobo because it takes care of those functions itself. It’s not necessary because Drobo’s data management algorithms prevent fragmentation. Drobo’s patented Data Robotics file system technology organizes data while preventing fragmentation. The defrag utilities you’d normally use won’t recognize how data is stored on Drobo. One thing I do know though and to keep in mind is that should the Drobo itself break your data is toast unless you have another Drobo. This is because the Raid system is Drobo only(non standard). You can not recover the data from those disks in any other way(well maybe NSA could?!) As a side note I am happily streaming my AIFF files from my gen.1 Drobo connected to TimeCapsule wireless at "n" speed to my rig with an Airportexpress. Some say that the Airportexpress is very jittery but I'm happy so far..........until I hear the difference with a good DAC attached I presume. I have only ripped CD music so it is not extreme "HighEnd". Anyways love the site, Keep it up Chris! ps: if this post is too long please let me know since I am new to this ds. casp

Hi I have been running my drobo 24/7 for more than a year connected to a "Time Capsule" via USB without any issues. Mine is rev. 1. I do however from time to time connect it directly to the computer via USB to check for updates. It has been running smoothly all the time. I am not shure but I think you could add the Drobo-share(additional cost) and then use it as a NAS on your network and thus be able to communicate with it but I repeat I have not tried this. I'm a happy owner though and is planning to buy another one. As a side note, thank you Chris for the tip about the "Automaountmaker" program. Works!!!!!! casp