The Toys Have Arrived

Both of my recent eBay wins arrived today by express post courier. Just like christmas!

Some first impressions seem to be in order. First, the web camera.

What a little beauty. It installed in a couple of seconds, plus a minute or so for the software. Well ok, the installation wasn't exactly very involved. It went like this:

1. cut open courier satchell and open packaging box
2. take out camera, remove from plastic bag and unravell cord
3. place camera on top of one flat-topped monitor
4. plug the double-ended cord (very neat) into the USB and microphone ports

Then XP wanted to install the newly (instantly) found hardware. I put the driver CD-ROM into my DVD drive and clicked my way through the XP dialog and it was done. Fully installed.

Naturally I had to test it, so I fired up Netmeeting and sure enough, there I was looking at myself on the screen. Too easy.

The next bit of fun was the MP3 player. (I'm not really sure why it's called that, since it does 5 things, only one of which is play MP3 files - and that's not even the only format of music files it plays. I guess "MP3" is marketable.)

Well this proved to be a slower toy to master. Where are the "kids" when you need them hey? My son would have had this thing through all its paces in mere seconds. It took me a good deal longer.

Mind you, I was not helped much by the printed manual supplied by the manufacturer. It is written in what I call Chinglish. I mean no offense by this; I admit to being monolingual (regrettably) and I have considerable admiration for non-English speakers who learn our language. It is quite a challenge to learn English from Chinese too, since of course, it requires a whole new script. However, I think that the ready availability of translators with technical writing skills means that manufacturers who don't ensure that their manuals are polished by someone with the necessary skills, have really sold themselves short. Pitty really.

Here's just a couple of examples. (It's a 12 page booklet in fine print!)

1. Please cut link when you copy file and the PC clue on stop.

6. It was not lockup of HOLD when you open MP3.

Now I still have no idea what the above mean. However it wasn't all so mystifying. Here's an example that I could easily decipher.

3. Do not use this device in the extremely thermal, cold, dusty and watery circumstances.

Good advice I reckon - I'm not too fond of those circumstances either. Anyway, I worked it out and managed to verify that every function was fully operational. And what a great little device it is. The advertising material claimed that it produced especially high quality sound. We've all learned to take such claims with a grain of salt, and I certainly wasn't expecting anything too fantastic. Gosh, was I pleasantly surprised. It actually produces simply brilliant sound quality. Just amazing!

Well, I must get back to playing with my new toys now.... bye!