I try to keep things positive on the blog but every once in a while I just need to vent. Last weekend I purchased the latest version of Quickbooks Pro for $132.99 and it was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had as a consumer. Below is the review I posted at amazon.com. Although the software has an overall three-star rating, I notice that as of this writing the one-star reviews outweigh any other rating. You can read all the reviews here. It’s entirely possible that this product may work for you, but I’d be very wary of purchasing Intuit products.
May NOT work on Windows 7 64 bit.
I purchased the download-able version of Quickbooks Pro 2011 from amazon. Everything seemed to work great as far as the install was concerned but the program would not start.
When I called Intuit customer support I was told that I would have to render all of my personal information before getting any help. When I refused to give my home address, phone number, and personal email so that the company could “create an account” for me, the support representative simply hung up on me.
After cooling off I called back, spoke to another representative and gave into their demands. This led to a nearly 3-hour troubleshooting session that ended with the rep actually searching Google for ways to make the software run on my machine! (I could have done that!) He then told me that the problem was with a “third party program” that was needed for Quickbooks Pro to run and referred me to Microsoft. (?)
After all of that I called amazon to get a refund which they could not give to me. The amazon rep did inform me of how to petition Intuit for a refund via email. It appears that Intuit has agreed to give me a refund, but I have not received the check as of this writing.
It was a VERY disappointing and frustrating experience and I will never consider purchasing another Intuit product again!
Update January 26 2011
It’s about a week and a half since I initially contacted Intuit about a refund. Today I received an email from yet another representative asking for a receipt. I already sent in a receipt and was under the impression that the refund was processed and the check was enroute to my mailbox! Now I find out that nothing has happened. Ugh.
Update January 27 2011
Received the refund check today.
Update February 5 2011
A rep from Intuit keeps calling me. They want to speak to me so they can get my information and “send my refund out.” This company can’t even keep track of their own business transactions. Just pitiful Intuit.
If you’re still looking for a Christmas gift for the guitarist in your life, you can’t go wrong with one of the many new (mostly) instrumental guitar releases that we’ve been blessed with over the past couple of months. Any one of these five recordings is sure to please even the most jaded or supercilious among us and would be a great way to introduce young players to the legends they may have yet to discover. By the way I just found out that amazon will let you email an instant mp3 gift to the folks on your list. How cool is that?
Follow the links to listen to samples at amazon.com. I hate to write descriptions about music so I have have provided ridiculous one-sentence reflections on the music below each link.
Paul Gilbert – Fuzz Universe
Virtuoso playing and vintage-y tones elevate visionary compositions.
Eric Johnson – Up Close
Sophisticated blues rock swirling in a lush atmospheric soundscape.
Joe Satriani – Black Swans & Wormhole Wizards
Rock mysticism, gritty funk, and a dash of industrial-strength electronica.
Jeff Beck – Emotion & Commotion
Muscular, soulful strat tones surrounded by a rich orchestral accompaniment.
Lee Ritenour – 6 String Theory
A schizophrenic but amazing offering featuring the talents of 19 top guitarists.
The Eneloop Pedal Juice is a rechargeable 9V power supply for guitar effects. It is available from most major music retailers. Retail price is $199.00, street price $149.95. Eneloop Pedal Juice Rechargeable 9v Power Supply
How it Works
The Sanyo Pedal Juice is a simple but ingenious power source for 9V effects pedals. The unit is about the same size as a standard Boss pedal and features only a recessed single power button and LED light. Connect your compatible gear, power up, and you’re ready to roll. The LED changes color to indicate how much power is remaining. Depending on the gear you’re using you can expect to get anywhere from 20 to 50 hours of playing time from the Pedal Juice. When the power starts to run low it should only take about 3.5 hours to fully recharge. It’s very simple to use, though you’ll want to check the power requirements and polarity specifications on all of your equipment before plugging in.
What You Get
The Pedal Juice comes with an AC adapter for recharging the unit, two cables for powering pedals, and one polarity conversion cable for devices that have reversed polarity. There is also a little black bag for keeping all of your accessories together. Although there are only enough cables included to power two pedals, additional cables can be purchased to power many more effects.
Benefits
At first glance the Pedal Juice may seem like a difficult purchase to rationalize especially since it costs as much as some other pedals you’re probably drooling over. However, for musicians who play out regularly and have a number of 9V pedals the Pedal Juice can make life a lot easier and will end up saving you money over the life of the unit. If you’re currently running your gear on batteries it will mean no more stocking up on batteries or visiting WalMart for spares before the gig.
