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Ask TUAW: 5.1 surround sound, bookmark syncing, MobileMe, MDI files, and more

This time around in Ask TUAW we'll be fielding questions related to bookmark syncing, MobileMe, 5.1 surround sound, MDI files, batch audio conversion, multiple iPods and more.

As always, your suggestions are most welcome, and questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X, as certain answers will vary between different Macs and Tiger vs. Leopard, etc. (we'll assume you're running Leopard if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions!

Zimmie asks

I do audio work on a podcast and can't seem to find an application to do what I want it to do. I know there are batch exporters that will take a collection of files and export them all to consistent settings. I guess what I need would be an export batcher. Essentially, I want to take the stereo AIFF file and end up with four output files (mono AAC, mono MP3, stereo AAC, stereo MP3) with given encoding settings. Übercaster seems to allow this, but it doesn't let me pick certain bitrates and sample rates for the AAC encoder. Currently, I'm using iTunes and I just set the number of channels and the encoder up by hand. Is there any software that lets you take a single audio file and export it with multiple settings?

Several other readers offered suggestions of Switch and Max, however I think that the recently released AudialHub ($18.81) will do almost exactly what you want. It allows you to set up separate queues with different settings in each one that can run simultaneously. It's from Techspansion, the same folks behind my favorite video conversion software, VisualHub.


Jesse asks

I was thinking of getting the new iphone but i have more than 16 gb of music. Is there a way to sync one itunes to multiple iPods automatically without having to manually update?

Yes; in iTunes, select the appropriate iPod or iPhone in the source list on the left. Then under the Music tab you can select whatever you want. So for instance, choose "Selected Playlists" then check whatever playlists you want. You may have to create some specific playlists for the purpose, but iTunes will automatically update these playlists when you sync.



Joel asks

My wife and I are running a 24" 2.8Ghz iMac with Leopard. I work for an all Windows office environment. One of the formats that is commonly used by my coworkers is the .mdi (Microsoft Document Imaging) format. This is used to send reports from Access etc. without trying to shuffle hard copies between our multiple offices. I have as of yet been unable to open this file format with any Mac program. The only workaround I've found is opening it on a PC, re-saving as a .tff and then opening the .tff file on my Mac. That's a real pain. Is there anyway (short of running Windows with Boot Camp) for me to access these files on my lovely new Mac?

After searching around a bit I have not been able to find any native Mac software that can read the MDIs. The MDI format is a proprietary Microsoft format apparently introduced with Office 2003 (and subsequently abandoned). As for what you can do:

  1. Run Boot Camp
  2. Better yet, run Windows in virtualization using Parallels or VMware Fusion
  3. Try running Office 2003 in CodeWeaver's CrossOver for Mac
There is also an application called MDI2PDF Converter, but you'll have to run it in Windows. Given that Microsoft itself has deprecated the MDI format (it's no longer natively supported in Office 2007), I wonder if I might not gently suggest that your company change its workflow.


Balls asks

I'd like to replace my Windows Desktop with a Mac Pro, and use Bootcamp for Windows work (gaming). I have 5.1 Klipsch Promedia computer speakers. Is there a way to use these speakers with a MacPro in OSX and in Windows.

You're going to have to get some additional hardware. One route would be through an A/V receiver with built-in Dolby Digital decoding. Then go optical from the Mac (TOSLINK) to the decoder and finally from the decoder to the speakers. There are some 5.1 external audio interfaces, but the FireWire-based FireWave from Griffin lacks Windows drivers, while the USB-based Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 lacks Mac drivers. So your best bet is with an external receiver or preamp.


FunFred asks

I used to use Firefox as my primary browser (yeah, it hangs and crashes a lot...). Anyway, I just decided to switch to Safari for its AJAX rendering abilities (I use a lot of Google Apps). Sure enough, all of my bookmarks are Google Bookmarks (I would use Google Toolbar to keep them in Firefox). How do I sync my Google Bookmarks with Safari?

If all you want to do is download your bookmarks from Google and add them to Safari, you might check out this hint from Mac OS X Hints which includes an Automator action for doing this. You might also want to have a look at the bookmark management applicaiton Bookdog ($19.95) which includes support for Google Bookmarks and Safari (and much more).


emtp6811 asks

Now that .mac is turning into MobileMe, I need a new way to sync my bookmarks. My problem is that the way I use bookmarks is very dynamic. I will bookmark a page for later research, then once it is read I will archive that bookmark into another bookmark folder based on context. My bookmarks are constantly being rearranged in this way. Since social bookmarking sites are for static organisation, does anyone have suggestions for a replacement comparable to .mac? Or is there a way to move my bookmarks to the iDisk and have an alias point at them for Safari, so that they will constantly and automatically sync?

The .Mac bookmark syncing feature is not being disabled in MobileMe, but you will only be unable to view your bookmarks on a web page. To avoid losing any bookmarks, just in case, you'll want to sync them with Safari before June 30. You will be automatically migrated over when MobileMe launches, so I don't really think you need to do anything.


