the jazz authority; random dubiously zappy rants about 'the musicians music'.: Great Music Apps 4 U...

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Great Music Apps 4 U...

Wouldn't it be nice to have a list of great music applications tested and confirmed usefull by a musician? Even better; to have links for all of those programs! Well, here you go. I'll give a brief review and description of each. Hooray for free software!!!

In a previous post I mentioned AUDACITY, a great music editing program. You can save projects in MP3 format by downloading the LAME plugin. With audacity you can multitrack, import audio, loop, and edit/alter tracks as you see fit. Created by SOURCEFORGE, it's free.

Need to convert your audio files to another format? try the CHEETAH audio converter. Convert your audio files fast to WMA, MP3, MP2, WAV, and OGG formats. Just drag files into the program window and click Convert. Cheetah Audio Converter also can convert your audio files to different bit rates ranging from 11,025Hz to 48,000Hz and will rip CD's too...

Now, I prefer to rip my CDs with FREERIP. It's a simple user friendly program that I've used over and over. Freerip is . . . free.

I never did like Windows media player much. Just too bogged down with frills and gimmicks. I try to never use it. If I want to listen to tunes or watch a quick mpeg video, I always use WINAMP. Just go get it and use it.

Wanna share and download tunes? Use LIMEWIRE. Again, I've tried the others; Kazaa, bearshare, eMule, fileDonkey, etc., and LIMEWIRE is just out and out great.

Now I've checked these programs out, used them, and confirmed their usefullness in my arsenall of music apps. If you want other info on these or other programs let me know.

By the way, These are all free. I'd review programs like Finale, Sibelius, or BandInABox, but they cost $$$, and can usualy be found shared on Limewire (possibly corrupt of course, but that's your call).

L8R.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I looked at the Cheetah site because I need a utility to make mp3s of my Finale 2004 AIFF music files ..

but the program isn't ported to Mac ...

crapola !!

camsax@gmail.com said...

No it's not for macs. It's a simple free program, and since I use a regular PC, I'm posting about PC related stuff. Some of the programs are compatible with Macs. I respect Macs, especially for use with music and graphic applications.
There are so many other audio converters out there I'm sure you'll spot one. Try searching Download.com. Also, try music apps that are for recording puposes, like audacity, because you can ussually import a file, and then save it/ export it in another format.