T61 DVD Software

[gmauricio]

We reload the T61's with a Volume license of XP Pro and Office, then install any necessary Thinkvantage Applications downloaded from the Lenovo site.  Can I obtain the DVD software for XP free of charge by calling Lenovo, or will they just send me an XP recovery CD which I already have?

[billbolton Community Moderator]

You can download the Multimedia Center for XP software from the Lenovo web site, however it will only install if you have one of the specific machine types listed on the web page.

Cheers,

Bill

[gmauricio]

Is this the link you are referring to?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-66042

Here are the apps listed and yes it does match my Machine Type: ThinkPad T61 7664-16U

Sonic RecordNow Audio 2.04 build 19T
Sonic RecordNow Data 2.04 build 19R
Sonic RecordNow Copy 2.04 build 19P
Sonic Express Labeller 2.0 build 30E
Sonic Drag-to-disc (DLA) 5.2 build 21G
Sonic Update Manager 1.0 Build 27C
Sonic Px Engine build 3.0.82a

However the WinDVD software is not included and the only link on Lenovo's site is for the WinDVD update.

[Stu-be]

Perhaps you could explain to a non-technical person which of these Sonic Programs listed, those that initially came with the IBM/Lenovo T-Series Laptops, are required for operation, and which are purely redundant?

In regards to RecordNow, Audio, Data, and Copy; Do these serve a purpose for someone who is already using Windows Media Player as their primary CD recorder/player?

Express Labeler is fine if you wish to pick up the labels required by the program.  If not, it is hardly useful.

Is the Sonic DLA (Drag to Disc) the transfer mechanism that my Laptop requires, or can it also be disposed of?

What I am asking is this:  Is there any reason to keep any or all of these Sonic Programs, or are they redundant.  Could one free-up hard drive real estate by removing them?

[LukeD]

Can these programs go on an older ThinkPad? Is there some form of license activation? We would love to update a few of our T42s with the newer software.

Sonic does not sell Record Now via retail. They call it something else.

Thanks.

[Stu-be]

I am not sure that I understand the benefits of all of these Sonic programs (especially the RecordNow) all of which originally came with My T-40 Laptop.  Do you find that you are using the older versions of these programs, less the updates which you are looking to add?  In what way?

The older versions all came with my T-40, and I am trying to figure out why I shouldn't remove them.  If you are already using a media player like Rapsody or Windows Media, what benefits do you derive from these Sonic programs that the other Media Players are lacking?

I would like to learn this so I can see what I am missing.

[thompsoda]

I have two follow-ups to this post:

I have a supported model for this MultiMedia software (T61p), but it will neither install nor uninstall.  Anybody else ever run into this problem?  Was there some sort of registry cleanup or something you could do to get around this issue?

Second, I found that I already have a copy of the installation software for WinDVD in a directory named c:\swtools ... look in the subdirectories of this one, if you have it, and you'll find everything you need to reinstall WinDVD.

-Dave