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Brandon Drury
Owner of Echo Echo Studios, Brandon Drury, has recorded and mixed over 600 songs in his very busy home recording studio.  

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Avoid Windows XP Media Center Edition For Home Recording
By Brandon Drury | Published  12/27/2006
?After eating another huge meal during Christmas, I remember awakening on the floor in a pile of the latest newspaper. Since I don't really shop for anything, I figured I'd get caught up on the American culture a little bit and see if there were any deals for anything I actually needed.


I've been eyeballing a laptop / notebook for a while now, but have never made the jump. I noticed that EVERY laptop in the ads I read contained Windows XP Media Center Edition.


In case you haven't done a lot of research on the subject, I know of several soundcard companies that explicitly state that they WILL NOT SUPPORT Windows XP Media Center Edition. Why? It's because Windows Media Center Edition is extremely picky with the type of hardware that can be used with it.


This may come as a shock, but the Windows Media Center Edition is no better for home recording, DVD watching, or any other task that we would assume a computer with such a title would be good for. I've recorded over 100 albums with Windows XP in the past 4 years. My brother had edited many DVDs with his Windows XP. I've watched numerous downloaded documentaries on my TV using Windows XP and a video card with TV out.


So the point is that Windows XP Media Center Edition is a real pain for people who intend to do some home recording. Please check with the manufacturer of your soundcard to see what they say about Windows XP Media Center. More than likely, you won't have any luck with Media Center.

 
Comments

  • Comment #1 (Posted by Dean Romero)

    I had windows 2000 and my sound card is the Sound BlasterSWE69 Gold, my friend instaled windowsxp telling me it would be better.I didn't know it was a bootleg copy! Anyway I always try those trial versions for different sound effects and xp allows them all. Then again you were talking about recording, I try to mix my music with the different effects,come to think of it I do have a hard time.
     
  • Comment #2 (Posted by Sheerluck Holmes)

    I just acquired the Tascam bundle that includes the US-122L Audio/MIDI interface as well an LD-74 condenser mic and Cubase LE and Gigastudio software.
    After installing the updated drivers from the Tascam website, all works great...I have an on-board HD soundcard that supports ASIO drivers. While you should always check compatibility with everything Microsoft, hopefully this post will let some of you know that it IS possible with Windows ME
     
  • Comment #3 (Posted by Mikey)

    I bought a Toshiba Sattelite with XP Mdeia Center, then got a bundled US-144 Tascam bundled with Cubase. IMMEDIATELY after installing, it cfrashed my system. Unfotunately, there is NO warning on the equipment, so I found all of this out the hard way, but go to Newegg.com and get a replacement HD and XP Pro OEM, spend an extra 200, and your on the road. The bonus is your old HD is still there with all the factory installed software, and your new system is a nice clean basic build with no stupid crap in the way to slow you down.
     
  • Comment #4 (Posted by David T Mintz)

    NOW your tell me! (
     
  • Comment #5 (Posted by James Wengert)

    Thanks for the artical and the heads up.I have windows xp student and I wsa wandering if you have any info on that.please contact me if you get my responce. Thanks so much! Jim Wengert
     
  • Comment #6 (Posted by KS2 Problema)

    Sorry the writer had troubles with XP Media Center Ed. Too bad he didn't just do a little research. As long as you remove the Media Center components from the boot profile (you can put them back in with a few checkmarks) XP Media Center is JUST FINE for recording.

    This is yet another instance of a lot of people who think they know about computers just not bothering to actually KNOW anything -- and not taking the trouble to remedy that. Kind of annoying.
     
  • Comment #7 (Posted by Brandon Drury)

    Research? If you had read the article closely, you would have understood that the only fact to research is the fact that many audio interface manufacturers are not supporting Windows Media Edition.

    This does not mean you can not get the audio interface to work with Media Center. It simply means that X manufacturers aren't going to help you.

    Of course, this is a two year article and now the major issue is compatibility with Vista.
     
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