Free Software article discussion

davektoo

mediamonkey, mediamonkey, mediamonkey!

yes, that's MEDIAMONKEY!

It handles thousands of music files in a beautiful way. It can convert files (on the fly if needed) to different formats (use OggVorbis - it's great!) at varying quality; synchronise with many different DAPs; reorganise your file structure; is scriptable (so loads of plugins); and more...

It also has a great community (forum) for any issues/needs you might have. They're a friendly bunch.

And, of course, it's free (although you can pay for a lifetime Gold license, which is a very reasonable price and gets you some extra features). Get it now!

http://www.mediamonkey.com/ This must be added to the article now!

Do you think I pushed this app enough? :rolleyes:

And of course for completeness I suppose I should mention WinAmp (spits - I won't link it). Its only benefit is it can use MilkDrop2 as its visualisation.

and FYI: For those wanting to use eps/pdf files with inkscape they might need to check out GhostScript and install it before inkscape.

http://www.ghostscript.com/awki

Decorian

I've been trying to find decent free software for a while. I always try to go for free rather than paying. Some things I do need to buy for uni etc. like Mathematica, but that's a different story.

I have just started using aTunes, which is a fully functional media player/organiser to
replace WMP which has stopped working properly. It allows you to modify mp3 tags, rip CDs play music, organise playlists, and it contains quite a lot of formats which it allows you to play. (you can find it at www.atunes.org)

I also still use Media Player Classic for playing videos, again it plays a large range of formats and codecs (so long as you have them installed, MPC is sometimes bundled as part of free codec packs). The reason I use it mostly is because it also plays DVDs better than most specific DVD players, and the DVD menus work properly.

There isn't a section for free games or anything which there's hundreds of, but of special note (in my opinion) being a fully fledged racing game is TrackMania Nations Forever. I know this is a software rather than games section, but I thought that's because most free games don't rival their commercial counterparts.

Hope these suggestions may be useful. Dom.

runciblespoon

I'd be a bit cautious about recommending eFax for two reasons. One is that they like sending you advertising mail once you've signed up. The other is that it emails you faxes in its own proprietary format, so you have to fire up eFax's program to read them. You can't read them on a computer that doesn't have eFax's program installed, and their software only works on Windows.

There are lots of other fax providers which will email you faxes as a TIFF or a PDF, which are easy to read on most computers. Most are funded by the revenue from 0844/0845/0870/0871 numbers, so they're free to the recipient but the caller pays a little extra. I can't recommend one, however, as I use another where I pay an annual fee to get an 020 number which is easier to call from abroad.

sablade

i need a free/cheap 2d floorplan program pls for floorplans on houses with doors and windows

mcrobiej

Watch-out .

When I registered on eFax for their free service I was allocated a non geograpgical 'follow me' number. the number allocated was 070060xxxxxx

looking on BT's site this is classed as a 'pn2'
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/consumerProducts/pdf/SpecialisedNos.pdf

This is now charged at 50p (with other rates during off peak) This is bit of a change from 8p.

sablade

www.faxtastic.co.uk seems good says my dad a user of it
0871
Faxtastic for Free

• FREE
• Sender pays 10p per minute
• Must receive a fax within first 7 days
• Must receive a fax every 90 days
• Works in UK only
• Best for: Frequent UK fax receivers

womble65

Does anybody know of a free program that will convert PDF files in to Excel. my O/H does work from home and has to print off PDF files and then type all the information in to excel before she can work on them. Please help!! Thanks

espresso

womble65 wrote: »

Does anybody know of a free program that will convert PDF files in to Excell. my O/H does work from home and has to print off PDF files and then type all the information in to excell before she can work on them. Please help!! Thanks

That is a crazy thing to do! Why not simply work on Excel files?

iviv

It sounds like the wife is given pdf files and has to input the data into an excel spreadsheet. Its not her choice, I assume

womble65

iviv wrote: »

It sounds like the wife is given pdf files and has to input the data into an excel spreadsheet. Its not her choice, I assume

Thats right, the info comes in pdf format from abroad so not by choice.