Kirkland asks

I'm thinking of joining the .Mac/MobileMe world and wonder if there is a way to make use of Apple's bookmark syncing in Firefox? The solution will probably not be "MobileMe push to Firefox bookmarking" but perhaps it will be bookmark syncing nonetheless.

MobileMe will not offer bookmark syncing for Firefox. However, you can already sync Firefox bookmarks with Foxmarks; they even describe a way of using Foxmarks with iDisk.



This time around in Ask TUAW we'll be fielding questions related to bookmark syncing, MobileMe, 5.1 surround sound, MDI files, batch audio...
 

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Sebastian

OK, I've got a two part question. I have a Mac Mini, so there's no way around an external harddrive, I'm still using my 320GB NDAS hdd, to get it to work with the windows computers as well it's FAT32 formatted. The problem is, that finder for some reason can't really deal with it, and doesn't save any folder properties, for example if I set a background for a folder, next time I plug the drive in the settings are gone. If I create a folder on the Macintosh HD however, set a different background and move it to the HDD it saves them. Any way to get around this?
Second part, that is more important to me, lately I just kept it plugged in all the time, since it's an NDAS case it has auto spin down, so if I don't access any files on the drive for 10 minutes or so it shuts down. Sometimes though, when I browse, type something or edit something in Photoshop (that doesn't access any files on the external hdd) it starts to spin up(?) and for the time it needs to get the hdd spinning I'm not able to do anything, not even move my mouse. This really annoys me, since it happens a lot lately, I don't want to disable the auto spin down, since it's a convenient feature that probably saves energy, but more importantly lowers the noise level in my room, I just don't want it to boot when I'm not even doing anything that needs it, sometimes it even quits the sleep mode, without me doing anything at all. (It's not hooked up to the network, all I'm using is the USB port)

July 06 2008 at 1:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chad

My computer (Powerbook G4) just crashed and I'm trying to move files to my wife's Macbook. How do I transfer all of the pictures from my iPhone to the new laptop. I can get everything from the 'camera roll', but the other libraries I created on my iPhoto do not show up when I try to import to the new computer. I'm trying to save my pics, please help!

Thanks.

July 03 2008 at 4:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Eric Mark Lopez

While using iTunes in Leopard on a Macbook Pro, I've noticed that iTunes has a nasty habit of changing song info on me, seemingly automatically and for the worse. For example, I downloaded Feist's The Reminder album from iTunes, but just now I noticed that the order of the tracks are altered from the original order.

I've noticed this behavior with many albums and artists in my library and can't really track down any reason why it would change that kind of information, and to a wrong order at that.

Is there anything that I can do stop this from happening?

July 03 2008 at 12:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
petey

I have a question for next time: Is there a way to control the Apple TV through the computer (or maybe even my iPhone) so I don't have to use the remote? I'm trying to hide the Apple TV behind the television where the remote won't work.

July 02 2008 at 11:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Stephen

Question for next week:

Will purchased apps from the App Store be licensed for a single iPhone or for a single iTunes account? My family has 2 phones running on 1 iTunes account, and I was wondering if both of us could use a copy of the same app without having to pay for it twice.

July 02 2008 at 7:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David

Hi,

I wondered if you knew of any Mac software for running a hairdressers/beauty salon? The kind of things that could be used by reception to book appointments, tracking payments and customer phone numbers and records, etc etc...

Any ideas?

Thanks!

David
London

July 01 2008 at 12:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David Fischer

Dear Ask TUAW:

How do I set Safari to open new pages in new tabs? That is, where is the equivalent to this feature from Firefox: http://screencast.com/t/hZkD0GHs

Firefox 3 is flakey on my system, but I can't switch to Safari without that feature.

Thanks!

June 30 2008 at 8:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
computergeeksjw

Is there an easy way to script downloading files in the middle of the night? I'd prefer using Safari to do the downloading. I need it to do these tasks:
1. Connect to the internet (I'm on dialup)
2. Start download when finished connecting
3. When finished downloading, ssh into another computer and hit a series of keystrokes I have memorized (with appropriate delays in between to account for loading delays) to start it downloading updates.
4. I'll manually quit the script come morning.

Thanks for great posts and keep up the good work!
Sorry for the length.

June 30 2008 at 2:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alan

I'm finally gonna switch over to Leopard pretty soon. I've got a 500GB external USB drive, which has a clone of my Macbook's drive on it, courtesy of Carbon Copy Cloner. I plan on doing a wipe and install for Leopard, as I've installed a lot of junk on here. My question is, do you have any tips on what applications I should export my data from, to make the clean install easier? I understand that Migration Assistant does not work on external USB drives, only Firewire.

June 29 2008 at 5:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adam

Question: Is there a simple program that lets me on my MacBook Pro connect to my Grandfathers Windows XP machine across the country like you can do with iChat Screen Sharing when you have two Macs connected?

June 29 2008 at 10:45 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Adam's comment
computergeeksjw

Thanks Adam for the question. I've been wondering the same thing but never remember to post about it. Hope it gets answered :)

June 30 2008 at 3:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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