Hardware Hijinks: Cyberhome DVD Burner

To continue the fun of misbehaving hardware, our DVD burner, a Cyberhome cheapie, has been taken out of service. We were having enough problems actually recording things but as of yesterday it simply didn't want to read anything either. No write. No read. Making this something of a DVD holder.

If you Google Cyberhome DVD Burner I think you'll find that we're not alone in this experience. I kinda assumed in this day and age of cheap electronics - if all I needed was to record then I'd be OK. Apparently not.

So second lesson learned ... do not buy Cyberhome.

Bad Best Buy: Broken Shredder ... "New" In Box

Like every other American with a credit card and mortgage, I get lots and lots of (paper) mail I don't really want. I'm offered a new credit card at least three times a week. If I go to the doctor or dentist I get insurance statements for the next couple months. Most of this is information I barely need and sometimes don't even read. It's all mildly sensitive, though, so I'd prefer to shred it before tossing it away.

So I got a cheap 5 paper shredder from Best Buy. Well, I thought I did. I thought it was a little suspicious that the top had been taped shut - but didn't think much about it. When I finally opened it up this weekend, though, the shredder had a large gash in the middle of it, scratches up and down and more to the point - it didn't seem to want to shred anything.

I can get the notion of placing returns back on the shelf if they're in like new condition. This one, however, clearly didn't even have a cursory glance before restocking. Whoever returned it could have made a quick $20 by returning a small rock instead of the shredder since I'm guessing nobody even bothered to open it.

So lesson learned - if there's tape in sight ... find another box.