Often called a Swiss army knife of Audio, dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC) is able to many things at once. Not limited to just converting audio formats it can also rip CDs, normalize audio and edit tags. Here is a full list of its features:

• Rip digitally sound from Audio CDs and store in a multitude of formats, dMC is the Fastest CD Ripper and now AccurateRip Compatible.
• Convert from one format to another, just about every audio type is supported: mp3, mp4, Windows Media Audio (wma), Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Monkeys Audio, FLAC and many others [Codec downloads], whilst preserving ID Tags.
• Volume Normalize audio files.
• Windows Explorer Integration - right click Convert To & popup useful info on audio files.
• ID tag editing [Power Pack Option].
• Record from LPs or anything.
• Fully compatible with Windows 95/98/ME NT4/2000, Windows XP and Linux (using Wine).

Download dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC) 12.4 in Softonic

Even if you’re extremely careful about downloading only music which is compatible with your player, there comes a moment when you need to convert audio files from one format to another. And if you have never used this kind of software before, you may feel a little bit lost at the beginning: which program should I use? Will it have support for this or that?

Free MP3 WMA Converter is probably one of the best answers one could give to these questions. In spite of being quite plain both in aspect and functionalities, this little app does its job and does it well. So don’t let yourself be fooled by its simplicity and spare us five minutes to take a deeper look.

The process of installing Free MP3 WMA Converter follows the standard steps and includes the possibility of also installing Pando, a free tool to share large files through e-mail. But you can simply skip that point if you’re not interested in it.

Once installed on your system, the program allows you to choose the interface language, a nice feature for non-English speakers. However, it wouldn’t be really necessary, as Free MP3 WMA Converter is incredibly simple to use: first, select the files you want to convert; then, choose the target format; finally, click on the “Convert” button. Easy as pie! Plus, the conversion itself is surprisingly fast. The program even displays a neat progress bar so that you can control the whole process in detail.

If there is a drawback to Free MP3 WMA Converter, it’s the range of supported formats. Only six of them (AAC, APE, MP3, Ogg, WAV and WMA) but at least they’re the most used and popular ones. Besides, the program features separate conversion options for each one of them, so you can always achieve the quality of sound you wanted. Another thing this program lacks is having a wider choice of options, such as volume normalization, a built-in tag editor or other similar extra functions that can be found in most conversion tools.

In short, if you’re looking for an audio file converter and don’t know where to begin, just give Free MP3 WMA Converter a chance. It may suit your needs, as long as they’re simple enough.

Download Free Mp3 Wma Converter 1.7.3 in Softonic

RGB MusicLab is probably the most strange – or should I say original – music software tool you've ever seen.

Instead of letting you compose music by using your computer keyboard as a music keyboard or writing notes right on the tablature, like you may have seen in other music composition apps, RGB MusicLab creates music automatically from any image you load on the program.

Yes, that's what you read: music out of images. RGB MusicLabs reads any photo you load on it, turns it into a mosaic and creates the music all by itself based on the color, brightness, saturation and other elements from the picture. Being an automatic composition there's not much you can do to change it (and sometimes you do feel like changing it because it sounds really bad). Luckily there are some settings you can tweak, such as the number of tiles in the mosaic, the length of notes and the kind of instrument, which can help you improve your musical piece of art.

RGB MusicLab provides you with a whole new way to create music, where you don't have that much control over the creating process but which proves to be really original.

Download RGB MusicLab 22 in Softonic

With so many multimedia formats available nowadays, it's important to have a good format converter like XRecode.

XRecode is probably one of the best choices in freeware audio converters. It's very simple to use, features a straightforward interface and supports the most popular audio formats: MP3, WAV, FLAC, Ogg, WMA, APE and even AAC, the standard audio format for mobile devices.

To use XRecode, simply drag and drop the files you want to convert (or the whole folder) onto its interface and select the target format. Each one of them has a "Settings" button that enables you to tweak the conversion's configuration. Then let XRecode do the rest.

What I missed in XRecode though was the possibility to create conversion profiles so that you can use the same settings over and over again without having to configure the conversion every time.

XRecode also has a couple of very interesting extra features: a CUE splitting tool with which you can split long files and support for parallel processing, which means you can convert more than one file simultaneously.

