Odds & Ends: Pro Speakers dropouts; ATTO and Retrospect; Getting iMac to sleep; Sony printer glitch?; Nero for VCDs; more

Pro Speaker dropouts confirmed Greg Linden was listening to his Apple Pro Speakers (connected to a G4 digital audio) and noticed "annoying intermittent dropouts at low volumes (e.g., speaker level set at default and main volume at 20%) or during soft passages of music." He contacted Apple about this and they replied: "I have just received word that this dropout at low volumes has been identified as a software issue. We are looking into a future software update to resolve the issue."

ATTO and Retrospect: a follow-up Regarding this previous report of a conflict between Retrospect and ATTO's SCSI card, ATTO just recently became aware of this issue. Judy Barnas (of ATTO) replied: "I was just informed by a customer about the Retrospect issue with the APPLE OEM EPCI-UL3D adapter. We have a firmware version that can overwrite the OEM firmware and make the adapter compatible with Retrospect. Call 716-691-1999 for the update."

Getting your iMac to sleep If you have a 1999 or 2000 iMac that refuses to go to sleep, this web page (by Erik Kennedy) offers a potential solution.

Sony printer glitch? Sam Purkin recently purchased a Sony DPP-SV55 Dye Sub 4x6 photo printer. When printing from anything on the Mac (e.g., Photoshop 6, PictureViewer, Photo Deluxe), it won't print totally edge to edge. It leaves 1/8" white on the left side (in landscape mode). But if you print from within the printer, using the card slot, it prints perfectly. Otherwise, the print quality is incredible."

Nero for VCDs Jim Ridenour discovered an alternative to iDVD: NERO from Ahead Software. nIt can be used to make VCDs that run on standard DVD players. There is a Mac version. Check here for more advice.

Quark update plans Michael Vega was told by Quark not to expect QuarkXPress 5 until late fourth Quarter (Fall 2001). Currently it is in beta testing.

DirectCD follow-up We updated yesterday's item on DirectCD with links to other relevant material.