Sony PSP Media Manager

Shoutout to Paul Thurrott for bringing the Sony PSP Media Manager to my attention. You can buy, that's right buy, the Sony PSP Media Manager here I can't believe Sony is charging $19.95 for the download, $29.95 for the boxed version with a special introductory offer of $24.95! This is terrible, Sony should be giving this away with the PSP, it should just be a free download. Completely evil. Paul also posted a link to the software release notes. Notice that it requires Quicktime 7 and it's a .NET application, both of which I find interesting. And that's right, the final strike against this software, before I have even seen it live, is that it doesn't work on OS X. That's it I guess, I have been waiting for the FREE Sony software for the PSP to do what iTunes does for the iPod, obvious now it's not coming. Scott Hanselman has a good post on manually getting TV content onto your PSP with Windows tools, and I just saw he updated his post with a link to the Media Manager software. After reading Hanselman's post, it seems Handbrake for Mac and Linux can do the video encoding work, you would just have to get the videos onto the PSP manually, which still of course sucks because of Sony's folder and file naming scheme. Maybe a weekend project to try, though video has to be small, I am not spending the money on the 1 GB memory stick until I can get a test done. I am still not paying for software to complete the scenario of getting media on the PSP, no wonder Sony has lost the MP3 player race to Apple, they just don't understand completing the user experience.

Possible file corruption for NTFS volumes on Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1

I subscribe to the Windows Server 2003 Knowledge Base feed to see what issues have been discovered, if my current environment might be impacted, and if a fix is available. This has already saved me hours of troubleshooting as I discover a KB article for something I know we have seen in our environment. Sometimes you get something scary, like this: Potential file corruption problem on NTFS volumes during extensive stress tests in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 Microsoft explains in the KB article that the scenario that causes corruption is very rare in real world scenarios. Still this should scare anyone in a large environmnent using file services, because Microsoft does not say the probabilty is zero for the unlikely cases, just that it's low. Low! What does that mean? 1%, 5%? If you think you meet the likely criteria, you can either not install Windows Server 2003 SP1 (which is where the problem lies, but I think most organizations have moved forward with deployment already since the "bake in" period is well over) or, uh, MS let you know when then have a hotfix. I wonder if a root cause of the late discovery of this issue, relative to release date for SP1, is the maintenance team building the service packs. I am sure they are all very bright people, but let's face it, the service pack team at Microsoft are not the starters, they're not the A-Team, they're the second string. Microsoft calls it the Windows Sustained Engineering group at least as of 2003 in one reference I found. It is normally this group that produces hotfixes and service packs, but for extraordinary times, like for Windows XP SP2 the main Windows development team is brought back into the fold. Think of this normally as two tracks, the main Windows development team, and the Sustained Engineering team for hotfixes and service packs. The people that wrote Windows are not usually the ones that fix Windows. This isn't to say there is no interaction, I don't know of course, but it is a different team without as much experience on the code when the work is done. Service Packs are also not looked at as major Windows versions (XP SP2 excluded), they're just maintenance releases. I would put money on them being tested less rigourously, not by the test team, but by the outside people the project that really uncover the kruft of the code. Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 was based on XP SP2, but XP SP2 certainly wouldn't be stress tested for NTFS corruption. The Windows XP KB feed has no mention of a potential NTFS corruption issue. I am not saying lack of testing or less experienced developers caused this issue, but I am saying NTFS stress tests didn't reveal any potential corruption in Windows Server 2003 RTM and its there in Service Pack 1.

MSDN Subscription Transition Update #4

Ugh, now this is just annoying. I received another response from MSDN this morning:

Hello Dave, This is -Name Removed To Protect the Innocent- and I am taking ownership of this case. I apologize for the issue that you encountered in the MSDN North America Visual Studio Team Transition Preference Login page. The site is now working correctly. You should now be able transition your MSDN Universal Subscription to a Visual Studio Team Subscription through https://microsoft.na.subservices.com/msdn/default.asp?hidToPage=VST without difficulties. If you need further assistance in transitioning your subscription, please call MSDN Subscription Services at 800-759-5474, 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday – Friday, except holidays. Did I complete completely address your issue? Please let me know by replying to this e-mail. Please do not hesitate to write back should you have other concerns. Thank you, -Name Removed To Protect the Innocent- Microsoft Online Customer Service Representative

*Sigh* The site is still down as of this post.

Sony DRMed CD's Install Virus/RootKit/Malware

Mark Russinovich with his SysInternals site and tools has to be one of the smartest people on Windows (any version) working today. No one has done more outside MS to make Windows systems maintanable. If you don't already go download his Process Explorer, FileMon, RegMon, Autoruns, and RootKitRevealer tools. You will need them one day and be glad you have them on your system. Some go so far as to have the latest version of all these tools on a USB stick in case shit happens Mark has outdone himself with an amazing piece of detective work that reveals that Sony installs DRM software on Windows with their copy-protected CDs that is for all intents and purposes spyware/malware/virus because of the techniques used to install and evade detection. I think a boycott of Sony is in order, this is just unacceptable, looks like the PSP is going on the auction block. I don't like DRM software at all, but of all the schemes out there, seems like Apple with FairPlay on their music and video files strikes an acceptable balance between consumer and content provider. This is one of the core reasons Apple has been so successful with iTunes, the DRM is largely transparent.