XRecode is the easiest and fastest way to convert audio files in the most popular formats.

Download XRecode 1.95 in Softonic

With a plethora of portable music players around and the different type of audio file formats they each play, you're bound to have to convert your tracks every now and then. Switch has the advantage of being free and allowing you to quickly batch convert audio tracks. We were impressed by the number of output formats, more than a dozen, with all the common file types like mp3, wma or aac available. You'll also be able to set the bitrate, once again choosing from more than a dozen options and more importantly with a choice of variable or constant bitrate. Switch also features an error protection feature to enhance your recordings.

The toolbox feature is supposed to help you perform any audio task, but all it really does is automatically install extra software from the developer. We suggest using it only if you know precisely what you want to do and are ready to install a new application. Switch also has a feature to add CD album details from the freeDB database. Even though we tried it on a few well known tracks, it didn't really work.

Despite these drawbacks, Switch is a speedy audio converter with many features.

Download Switch Free 1.28 in Softonic

These days there are probably more different types of file format than there are fish in the ocean. Actually, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but nevertheless the digital audio world is becoming an increasingly daunting place. I find the best thing to do is hire the use of a file conversion app and transfer everything into one format. But with so many formats out there, it's difficult to find a program that can handle all these formats.

Peering at the list of supported formats in GermaniX Transcoder tells you that this won't be an issue, and I defy you to think of one that isn't included. Conversion is a simple process in this app, and it's merely a case of adding the files to the task, choosing the output compression quality and hitting Start.

Despite the fact that many of its rivals offer many more features, GermaniX Transcoder proves its worth by offering support for a huge number of audio file formats.

Download GermaniX Transcoder 4.0.2.44 in Softonic

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. Grossly oversimplified, FLAC is similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo, see supported devices) just like you would an MP3 file.

FLAC is freely available and supported on most operating systems, including Windows, "unix" (Linux, *BSD, Solaris, OS X, IRIX), BeOS, OS/2, and Amiga. There are also build systems for autotools, MSVC, Watcom C, and Project Builder.

The next generation of audio compressors is here.

Download FLAC 1.2.1 b in Softonic

Sometimes it's nice to hear your e-mails or written projects read back to you to see how it sounds. If you can't afford a personal secretary, then the next best thing is TTSReader which is is a fully-featured, text-to speech software package that allows you to read text aloud as well as save them to WAV or MP3 files.

TTSReader has a very simple interface which consists of a text box where you can type or paste text. As it reads, it highlights text with a blue cursor square. If you want to save the reading for listening on an external device or share with someone else, you can save the file to WAV or MP3 format. MP3 is recommended as it's much smaller and features more options for adjusting the volume.

If you only want TTS to read certain paragraphs, you can instruct it to skip sentences and paragraphs while reading. You can also saved read segments to a clipboard so you can go back to it later. If you get bored of the several voices included in the program - for which you can alter the pitch, volume and speed - you can download more from the developer website. Even if you don't use this for serious purposes, you'll have a lot of fun just hearing your computer swear.

Download TTSReader 1.00 in Softonic

Monkey’s Audio is a lossless audio compressor which aims to reduce the size of audio files as much as possible without losing any sound quality. The program uses its own file format, .ape, which is known to have a better compression rate than the lossless FLAC format, but files tend to be larger than lossy compression formats like MP3 or AAC.

We recommend using Monkey’s Audio to compress audio CDs to your PC. Your songs will not lose their quality but will take up less space than if they were uncompressed. What’s more, Monkey’s Audio handles tag support, keeping all your file information, like artist name, track numbers and playing time.

Monkey’s Audio can decompress files back to their original type without losing any quality and the program features an option to verify the MD5 checksum of compressed files. Compressed .ape files can play in any of the major media players and the program can also install a plug-in to compress audio files directly from Winamp.

Monkey’s Audio is a great solution if you’re worried about losing any quality when compressing audio files. However, because it only compresses to .ape, you’re pretty much stuck with playing your converted files on your PC. To enjoy them on your mobile music player you’ll have to use another program, like dbpowerAMP Music Converter or Switch Free, to convert your audio files to MP3 or AAC, which remain the most widely supported audio formats.

