Short version:
I bought a copy of Win7 to run in Parallels, but the original need for it has gone away. So I'm debating whether to return it (and eat the return shipping cost) or keep it around in case a situation comes up where it would be handy to have. What do you do with it that's useful?
Long version:
Last week I decided to finally get a Blu-Ray drive to be able to rip the Blu-Rays I've accumulated (all from DVD/BR combo packs) and serve them to my TiVo for viewing. My plan was to use AnyDVD HD in Windows/Parallels since I know that has had a very good reputation for years. Last I'd checked (which must have been longer ago than I thought), Mac Blu-Ray ripping solutions were iffy at best.
So I ordered Win7 from Amazon and bought the BR drive locally (LG BE14NU40). Then I went and checked pricing for AnyDVD and got a bit of sticker shock.
A bit expensive for just a ripping program!
So I checked the state of Mac BR ripping again and found MakeMKV. Worked like a charm on all my Blu-Rays over the weekend, no issues. Rips play beautifully on the TiVo. The Win7 copy is still sealed (darn Amazon shipped it too fast to cancel...) and ready to return if I don't find another use for it.
Years ago I used to run XP in Parallels to help a friend with a Visual Studio-based project, but that hasn't been since 2009 or so. I'm not sure if I even have a copy of that installation anymore. Haven't used or needed Windows at home since, but thinking about the current situation, I keep having this nagging feeling that it might be handy to keep the copy around.
Just for completeness, my system is a 2012 Mac mini, 2.6GHz i7, 16 GB memory, etc.
I bought a copy of Win7 to run in Parallels, but the original need for it has gone away. So I'm debating whether to return it (and eat the return shipping cost) or keep it around in case a situation comes up where it would be handy to have. What do you do with it that's useful?
Long version:
Last week I decided to finally get a Blu-Ray drive to be able to rip the Blu-Rays I've accumulated (all from DVD/BR combo packs) and serve them to my TiVo for viewing. My plan was to use AnyDVD HD in Windows/Parallels since I know that has had a very good reputation for years. Last I'd checked (which must have been longer ago than I thought), Mac Blu-Ray ripping solutions were iffy at best.
So I ordered Win7 from Amazon and bought the BR drive locally (LG BE14NU40). Then I went and checked pricing for AnyDVD and got a bit of sticker shock.
A bit expensive for just a ripping program!So I checked the state of Mac BR ripping again and found MakeMKV. Worked like a charm on all my Blu-Rays over the weekend, no issues. Rips play beautifully on the TiVo. The Win7 copy is still sealed (darn Amazon shipped it too fast to cancel...
) and ready to return if I don't find another use for it.Years ago I used to run XP in Parallels to help a friend with a Visual Studio-based project, but that hasn't been since 2009 or so. I'm not sure if I even have a copy of that installation anymore. Haven't used or needed Windows at home since, but thinking about the current situation, I keep having this nagging feeling that it might be handy to keep the copy around.
Just for completeness, my system is a 2012 Mac mini, 2.6GHz i7, 16 GB memory, etc.
