The Format

A friend introduced me to the music of The Format the other day. They're a great band, but I haven't had time to listen to them much. I'm a little preoccupied with another kind of format - AVCHD.

I've got some ideas, but I think each idea will require some form of payment. I may just ask my parents to use their (dare I say it) Windows computer. I haven't ever had to revert to the old PC, but there may be no other option - Windows software for AVCHD is more abundant and less expensive. And I have a feeling there will be at least a couple programs for XP.

It just occurred to me that the conversion software I was looking for might have taken a lot of time to process anyhow.

I've been reading this blog quite a lot in search of an option for my camcorder. I have until the end of the day to change my mind, because tomorrow the store is closed. How does that work?? I had "seven days" to return it, but the store is only open for six... Is it seven business days?

I called Advance and some guy told me that returning it on Monday could be done, but it was an exception made for specific customers. What the fuck?

The guy was so uncaring when I asked him for advice, it really rattled me. First of all, he assumed that I knew nothing about computers, which is good retail smarts but FRUSTRATING when trying to get to the point. I told him that the FCP at school doesn't allow me to import AVCHD files and he said, "Come in and I'll show you that it works." That's all well and good, but if it doesn't work at my school, it doesn't work. And when I told him of conversion software, he said "It is what it is. There's no point converting it, because it will still be the format." What the hell does that mean? I left a voicemail message for some manager, asking him to call me back.

My experiences at Advance were great until just now. The salesperson did not attempt to empathize with me, just talked the technical stuff, and could not help me find any real solution to my problem. If there was no solution, then he should have just told me so. I was trying to work WITH the guy to keep the item I'd purchased from their store. But he merely blocked me at every opening. Did he bother asking if I had access to other computers? No. He just assumed that my Apple iBook was the only computer I could use, even after I told him about the computers at school.

Obviously, a $1000 camcorder is a big thing to a full-time student, and when I can't even playback the footage on ANY computer I have access to, I begin to worry that my money was wasted. I still want a camera. Actually, I NEED a camera. But I don't want a whole new computer system to go with it.