Audio & Video

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This is a collection of useful tools and links for dealing with digital audio and video files.

Hyperlinks

Doom9.net	Lots of step by step guides on how to rip, edit, and encode video files.
hymn-project.org	An open-source project devoted to freeing your iTunes of DRM.
SHOUTcast	A directory of live streaming radio stations on the Internet.
VideoHelp.com	An excellent resource with reviews of DVD players, DVD recorders, and different brands of media. Lots of how-to's and a large collection of video tools to download.

Audio Downloads

Audacity Freeware	An open source audio editor. Records and edits live audio. Also can edit MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and WAV files. You'll need the Lame MP3 Encoder to add MP3 support. Fully capable of copying, cutting, and mixing audio and applying some basic effects. This is just as good as some of the professional editors out there, but free.
Exact Audio Copy (EAC) Freeware	The best CD ripper. Uses your CD-ROM drive's error correction features to the fullest which is helpful if your audio CD is heavily scratched or damaged. Uses freedb for CD detection and the Lame MP3 Encoder for compression.
iTunes Freeware	This is the most popular legal music downloading site. All songs cost 99 cents. Music videos and episodes from your favorite TV shows start at $1.99. The iTunes software allows you to easily rip and burn music on CD.
QTFairUse Freeware	A free application that liberates your iTunes music from DRM (digital rights management) restrictions. This is a must if you want to upload iTunes files onto a non-iPod MP3 player.
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack Freeware	This installs virtually every audio and video codec you can think of as well as slimmed down versions of QuickTime and Real. Use Media Player Classic or BSplayer to play videos.
Lame MP3 Encoder Freeware	The compiled Windows binary from the open source Lame Project. This encoder works just as good if not better than the original Fraunhofer codec.
Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice Text-to-Speech Engine Freeware	A free and better engine that comes with Windows. Use with Text-to-Speech applications such as Speakonia and TextAloud.
MP3 Splitter Freeware	A handy application in case you want to split an MP3 file into multiple, smaller files. This is useful for sending MP3's via e-mail. Also if you have a long audiobook you want to listen to on your portable MP3 player, and the player does not have a resume feature, this is a must.
Mp3tag Freeware	A batch MP3 ID3 tag editor and file renamer.
mpTrim Freeware	Automatically detect silence and trim your MP3 files without decoding and re-encoding. Can also increase or decrease the volume (normalization) and fade in/out. For drag and drop and batch file support, get the Pro version which is shareware.
SHOUTcast Freeware	Have you ever wanted to be a D. J.? It is super simple to start your own radio station online. With Winamp and this SHOUTcast plug-in, you'll be on the air in no time. Automatically publishes your station in the SHOUTcast directory.
Speakonia Freeware	Reads e-mail, web pages, word processor documents, digital books, etc. to you. You can also save to an MP3 file and upload it to your portable player. Use the Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice Text-to-Speech Engine for a better sounding agent than the one that comes with Windows.
Streamripper Freeware	Saves SHOUTcast streams to your hard drive as MP3 files. Has the ability to save each song to an individual file. Open source project. Comes as a stand-alone application or plug-in for Winamp.
TextAloud Shareware	Reads e-mail, web pages, word processor documents, digital books, etc. to you. You can also save to an MP3 file and upload it to your portable player. More features than Speakonia. Use the Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice Text-to-Speech Engine for a better sounding agent than the one that comes with Windows.
Winamp Freeware	My favorite MP3 player. Also does video. Lots of skins to choose from as well as plug-ins to give it additional functionality.

Video Downloads

DVD Decrypter Freeware	Easily rips DVD's onto your hard drive. The author got into some legal trouble and is no longer developing or distributing the application, but you can still find it around on the Internet.
DVD Shrink Freeware	This little tool not only rips DVD's but can also shrink the files down so it will fit onto a single layer DVD±R/RW (4.5GB). Optionally, you can re-author the disc with just the movie (no extras) and often fit it on a 4.5GB DVD±R/RW disc. If you have Nero installed, it can automatically burn the disc for you too.
DVD Styler Freeware	An open source DVD authoring application. Create a menu and add your .mpg or .vob files and you are done. It's basically a front end for dvdauthor.
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack Freeware	This installs virtually every audio and video codec you can think of as well as slimmed down versions of QuickTime and Real. Use Media Player Classic or BSplayer to play videos.
Nero Shareware	Probably the best and hassle free CD and DVD burning application available. Many CD- and DVD-ROM drives come with a cripple version. The Ultra Edition is a bargain as it includes an audio editor and automatic backup feature. Also, it has Nero Vision which is a video editor and DVD authoring application.
PowerDVD Shareware	Software media player that specializes in DVD playback and surround sound audio. Many DVD-ROM drives come with a crippled version that only support stereo audio.
VideoLAN Freeware	A free and open source media player. Includes MPEG-2 and DVD support.
VirtualDubMod Freeware	A modified version of VirtualDub with the ability to open AVI and MPEG1 files as well as MPEG2 files, edit and then re-encode them into an .avi file using DivX, XviD, etc. Open source.
WinDVD Shareware	Software media player that specializes in DVD playback and surround sound audio. Many DVD-ROM drives come with a crippled version that only support stereo audio. My favorite feature is the ability to individually configure how many seconds to jump forward and backward which is useful when watching video files with commercials.

Last Updated May 5, 2007