The blog post I made earlier on this topic didn't appear correctly so here goes again until the glitch is fixed. Makes me wonder if the site uses Win 7:))
Windows XP has served me well but I recently obtained a faster computer with Win 7 preinstalled. Win 7 has some nice features but I found that some of my applications don't work even when running XP in the Win 7 Virtual PC mode. The problem is that to gain access to the hardware the XP programs have to go through Win 7 drivers and in my case there are no drivers for Win 7 available for the hardware.
Another problem I encountered which may have relevance to Part 15 broadcasters is the "Stereo Mixer" or "What U Hear" feature for the audio mixer is not available by default. This prevents monitoring or recording audio in some situations such as from a .wav or streaming source. An extensive search on the topic yielded some click to fix solutions but they did not work on my machine. There are reports of problems with programs such as Audacity and other recording programs as well.
The reason for this seems to be that Microsoft is locking down the ability to record material to enforce Digital Rights Management (DRM) and in doing so is removing some of the functionality used for legitimate purposes.
My temporary solution is to use an older driver in which I can turn on the "stereo mixer" function but the driver doesn't give 100% compatibility. There is a feature on Win 7 called "compatibility" which is intended to allow older software to run but I find this only works about 1/3 of the time.
Fortunately for me I have a licensed legal XP installation disc which has never been activated so I set up a dual boot system for XP and Win 7. For now I can run XP and use my software as in the past.
Some other nastiness I have encountered and read about is that Windows "security" updates will sometimes disable audio/visual features which then stop working. I have noticed this since the days of Win 2000. For me the trouble began when I updated past Windows Media Player 6 so I have been using Media Player Classic which is free and works very well. So the caution is to beware of Windows updates even if needed for "security". It is a good idea to find out what the updates do before allowing them. Protecting the rights of content authors is admirable but it is unfortunate that legitimate uses of program features get caught up in the net of DRM and functionality is lost.
My opinion is that if XP is working and doing what needs to be done then be careful about "upgrading" to Win 7 since doing so can cause a lot of problems, especially with media applications.
Neil
It has been generally known for a long time that Microsoft is not the friend of the consumer, and like other large authorities treats everyone like a criminal or a prisoner.
Society is expected to be all the same: buying commercial products and watching paid movies around the clock.
The creative entrepreneurs who try to use Windows as their work tool are not to be helped, they are to be exploited.
My next computer will be Unix or Linux or whatever the alternative is called.
Either that Carl, or use Windows 2000/XP, even Vista. They all work nicely and you have available to you the vast arena of Windows compatible programs.
I attempted to use a Windows 7 (again preinstalled) new computer, and found another big problem. Windows 7 (and 8) does not allow you to install a driver unless it is digitally signed by Microsoft. That means that software such as Virtual Audio Cable will not install by default. There are ways around it, but it involves disabling some of the security within Windows to do so, and that opens up a whole new can of worms. If you trust the driver, you should be able to override Microsoft's default behavior.
I don't use a Windows 7 machine for Part 15 radio production (I use Windows 2000 or XP boxes) but it sure would be nice to be able to test out my stuff on Windows 7 machines.
My relative bought a new Mac and was simply going to pitch his PC. In that its only 5 years old and faster than anything I have, I grabbed it. You know, for free-take.
Anyway, it had a Windows 7 OS. I tried it out but just did not care for it. They have moved things around in a way that makes it difficult to administer.
I too found the "What You Hear" selection missing which made it somewhat unusable for my applications. I dumped "7" and loaded XP. But, even so, the hardware will not support recording what you hear. I even tried putting a separate sound card in which didn't help. "What You Hear" is still missing.
My solution was an external USB sound card. I can loop the line output to the line input for recording What You Hear. There is also a "monitor" output for a headphone which I plugged into my speakers. Problem solved.
By the way, looping the mother board sound out to in wouldn't work under XP either. They put some thought into it.
Many of the posts I found during my research claimed that this was due to the lack of ability of the sound card to internally loop the output back to the input. Such a statement was made for the specific Dell model which I have (I am using the on board audio system) and it paints a gloomy picture for a fix. But alas, it was not a hardware limitation since the same hardware works fine with XP. It does appear that some low end sound cards do have this limitation though.
