Video Players Compatible With iTunes
There's no other major item most of us own that is as confusing, unpredictable and unreliable as our personal computers. Everybody has questions about them, and we aim to help.
Here are a few questions about computers I've received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about speech-recognition software for Macs, whether Windows Media Player will play video files from iTunes, and if Vista is worth the wait.
If you have a question, send it to me at
mossberg@wsj.com, and I may select it to be answered here in Mossberg's Mailbox.
Q: I have an iPod which uses iTunes software on my Windows computer. With the iTunes software comes QuickTime. I do not want QuickTime to play video files. I wish to use Windows Media Player as the default player. Must I use QuickTime as a video player in order to use iTunes for music?
A: No. QuickTime is an Apple program that is required by iTunes, even on Windows computers. It can also be used on its own to play some video and audio files. But, if you set its preferences so it isn't the default player for various types of video files, and you set Windows Media Player as the default, you should be able to use the latter, as in the past. There is one exception: If you purchase videos from Apple's iTunes Music Store, you can only play them in either iTunes or QuickTime, not Windows Media Player.
Q: Before we buy our daughter a laptop for school, should we wait until the new Microsoft operating system is released next year? If not, should we buy a laptop with a more powerful chip with the intention of upgrading once it is available?
A: It depends on when she needs the computer. If she can wait until January, when the new Windows Vista will be available preloaded on laptops, then wait. Vista should have significant advantages over Windows XP in the areas of security and user interface.
However, if she needs it now, you may be able to get a laptop that can be upgraded later to Vista. The trick is that Microsoft hasn't yet published the specs for a laptop that can be upgraded to Vista. My best advice would be to buy the most powerful processor you can afford, a full gigabyte of memory, and a video system that is called "discrete," rather than "integrated," with as much dedicated video memory as possible.
Q: I've been using the Dragon Naturally Speaking speech-recognition software on my Windows PC at work. Is there a comparable product for the Mac I use at home?
A: Yes. There are at least two speech-recognition programs for the Mac. One is IBM's Via Voice (
www.nuance.com/viavoice/osx/) and the other is called Mac Speech (
www.macspeech.com/). I haven't tested them, so I can't say how they compare with Dragon on Windows, or which is best.
与iTunes兼容的视频播放器
在我们大多数人拥有的大件电器中，再没有什么比个人电脑更令人费解、更变幻莫测的了。每个人或许都有些关于电脑的问题，而《莫博士信箱》将为您提供帮助。
本周我将回答读者有关调整iTunes音乐的默认播放器、能升级到Vista的笔记本电脑和适用Mac的语音识别软件等问题。
问：我有一个iPod，我在Windows电脑上使用iTunes软件。iTunes软件附带QuickTime。我不想用QuickTime播放视频文件。我想把Windows Media Player当作默认播放器。我是不是必须用QuickTime作为视频播放器才能用iTunes听音乐呢？
答：不是。QuickTime是iTunes所需的一个苹果电脑(Apple)的程序，即使在Windows电脑上也是如此。它也可以独立用于播放一些视频和音频文件。不过，如果你调整偏好，不再把QuickTime当作各类视频文件的默认播放器，而把Windows Media Player设置为默认播放器的话，那你应该能够使用后者。有一个例外：如果你从苹果的iTunes Music Store购买视频产品，那你只能用iTunes或QuickTime播放，而不能用Windows Media Player。
问：我们想为女儿购买一台笔记本电脑，便于她学习。我们要不要等到明年微软新的操作系统发布后再买呢？如果不用的话，我们要不要购买一台芯片性能强大的笔记本电脑，以便我们在新操作系统问市时升级呢？
答：这取决于你们的女儿何时需要电脑。如果她能等到明年1月新版Windows Vista预装在笔记本电脑上的话，那就到时候再买吧。与Windows XP相比，Vista应当在安全和用户界面等方面具备大量的优势。
不过，如果她现在就需要，你也许可以买一台将来能够升级到Vista的笔记本电脑。问题是，微软尚未公布能够升级到Vista的笔记本电脑的规格。我最好的建议是，买你能负担得起的性能最好的处理器、1G内存和一个“独立”、而不是“集成”的视频系统，视频内存越大越好。
问：我工作的时候一直在Windows电脑上使用Dragon Naturally Speaking语音识别软件。有没有适合我在家里用Mac电脑的同类产品？
答：有。至少有两种语音识别软件可以在Mac电脑上运行。一个是IBM的Via Voice（详情参见
www.nuance.com/viavoice/osx/），另一个是Mac Speech（详情参见
www.macspeech.com/）。这两款软件我都没有测试过，因此我无法把它们与适用Windows的Dragon相比较，说明孰优孰劣。
