The Chronicles
May 2011
Salutations dear readers and fellow Laurentian neighbors,
I have a quick question for you ... do you believe that a CD (or DVD) is the best tool to use to record music, to carry photo slide shows or even to perform back-ups of your computer's precious data? Not long ago I would have agreed with you that it was, but this is no longer the case. CDs are nearly a “thing of the past”!!!
“WHAT!” I hear you say. That's right, just as you've gotten used to the idea of burning your music on a CD to listen to it in your car, or copy your photos and movies on CD/DVDs to share with Family and Friends, a new technology has been introduced once again! Arrrr ... A side note here: do you know what the difference is between a CD and a DVD? Nothing, apart from their capacity to store information. One DVD equals approximately seven CDs.
But, as you'll come to understand, the technology in fact has not really been changed, it has been IMPROVED. At the beginning of CD usage, the disks were identified as CD-Rs. R meaning writeable, which meant that you could burn information on it only once. Then came the CD-RW - rewritable. You could now burn information and later add extra information on the same CD. One of its major downfalls though was that you could never delete information from a CD/DVD. Once burned, it was burned. Not so for the devices replacing these disks.
I am, of course, talking about the USB key (and the MP3 / iPod player for music). Not only does this gadget have an amazing storage capacity, but you can also add and delete information from it at will. It is therefore extremely versatile and reusable
ad infinitum.
So, here is how I recommend you use your USB key. Start by buying one with a lot of storage capacity. Rather than copying your data manually (which you can choose to do), download a free back-up program which will create an exact replica of your computer's info onto the USB (add what you've added, delete what you've deleted and change what you've changed). Since the USB key (Universal Serial Bus) is now as common worldwide as the electric plug (well, almost), you will now be able to access your data on any computer and even on nearly all modern TVs. It is also interesting to know that if ever you find yourself unable to, say, open a slideshow; you can now download what we call portable programs onto the USB key. This allows you to execute the program from your USB key and open your document/photo/video/movie without installing anything on your host's computer. (Another side note: listening to your music in your car, for example, is a different story. It is just as easy and I will cover how to do this in a future article.)
All very fascinating isn't it? Yes, you will need to adapt ... again! ... However, believe me, it is for the best!
Take good care of yourselves,
questions.monamilordi@gmail.com
This article originally appeared in Main Street – The Laurentians' English Language Community Newspaper.
