I’ve been struggling with a syncing problem for a week.  I have a 60GB iPod and run iTunes 8.01 on a Mac Pro with Leopard 10.5.5.  I’d plug in the iPod and before it could sync the first file I’d get the error:

Attempting to copy to the disk <name> failed.  You do not have enough access privileges for this operation.  iTunes could not save to your Music Folder because you do not have write access.  Check the permissions on your Music Folder and folders in your Music Folder, then try copying this file again.

iTunes would then disconnect (not eject) the iPod and several other errors and warnings would pop up.  I searched and searched and tried many solutions but finally figured it out.  I needed to change read/write permissions on the iTunes Library file and iTunes Music Library.xml file — not for me, but for staff and everyone.  I did both at once so not sure which file did the trick or which role.

I documented my troubleshooting with a mind map.  It shows all of the things I tried and what eventually worked.  Hope it works for you, too.

Note you can click-drag the map to reposition and expand/contract the branches. If you’d like to edit the map and add your own detail, click the mindmeister logo to visit the hosted site.

I frequently hear from friends, “I’d consider a Mac but it costs more than a PC. Doesn’t it?” My gut response has been, “Not if you compare Apples to Apples!” (no pun intended.) MacWorld recently published a comparison of comparably equipped laptops. See this article for the details. The results (prices as of 6/20/2008):

MacBook vs. Dell XPS M1330 - Mac wins by a few bucks
MacBook Air vs. Lenovo X300 - Mac wins by $1571
MacBook Pro vs. HP’s Compaq 8710w Mobile Workstation - Mac wins by $263

Just what I thought! Can you get a $400 Windows laptop from Best Buy? Sure but don’t compare it to a MacBook — they’re in different leagues. Some other considerations as stated in the article:

• Windows computers are perpetual targets for spyware and viruses. Macs are targeted, too, but not to the same degree.
• The Mac OS and Apple computers both come from the same company. While Macs
  aren’t trouble free, you’re less likely to experience as many unexplainable crashes and incompatibilities as you might on a WindowsPC.
• Apple has earned top scores from PC World readers in reliability and service.
• The Mac OS X Leopard is a clever, nimble operating system and a pleasure to use. Windows Vista is a behemoth. While not the demon it’s often made out to be, it ain’t the Mac OS, either.
• Apple laptops have thoughtful design touches, such as keyboards that illuminate automatically in dim lighting.
• There are many more laptop choices in the Windows world, and at a greater variety of price points.
• There are still plenty of software applications available for Windows only. (You can run Windows on Macs, of course, using Apple’s Boot camp, which is included in Mac OS X Leopard, or a third-party virtualization program such as Parallels Desktop for Mac

By the way, I use Parallels for two Windows apps that I use occasionally. It works great.

As a long-time Windows user, I’d frequently use the Print Screen key to capture screen shots to insert into emails or Word docs.  Hey, there’s no Print Screen key on the Mac keyboard! With a little help from “The Unofficial Apple Weblog” I learned that the Mac has improved on the concept.   Here’s how…Press Command + Shift + 4 and a little cross-hair icon will appear on the screen.  Move it to one corner of the area that should be captured.  Hold down the mouse button and stretch across the entire area to be captured.  Release the button and a PNG of that area will be dropped on the desktop named Picture 1 (or 2, etc.).  Drag and drop this into your document.  Pretty cool.  In Windows, I could use Print Screen to capture the entire screen or Ctrl-Print Screen to capture the active dialog box.  Anything more required a special program like Snag-It.  As mentioned, it appears the file format is PNG though the article referenced above (from 2005) says PDF.  I’m using Leopard so that could make a difference.

I installed two wiki’s tonight for the first time. What’s a wiki? According to wikipedia…

A wiki is a type of computer software that allows users to easily create, edit and link web pages. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, power community websites, and are increasingly being installed by businesses to provide affordable and effective Intranets or for use in Knowledge Management. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as “the simplest online database that could possibly work”.

My first wiki can be found at http://wikibooknotes.org.  I plan for this to become a collection of notes I create about books that I find valuable.  The site is still under development but a few pages are up.  The second wiki is at http://music4mass.com/wiki.   I hope this will eventually become a destination for Catholic music ministers looking for help planning music for liturgy.  The wiki will be edited by users and will include suggested songs that fit the readings each Sunday of the liturgical year.

Now for the technical stuff.  WordPress (my blogging platform) and MediaWiki (the wiki platform) are both excellent open source programs.   GoDaddy –my hosting service– makes it relatively easy to set up WordPress blogs in a matter of a few clicks.  MediaWiki’s are a bit more of challenge.   I was fortunate to find Eric Hartwell’s InfoDabble site and his wiki installation article.   If you want to learn more about wiki’s, contribute to one of mine or to wikipedia.  To learn more about blogging, consider setting up a free blog at wordpress.com.

http://www.ehartwell.com/TechNotes/MediaWikiOnGoDaddy.htm

I’ve been using Notepad++ Portable — an open source text editor — for off-line blog post prep. This open source program is available as a Portable app at http:\\portableapps.com. Recently, I’ve been receiving a “config.xml failed” error when loading the app. This was followed by a “stylers.xml failed” error. Notepad++ still worked but the skin changed and settings seemed to be lost. I found the file in the folder \PortableApps\Notepad++Portable\App\Notepad++ and since it had a file length of zero, I assumed it was corrputed. I renamed this file to config.old and that did the trick for both errors. Next time I loaded Notepad++ a new config.xlm file appeared, this one with an 8/16/2007 date. My guess is that when the app doesn’t find the config.xlm file in the appropriate folder, it copies the original from a different folder. I’m not sure how this happened by I’d bet a nickel I yanked out my USB drive before shutting down the app and that corrupted the file. Thanks to Bill Weber for an article that pointed me in the correct direction.