Media Software

iTunes

MSRP $0.00 Released January, 2001

Pros

Easy-to-use synching with iPod device
Clean, slick, easy to use interface.
Excellent support for podcasts, mostly free podcast subscriptions.

Cons

Installs many services and bloatware
Slows down Windows
High startup time on Windows

ProSCORE
39 reviews

56

VLC media player

MSRP $0.00 Released February, 2001

Pros

Supports lots of codecs
Does not use much memory and opens quickly
Available for Windows and Macintosh

Cons

Can't select multiple objects and have them play in succession
Can't handle dynamic soft subtitles as well as some competitors.
Artifacts sometimes appear when skipping through some filetypes.

ProSCORE
38 reviews

86

Windows Media Player

MSRP -- Released --

Pros

Mini-player
has all the bells and whistles you would expect
Good for most videos.

Cons

Awful library management functions
Will not play licensed media without internet connection or licence
Bloatware

ProSCORE
19 reviews

22

Winamp

MSRP $0.00 Released June, 1997

Pros

Extensive plugin support
Not a computer resource hog like WMP
Great UI, with easy to access library, playlist, EQ, visualization, etc.

Cons

Windows Only
default installation includes a lot of useless bloat
owned by AOL

ProSCORE
30 reviews

82

Google Picasa

MSRP $0.00 Released January, 2004

Pros

program interface is fast and smooth
integrates well with Picasa Web Albums (upload, download, synchronization)
free

Cons

uses a lot of memory
few editing tools
import can be slow and annoying if you have a lot of images on your SD card

ProSCORE
3 reviews

85

foobar2000

MSRP $0.00 Released December, 2002

Pros

limited memory usage
highly customizable
Supports a wide range of audio codecs
Supports many tagging formats for metadata

Cons

Windows only
does not work with some media keyboards, or difficult to configure.

ProSCORE
12 reviews

82

Zune Player

MSRP $0.00 Released November, 2006

Pros

Manage the Zune
Simple to use
Has a store to buy music and rent movies
Stream to Xbox 360

Cons

Only on Windows
Consumes a lot of resources, even when lowering graphics quality

ProSCORE
3 reviews

88

Drum Machine

MSRP $0.00 Released January, 2008

Pros

Available as a free download
An inexpensive alternative to electronic drums
Ability to record and save your drumming

Cons

Drum pads are not pressure sensitive - all hits are at the same volume
Sensitive to double hits
Limited sample drum samples included

ProSCORE
10 reviews

80

Avid Media Composer

MSRP -- Released January, 2009

Pros

Very robust editing package
Many plug-in packages and AVX effects available

Cons

Very expensive
Very stringent system requirements

ProSCORE
1 review

50

Audacity

MSRP $0.00 Released November, 2006

Pros

Free, open-source audio editor
Great free tool with all essential features
Supports multi-track editing
Silence detection for automatically splitting up analog recordings into multiple files or tracks

Cons

Multi-track functionality is limited and could be improved
Commercial programs have better features for more advanced functionality

ProSCORE
8 reviews

80

MediaMonkey

MSRP -- Released January, 2006

Pros

Automatically tag and Album Art lookup
Auto volume leveling
Auto tagging
Audio CD ripping

Cons

PC Only
Separate for-pay "gold" version

ProSCORE
4 reviews

84

Media Player Classic

MSRP $0.00 Released --

Pros

Lightweight compared to competitors
Very stable

Cons

Poor playlist support
Playlist interface (6.4.9.0)

ProSCORE
11 reviews

70

MediaCoder

MSRP $0.00 Released --

Pros

Support many compression formats
Freely distributed
Open-source and makes use of open-source codecs

Cons

No Nintendo DS video support (yet)
Contains OpenCandy spyware
Not open source anymore as of version 0.6

ProSCORE
5 reviews

84

Badaboom

MSRP $29.99 Released November, 2008

Pros

more features than AMD/ATI's Avivo video converter
can also be used with Nvidia's last generation graphics cards (8000 series) unlike ATI's
considerably faster than CPU-based transcoding