For me the only advantage to Win7 over XP is that I can transcode video files about three times faster under Win 7 most likely due to the Win 7 being able to fully use 8G of memory where XP is limited to 4G. This will probably be the only application I will run on Win 7 and do the rest of my work on XP.
Another problem is that Outlook Express is not supported by 7 and the Microsoft alternative just mixes all the archived accounts into one big messy pile. One of the nice features of operating systems is backward compatibility and it is apparent that this is being lost in the transition from XP/Vista to Win 7. If all one wants is a plug and play relatively bullet proof system for word processing, watching TV, or email then it makes sense but for those who stray off the beaten path with applications it is not the way to go, at least for me.
Neil
Outlook Express isn't on Vista either. Microsoft transitioned to Windows Mail with Vista.
My expectations are pretty low with any new versions of Operating Systems, so I don't find the Microsoft Windows 7 experience all that uncommon - I just don't change software until I've thoroughly tested everything out. And I'm not afraid to run older versions, particularly on modern hardware. Windows 2000 fairly screams on today's computers.
The one big advantage of Windows and Microsoft is that it's a pretty open system, all things considered. Certainly far more open than Apple, despite the claims that Microsoft is proprietary. Talk about proprietary. Apple controls very strictly both the hardware and systems software that can be added - that's one of the reasons that they have far less security issues. Of course, until recently, it was also due to their lack of marketshare as well (the hackers went for the biggest bang for their buck).
The PC I have is a Dell but moving from Win 7 to XP did not solve the lack of "What You Hear" even when using a PCI sound card in stead of the mother board sound system.
Neil...
You speak of "gain access to the hardware", but negelected to say what hardware, nor software for that matter, you are attempting to run.
I regularly, as in 5 times a day or more, use a broadcaster called B.U.T.T. (Broadcast Using This Tool) for live remote work. This is a free no frills program with a fair amount of fixed limiting and compression. It allows a couple different broadcast encoders and archive recording features. I use Windows 7 Starter, also a no-frills OS, on an Acer Aspire One Netbook.
I plug into the netbook from the RCA outputs from a Tascam 008 recorder, which I use as a simple 2-channel mixer with 2 XLR mic inputs, but I could use any mixer hardware. The Doze-7 OS software mixer is standard setup, e.g., input from the Tascam and I monitor audio from the visual onscreen meter and 3 headsets from the netbook output.
For sportscasting I use the 2 battery-powered (phantom power) condenser mics for the announcer and commentor, and 3 headsets, one each for the announcers and a third for myself as engineer.
As long as I can maintain a decent 3G, 4G, or WiFi signal, this setup is a rock, never failed. Everything is battery-powered, although I do carry 100' power cable reel and hi-end power strip, which we use when power is available.
The only other thing I've used for live broadcasting other than the standard Doze mixer is WinAmp, which has some available efffects and stuff, which I don't need. That's a bit more difficult to get going, but it should work.
HTH ......
I have a Acer Aspire One netbook also that i use for ordinary web surfing such as Facebook, Part 15.us and email. It's okay, i guess. As for the station computer i use an HP Pavilion p6-2108p both have Window 7 Premium Home Edition.
The HP has a hefty 1 TB hard drive, 8 GB or ram and a nice dual core processor.
It actually allows me to use the "record what you hear" function using Zararadio software as the automation and when i was streaming online i was able to use Edcast Standalone software to stream the audio. I am not able to do this on the netbook though.
And i have found that using Audacity on the netbook is pointless unless i want to record from the built in microphone or some thing that is playing from a video or stream. But sometimes it gives me trouble and the sound card will only record audio playing through the speakers using the built in microphone. There is no Line In option on this netbook nor is there anyway that i know of to switch the headphone plug to an input plug using the sound card software. I could use the HP for production but that would mean i would have to either take the station off the air or attempt to copy the playlist over to my netbook and let it run the station until i am done with production duties.
As for Windows 8 , even worse. My two computers were bought last year at two different times, while my wife bought a laptop two years ago when she started college and all these have Win 7. She bought a newer laptop a few months ago and as it turns out that has Win 8. It is too much like an oversized smart phone everything is set up to be opened like an app.
