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January 25, 2008
Dear CNET members,
Happy Friday! Before I start this week's topic, I just wanted to let you know that I received an e-mail from Dan M. thanking all of you who contributed to his question from last week's Q&A topic--ripping a huge collection of music CDs. It's always really rewarding to hear back from the members who submitted the questions. So thank you, Dan, for following up with us--we do appreciate it, and good luck with your huge project! Now let's address Rebecca's concerns of energy use with consumer electronics.
I'll admit Rebecca's question this week isn't the typical help or how-to question, but I figured, why not? We don't exactly live in a world with plenty of energy to go around, and with so many of us concerned over energy savings--whether it's in the interest of the environment or our wallet, I think the topic will do us all some good by raising the issues as a community to share our opinions and learn from one another.
There are no right or wrong answers this week, as the question generated a lot of opinions and advice, ranging from what our members do to conserve energy to some who don't think global warming is a scientific fact. Now regardless of whether global warming is fact or fiction, I think the responsibility for conserving our resources starts at the individual level. I always remind myself that whatever actions I choose to take today impacts our future generations. And I want the best for them. So I'll leave it at that. This topic is open for discussion. Rebecca, I hope you find your fellow members' answers to your question helpful and insightful. For all of you who haven't gone through the answers, please do read them and put your thoughts into the mix. Thanks, everyone, and have a great weekend!
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Member Question of the Week
My question isn't a technical how-to one, however I hope you
do consider presenting it, as it is an important one. I know
everyone here is into technology, and I love technology as
I'm a gadget freak myself, but my question to you has a bit
of a twist in it and it has to do with the environment impact
of all these devices as they become more abundant, better,
larger, and more powerful. To give a couple of examples:
computers and plasma TVs. As you probably already know,
plasma TVs suck up a lot of power, probably a lot more than
our old tube TVs. And newer computer requires quite a lot
more energy to power as people like me require more and
larger hard drives, better graphics cards, and all those
added on devices to satisfy our computing needs. Now it
doesn't seem like much from an individual standpoint, but when
everyone adapts to these standards, I can only see more
energy being consumed globally and that is a concern,
especially with all the energy crisis going on, and of
course, global warming. So why aren't manufacture coming out
with Energy Star complaint consumer electronics as they do
for home appliances like refrigerators or washers? Shouldn't
this be their responsibility? Or is it our responsibility to
raise awareness to these manufactures to be more
environmentally conscience of the product they manufacture to
be more energy efficient?
I often do not turn off my computer for work purposes, but I
feel so guilty for leaving it on. Which leads me to my second
question. Where does our individual responsibility lie? Do
you make a conscience effort when buying electronics to see
if it is going to use unnecessary energy? What are some of
the things you do to do around your home (electronically
speaking) to ensure your part in conserving energy? I know
this isn't a typical submission, but I really want to hear
what people have to say in regards to this growing concern of
mine. Maybe people just don't care at the consumer electronic
level, which I hope isn't the case. Thank you all in advance
for your input and thoughts. Looking forward to reading them.
Submitted by:
Rebecca D.
Submitted by:
The CNET community
 Previous week's Q&A
Hello everyone, I am a longtime subscriber to several CNET newsletters but
this is the first time I've submitted a question. I have a
massive (1,000 plus) CD music collection and I have ripped
many individual tracks from many of these CDs for my MP3
player. I have used Windows Media Player, iTunes, and other
programs to rip the tracks, but I would like to start ripping
all the tracks from my entire music collection. My question
is, before I take on such a time-consuming project like this,
I could use some advice on the best free or paid program to
rip the CDs. What is the best format, bit rate, and/or other
settings that will give me the best balance between sound
quality and file size. I want the program to be able to do
file naming, auto tagging, look-up, and download the album
art, and do reports for collection management print outs. I
look forward to reading all your answers and starting this
digital music project. Thanks!
Community Buzz
 Each week we take a look at topics discussed in the forums.
Have fun and enjoy!
More from the forums
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Check out next week's question:
Hi everyone. I bought a Western Digital 200GB external hard drive 90-plus days ago, and the buttons quit. I can't back up. I sent WD several e-mails, and no response from them. If I get another external hard drive, could I open this one, and transfer data to the new external one from the old? How would I do this? Also: If this can be done, could the one I have then be reformatted, put in a new casing? Does anyone know how to repair these on/off/auto buttons? Will I lose everything I backed up to the WD external drive? Please keep the explanation simple, as I'm a 63-year-old 'Nanny', IRS Reg. Tax Preparer. Thank you!
--Submitted by:
Helene S.
We feature a new question every Friday, and if you have the answer for our member, you can submit it above. If your submission is picked by our members as the most helpful answer, you'll receive some cool CNET branded gear.
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