Crisis of a Dying Computer

My DVD Player/CD-Writer on my computer died yesterday. I came into my office and it was making some strange noise and the light was flashing in an unsettling pattern.

After shutting down the computer and rebooting, the light changed to red and the computer no longer believes that the drive exists.

I also had a CD-ROM drive that died on me a couple of months ago. The computer still talks to it, but the drive refuses to open up to anyone else.

The consequences of these events are dire. I can no longer put music on my computer from CDs.

The recent failure is just a sign of the fragile health of my computer. I have had this computer for four years now and it is starting to have random fits (old things and people tend to do that). I got it to write my dissertation on (the laptop I had - which is not in the loving care of Scott - was too unreliable to entrust the massive undertaking of a dissertation and the keyboard was just too small for writing 300+ pages). I knew the day was coming when I needed to start considering replacing it.

I think that day is upon us.

What to do? Among my options:

• Get a cheap external hard drive and hope that the computer continues to clunk along for a little longer.
• Get a cheap PC to replace the computer for now.
• Invest in a better PC that will carry me through the next couple of years.
• Switch to a Mac - also a bigger investment.

This is a decision that will have to wait until the semester is over and I can ponder it with a better functioning mind. I will entertain suggestions/advice, though...