MSDN Subscription Transition Update #3

I got another response back from MSDN, and I am not happy:

Hello Dave, Thank you for writing back. I apologize for the inconvenience that you have experienced in accessing the North American Subservices Web site, so you can transition your MSDN subscription. We are aware of this issue and our Production Support team is currently working on a fix. I will inform you as soon as I hear back from them. I know how important it is to you to have this solved immediately. Thank you for bearing with us as we work to resolve your issue. Thank you, -Name removed to protect the innocent- Microsoft Online Customer Service Representative

So in short, your stuff is busted and you don't know when you are going to get it fixed. The transition site has been down since at least Friday (10/28/05) morning, it's crazy they weren't prepared for the deluge of subscribers.

Ripping DVDs to iPod with video format

I haven't personally tested this yet, but Derrick Story on the O'Reilly MacDevCenter links to a tutorial page for using Handbrake (Mac or Linux) to rip DVDs to iPod with video format that seems very straightforward. I happen to have Handbrake on my iMac G5 because a buddy recommended it, so I will test this tonight to get an idea what the effort and time is like.

MSDN Subscription Transition Update #2

I sent an email to msdn@microsoft.com requesting my subscription be transitioned to the biggest, baddest version of Visual Studio 2005, but instead of this problem being resovled, I have to help debug which site is down. Here is the email I got:

Hello Dave, Thank you for contacting Microsoft Customer Service. I understand that you would like to transition your MSDN Universal subscription. I apologize for the inconvenience that you have experienced in accessing the Web site, so that you can transition your subscription. To assist you with your request, I will need to know the following: 1. At what specific Web site are you attempting to transition? 2. Could you let me know what you did step by step? 3. Are you receiving any specific error message? If so, please send me a screenshot of the error. Please press Alt+PrtSc, paste into Word, and attach to your response. I know how important this issue is for you, and look forward to hearing from you soon so I can begin investigating the issue. Thank you, -name omitted to protect the innocent- Microsoft Online Customer Service Representative

The North American Subscription Services that I think I have to hit to transition my subscription is still down. I do have a backup plan. Eric tells me the product key is pre-filled, so John has downloaded the bits and will be personally delivering them tomorrow. I don't think MS ever intended for an employee to hand deliver the bits to me, but I will take it :)

MSDN Subscription Transition Update

This is getting comical. The website I am supposed to use is still down, and at Len's suggestion, I sent an email to MSDN, which ended up being the MSDN Academic Alliance Program for North America. They responded with:

This is in response to your email regarding how you can change your subscription to gain access to the Team Edition. You have reached the MSDN Academic Alliance Program for North America, which is a different program from that of MSDN. For prompt access to services for MSDN customers in the United States, please use the following contact information: http://msdn.microsoft.com/ email: msdn@microsoft.com Phone: (800) 759-5474 Technical Support: 1 800-936-5800

My mistake, I scanned this page for the first email address I could find. So I send email to msdn@microsoft.com because its in the response I receive and then I get this back:

Hello, You have written to a Microsoft customer service e-mail address that is no longer monitored. If you have this e-mail address saved in your address book, please delete it. We no longer receive customer submissions through direct e-mail, rather through a Web form. Our Web form will help our customer service agents gather the required information from you in order to quickly resolve or address your inquiry. To submit your question or feedback, please visit http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=2028439 and fill out the Web feedback form. A Microsoft Customer Service Representative will assist you within 24hours. Thank you, Microsoft.com Customer Service

LOL. So I just submitted a request through a web form at the link in the 2nd email, we will see where this takes me.

A subscriber found or this is my 100th post!

For the first time, I discover that someone is reading my blog that I don't personally know. I found this out because Len posted a comment on my Visual Studio 2005 release post. That's really cool, and I say to Len subscribed! This also happens to be my 100th post, and I think a hundred of anything must mean something. Thanks for reading and if you happen to be drinking right now, here's to the next 100. :)

Visual Studio 2005 RTMs and I can't upgrade my MSDN Subscription

Microsoft finally released Visual Studio 2005. I haven't played with the Betas at all, I just didn't have time to or the hardware for it. I certainly wasn't going to install it on my production laptop, I have to get work done. But now it's RTM, in theory I should be able to install this in production :-). But I can't get the any of the Visual Studio 2005 Team Editions, which is what I really want. You can check out the different editions here. My company bought an MSDN subscription for me earlier this year, so I am eligible to transition from MSDN Universal to MSDN Premium I think, which gets you the Team Edition bits. But you have to logon and set some database flag so MSDN Subscriber downloads shows you Team Edition. I mean how lame is this whole process. Microsoft did you really think anyone would self-nerf their subscription to a lower level or not choose the biggest version of Visual Studio they could get?!?! The mind boggles. Not to mention that the place to set the flag is dependent on how you renewed/bought MSDN. Check out this matrix to hit the correct URL. I THINK mine is the North American Subscription Services but I can't tell because the site has been DOWN for 2 days now, at least since VS2005 RTMed. Now I did try the North American Licensing Services URL, because I actually received an email from Microsoft telling me to logon here and make my choice, but I logon and there is nothing for me to choose. I then have our companies volume license administrator, which might include MSDN, add me as a manager on our companies volume licensing agreement, but my MSDN Subscription is not here. Does MS actually want people to get their development tools? I can right now download the VS2005 Professional Edition because I am listed as an MSDN Universal subscriber if MSDN Subscriber downloads actually responded to download requests, but I wouldn't dare install it, I don't know what it would do to my license keys, you know I might be locked out from installing Visual Studio Uber Edition without giving blood and my first born to MS promising not to steal their development tools.