It was hard for her to learn where all the vital parts of the operating system were located and as for installing drivers, the silly thing would reject some of them. This laptop was a recommendation from the college to be helpful to her as she learns the in's and out's of a computer. She is taking a course as an IT.
First she must master Windows 8 before she can master anything else. She is learning the operating system rather well and is able to do whatever she want's but then again, she doesn't use her laptop the way the rest of us use our computers so recording, streaming or broadcasting isn't much use for her any way.
In short, i miss Win XP but i do have all the software to install it on any one of these machines if i so desire as well as a copy of Unbuntu (linux) from back when Linux was giving the disc's away via snail mail.
I'm not interested in Windows 8 at all. If I want a tablet, I'll buy one.
Windows 7 is a pain because of the increased security that seems to cause most of the problems. Even Vista is better than Windows 7 in terms of usability.
XP if OK, but I attempted to run a setup similar to yours (but using Virtual Audio Cable to send stuff to OddCast Standalone) and it didn't handle the task switching well enough (there was skipping and stuttering, even when bumping up the priority of Zara, which ususally does the trick).
I've never had any issues with Windows 2000. Most hardware still supports it (you can generally run XP drivers in a pinch) and it runs reliably and fast. Plus, hackers have already moved on to the later operating systems.
So, I run Vista Ultimate for studio production, and Windows 2000 Advanced Server for the radio station. And it works not bad at all.
Ken, the hardware that does not work with Win 7 is a PCI-1200 analog/digital I/O card which I use in one of my non radio pursuits. National Instruments, the manufacturer, doesn't support this card anymore and has no Win 7 driver for it.
When I reported earlier that video transcoding takes three time longer in XP than Win 7 this was WRONG. Something must have not been set up right when I did the test since when I retested there was almost no difference in speed with XP being just a bit faster.
I have found add-on software which claims to get around the "What you Hear" situation but they cost $$$ and I can't see why we should have to pay for a feature that was and should continue to be standard.
I don't use the feature to record anything but use it for audio level setting with software VU meters which require the loopback. It is also nice to be able to selectively mute the inputs without unplugging them.
Vendors who get all wrapped around the axle about DRM apparently don't know that "If someone makes a lock then someone else will make a key." There are ways around digital media security and those who want to will be able to do so. In the meantime others are shut out of nice features.
Neil
Maybe I live a charmed life. I have never had a problem with Windows 7.
It depends on what one is trying to do. My post was prompted by the "Stereo Mixer" situation which has utility for Part 15 broadcasters. If someone doesn't need it then there is not a problem.
My biggest problem is that a third of the software which I have collected over the years and still use fails to install or run. I have done a rather involved workaround by setting up a triple boot system with XP Home, XP Pro, and 7 Pro so I can experiment and use the best OS as needed. What a kludge just because of compatibility problems!
Four of our five machines run XP with a mix of Home and Pro and it is a nightmare to get the LAN to work smoothly and securely. Win 7 doesn't help with this.
Neil
Windows 8 is a disaster.
I've been researching buying a new laptop to supplement my Windows 7 PC. Most all the new ones come with Windows 8. It is a total departure from previous XP, Vista and 7 operating systems. It isn't compatible with a huge number of programs. In particular, it isn't even compatible with Office 2003, which is one of my main issues, but I also run 3rd party technical software written for XP and 7 which isn't likely to be updated for Windows 8.
You can buy Windows 7 and install it as a dual boot, but when you start with Windows 8, they make you jump through obscure hoops to install it.
It looks like Microsoft is taking away our powerful desktop environment and dumbing down to iPad. This won't sit well with Microsoft's business customers. I am looking forward to the developments, but for sure, this is NOT a good time to buy a new computer!
Yikes!!!
Our I.S. Department is migrating us to Cloud computing. They want to eliminate PC's and all the headaches of personnel installing downloaded apps.
PC's are being replaced with small boxes, 'bout the size of a brick, which are little more than a dumb terminal. Cost-about $300. No hard drive, no CD/DVD drive.
This, I think, is Bill Gates dream. No longer will you "own" software. Rather, anything you want will be by subscription only.