Pappy’s 5th Fret Blog points out: “…an Energizer 9v is on sale at $3.76. That’s $11.28 to power your three pedals and if you gig once a week (or change them out once a week) to make sure the batteries are strong enough to get through a gig every week for a month, that’s about $56.40. You can see how quickly the cost adds up and how much this will save you in the long run. If you kept on going at it every week for a year, you will have spent $586.56 and even if you changed out your batteries once every TWO weeks in an effort to save yourself some money you’ll still be paying almost a hundred bucks more at $293.28.”
Also, because this is a rechargeable battery rather than a AC source you’ll be able to place your effects anywhere and you won’t have to worry about ground loops or other noise that is sometimes introduced by external power sources. One other small convenience is that you’ll be able to leave patchcords plugged into the inputs of the pedals without having to worry about running out of power – assuming you turn off the Pedal Juice, of course.
Considerations
There are very few limitations to the Pedal Juice but here are a things you might want to consider: You cannot charge the Pedal Juice while powering pedals so you’ll want to make sure you have a full charge before a gig or rehearsal. It will be difficult to know exactly how long the pedal juice will last with your specific combination of effects. Analog effects are said to last for about 50 hours of performance time while digital effects may only last half as long. Even though you shouldn’t have any problems running out of power it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a couple of spare batteries on hand. Lastly remember that the Pedal Juice is specifically for 9V devices. It will not power the many 18V devices that have become common in recent years, so check the specifications on all of your gear before buying to know what will work with the Pedal Juice and what won’t.
My Experience
My main pedal board currently has a lot of 18V TC Electronic devices on it so the Pedal Juice wasn’t too handy there. However, I play a lot of solo gigs where all I use is my Ibanez AF120 archtop into a Tech 21 Blonde pedal and a Boss RC20XL Loop Station. In this situation the Pedal Juice worked wonderfully. After a a few gigs the Pedal Juice still indicated that it was over 60% power and I had absolutely no issues using the unit. I was especially thrilled that it played well with the Loop Station. The Loop Station requires six AA batteries! I was always running an extension chord to an outlet for that pedal but now I can leave the AC adapter at home! The only question that I wonder about is: how many times a Pedal Juice will successfully recharge? Only time will tell, but it’s touted to be rechargeable hundreds of times. If that’s true, it should get most casual players and weekend warriors through years of gigs and rehearsals.
Conclusion
For small pedal boards that are largely 9V setups the Pedal Juice is great investment. Just remember to recharge between uses! If you need more info do a quick Google search. There are many other reviews out there and I haven’t seen a bad one yet!
Below is a pic of my modest setup for solo jazz gigs using the Sanyo Pedal Juice. It’s hard to see, but the power is on!
The Castiv Guitar Sidekick is a new device that will allow you to mount your iPhone or similar device to the headstock of your guitar. The Castiv Guitar Sidekick Smartphone Holder for Guitar is available at amazon.com for $29.99.
The creative uses for the iphone are endless and the Guitar Sidekick will allow hands-free access to all of your music apps while performing or rehearsing. This is especially handy for referencing lyrics, chord changes, or a tuner, or metronome on the fly. I’d love to see someone come up with even more creative and interactive uses for it. Maybe interacting with audience members, taking requests, or even using the camera to document shows or skype with fans.
The Sidekick mounts to the guitar by way of a clamp called a “harpo device” that attaches to the strings behind the headstock. The device supports a swiveling, padded clamp that will easily accommodate the iPhone or other smartphones. Although everything besides the harpo device is made of plastic, the unit seems sturdy and looks like it should hold up to years of use.
Although the Sidekick will fit 99% of all guitars you may want to make sure your axe is a good candidate for the device: On two of my acoustic guitars – both nylon-string classical guitars – there is not enough room to slide the blade of the “harpo” device between the headstock and the strings. So be sure that there is a bit of clearance here on your guitars. You’ll need about 7/64″ of space to use the Guitar Sidekick and I suspect that this may be an issue for most guitars that have a slotted headstock.
On all of my other guitars there is is plenty of room for mounting the harpo device, but depending on the design of the headstock, truss rod covers, etc. you may need to position the clamp a little farther away from the nut in order to make it work. Also, note that the string height behind the nut is not even due to string trees and differences in windings. Once the harpo device is installed this creates increased tension on some of the strings behind the nut, pulling those strings sharp. You will likely need to re-tune once the device is attached. Although the device is clamped onto the strings you should be able to fine-tune your guitar, sort of like tuning with a capo on.
While I’m not sure that I’ll have a regular use for the Guitar Sidekick, I know that there are those that will love the convenience. Check out the video below to see it in action.