Cons

costs $30 while Avivo video converter is free
expensive shipping to anywhere other than the USA
requires a fairly recent Nvidia graphics card

ProSCORE
3 reviews

65

Adobe Audition

MSRP $350.00 Released --

Pros

scripts
Batch saving
Group RMS normalization
Supports over 20 file formats

ProSCORE
1 review

100

Exact Audio Copy

MSRP $0.00 Released --

Pros

Very efficient
Different lossless and lossy compression options for any taste
Supports AccurateRip

Cons

Check and copying can take quite a while when settings are at low speed/high accuracy
Runs only on MS Windows.

ProSCORE
4 reviews

71

Songbird

MSRP $0.00 Released December, 2008

Pros

expandable with extensions
cross-platform
stable

Cons

still missing many standard features
internal browser is somewhat useless
No PowerPC build for Mac

ProSCORE
2 reviews

60

FormatFactory

MSRP $0.00 Released --

Pros

Easy to use
Rips DVD to video file
Supports RMVB as source format

ProSCORE
1 review

100

Miro

MSRP $0.00 Released July, 2007

Pros

Large selection of free channels.
Lots of HD content.
Possible to get recommendations based on ratings of other shows.

Cons

Video quality is not always high.
To rate a channel you have to find it in the guide rather than selecting it in the subscribed channel list.

ProSCORE
3 reviews

44

DivX Player

MSRP $0.00 Released January, 2007

Pros

Works with Advanced and Ultra DivX features

Cons

No Audio EQ
No Video Controls (Brightness, Color Balance, Etc.)

ProSCORE
2 reviews

33

Avivo video converter

MSRP $0.00 Released December, 2008

Pros

free - similar products for Nvidia based cards costs money
can drastically cut down on transcoding time
makes getting video on your mobile devices a lot less of a hassle
lets you do more with your PC while it transcodes

Cons

not as complex as Badaboom 1.1 (Nvidia offering)
requires the latest generation of ATI graphics cards

ProSCORE
2 reviews

62

DivX Author

MSRP $19.99 Released --

Pros

Output file Target size
Direct access to codec through GUI
Very easy to use (user friendly)

Cons

Editing is key frame not frame by frame
Menu builder is bulky and not real flexable
Only can encode in stereo. 5.1 (6 channel) audio is always converted and surround sound ability is completely lost.

ProSCORE
2 reviews

62

BonkEnc is a free audio converter and CD ripper with support for various popular audio formats. It can rip to and transcode between MP3, MP4/AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and WAV and supports Winamp input plugins to allow decoding of more formats. BonkEnc also integrates freedb queries and supports writing ID3v2, Vorbis Comment and MP4...

ProSCORE
0 reviews

N/A

Ulead MediaStudio Pro

MSRP $199.99 Released --

Pros

Top Quality editor

Cons

Very complicated to understand advanced features
Requires a good working knowledge of video for good results

ProSCORE
1 review

33

Kantaris Media Player

MSRP $0.00 Released --

Haven't used it, but here it is http://www.kantaris.org/

ProSCORE
0 reviews

N/A

SUPER (C)

MSRP $0.00 Released --

ProSCORE
0 reviews

N/A

Zoom Player

MSRP -- Released --

Zoom Player is a music and video playing software program that works on Windows operating systems. The player can play any software that is able to play on a PC so long as the appropriate codecs are installed. Since Zoom Player is so customizable, many home theater enthusiasts have found it useful and appreciate...

ProSCORE
0 reviews

N/A

SlimServer (AKA SqueezeCenter)

MSRP $0.00 Released --

The SlimServer (AKA SqueezeCenter) is a streaming audio server supported by Slim Devices, developed in particular to support their range of digital audio receivers. It is open source software. * copied from Wikipedia

ProSCORE
0 reviews

N/A

Jing

MSRP $0.00 Released --

Jing instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere. Snap a picture of anything on your desktop. Record video of what you do, or what you see. Instantly uploaded. Share in email, IM, or blogs.

ProSCORE
0 reviews

N/A