Multimedia Desktop tools Part Two

This post is especially for those of you who have anxiously been waiting for part two of this post... well...here it is and I hope you find it useful!

Moviemaker is another free download from Microsoft if it is not already shipped with your computer which allows a little more flexibility where visuals and transitions are concerned (for the creative types). Cons about the software as with most software applications is that the project files are not backward compatible. The one I used to work with tended to crash at the most inconvenient times. The pros is that you can use both images and video with the software. Little training and support is needed for learners. Also great for visual reports. Exports natively to the WMV formats which is suites for insertion into PowerPoint.

If you are into 2nd Life then you have to know about the Phoenix viewer. I have used it on both MAC and PC and it hasn't given me any trouble.

CutePDFwriter is another handy tool to have when you need to convert documents to PDF. Easy to download and install.

A player that has never let me down is the latest VLC player. Good for a good number of different video formats especially. The interface is easy to navigate.

Freecorder is a browser plugin which allows you to record any audio that is playing through your browser. You might want to use this in tandem with Skype maybe when conducting important interviews. Just be sure that you have covered all ethical aspects of such a recording.

Dropbox/ Google drive/Google docs is another online tool that has crossed over to your desktop allowing you to simply drag and drop files into a folder and share it online. This has almost become a must-have for groups of researchers (possible communities of Inquiry) or people who wish to collaborate.

Audiograbber is still one of my favourite software tools for ripping CD even though I find myself using it less and less since so many audio tracks are now available online.

WavePad Master's Edition  is available as a free download. The text to speech conversion on this software is really neat even though the voice that it produces sounds a bit robotic. This could be used effectively in working with visually impaired students.

aTubecatcher is an app that allows you to download video from Youtube and just about any other Tube channel you can find. Simply copy the address of the desired video into the app and start downloading or converting to the format of your choice. Personally, I prefer Mozilla's download helper which is a browser plugin. (no need to open another application)

Ever tried finding some folder and you cannot remember which one it was cause they all look alike? Well Rainbowfolders allows you to customize the colour of your folders. Really handy! Well that's what on my computer for now. I probably do not use all of them all the time but when I do need them, they get the job done.

Mozilla Plug-ins such as dowload helper is useful for downloading videos from the internet. But before you set out to downloading videos make sure it is for a good reason. Think about why it is you want to download a video as opposed to pointing someone to a link. Especially if it's educational videos.