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Windows XP Media Center Edition
By Rick Broida
(August 22, 2005)
Putting a Windows operating system in charge of your television? Now that's scary. As a general rule, you don't want a TV that can, well, crash. But countless users have fallen under Windows XP Media Center Edition's spell, no doubt mesmerized by its pretty interface and TiVo-like DVR capabilities.
Of course, like any good succubus, Media Center lures you into its warm embrace, then sinks its fangs into your neck. You may discover, for instance, that you can't navigate the menus in your DVDs. Or that your previously pristine music collection seems to be possessed by the demons of disorganization. And sometimes, a truly Satanic standby mode swallows your system whole, preventing Alias from getting recorded. Horrors!
Every day this week, we look at a new kind of Media Center madness--and try to help you keep your sanity.
 CNET'S Windows XP Media Center Edition resources
Rick Broida has written about computers and technology for more than 15 years, for outlets ranging from CNET to Family PC to Wired. In 1997, he founded Handheld Computing and has since authored more than a dozen books, including How To Do Everything with Your GPS and How To Do Everything with Musicmatch. He writes the "Tech Savvy" and "Game Savvy" columns for Michigan's Observer and Eccentric newspapers. |
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