Download Monkey's Audio 4.01 beta 2 in Softonic

GoGo MP3 To CD Burner is a freeware tool that helps you to create normal audio CDs from your favorite MP3, WMA, WAV, or Ogg files. You can then play them in your regular stereo or car CD player.

Simply add the songs you want onto the main screen, hit the Burn button, and in a short time you will have a custom CD! With GoGo MP3 To CD Burner, you can choose to burn about 80-minute audio CDs on either CDR/RW discs. There is no need to convert to WAV! Your CD is burned directly saving your hard drive space.

This is what this program has to offer:

• Good MP3 sound quality and compatibility with our improved MPG3 decoder
• Burn bit for bit copying from your original, keep the best quality of the original
• Fast speed decoding and low memory usage
• Direct burning, no tempory WAV files involved, saving your hard disk life
• Over 1200 CDR/RW drives are supported
• Burn Proof Technology
• Small package size, beautiful and easy-to-use graphic user interface
• Create normal audio CDs from your favorite MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, APE, VQF, MP4 files. Play them on your car or home stereo and listen to them anywhere any time!

Download GoGo MP3 to CD Burner 1.0 in Softonic

Free WMA MP3 Converter transforms annoying WMA audio files to Mp3 format so you can play them in iTunes. You’ll appreciate how easy it is to search for WMA files, select the bitrate, one of the 3 sample rates available and start converting. The whole process is fairly quick and is presented to you in a little pop up window, which can be minimized to tray. The tag editor is where you can add information such as title, artist or genre. You can batch convert as many files as you want. Once the operation is complete you can check file size and duration of the file and make sure the conversion has been successful.

The majority of audio file converters support all audio file types and can convert to dozens of audio formats in a large range of bitrates and sample rates. Free WMA MP3 Converter is only useful for one type of conversion. This program is great if you have loads of music files in the Windows Media format and are looking for a quick way of converting them to the more common MP3 format. If you’re looking for a versatile audio converter however you should turn to Xilisoft Audio Converter, Switch Free or AudioConvert. And Free WMA MP3 Converter only works one way, so if you’re looking to turn MP3s into WMA, check out Free MP3 WMA Converter.

Download Free WMA to MP3 Converter 1.16 in Softonic

Speaker is a program that lets people with a speech impediment or those who would like to learn English, generate a voice to say whatever they want. Using the text box, you can type your message and hit the talk button or use any of the pre-defined command to quickly say common phrases.

Download Speaker 2.3.1 in Softonic

Responding Heads enables you to launch programs, commands and actions via voice commands spoken into your PC microphone. The program uses the MS Speech recognition engine and is very easy to configure. It places a small animated head on your desktop that confirms that spoken commands and adds some animation to the process (this can be turned off).

Responding Heads supports program launching, e.g say `Open Mail` to run Outlook Express, as well as several system and keyboard commands, text-to-speech conversion, and even typing of pre-configured keystrokes. Responding Heads is very easy to set up, and worked well during our review.

Download Responding Heads 3.0 in Softonic

ReadPlease 2003 (Free Edition) offers full support for all Microsoft voices, reads text via Windows clipboard from any program and has adjustable voice speed (rate). It also features:

• Microsoft voices: Mike, Mary, Sam
• Customize font and background colour
• Reads text via Windows clipboard from any program (copy/paste)
• Control reading from system tray
• Reads e-mail emoticons such as :) or :(
• Adjustable voice speed (rate)
• Low vision colour option
• ReadPlease Enable your website

Download ReadPlease Free 2003 in Softonic

DSpeech is a TTS (Text To Speech) program with functionality of ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) integrated. It is able to to read aloud the written text and choose the sentences to be pronounced upon the vocal answers of the user.

Features:

• Save the output as a Wav or Mp3 file.
• Select quickly different voices and combine them
• Integrates vocal recognition system
• Configure the voices in an independent way
• Dynamically change speed, volume and frequency of the voices during reproduction
• Capture and reproduce the content of the ClipBoard
• Compatible with all modern vocal engines SAPI 5 compliant

Download DSpeech 1.55.3 in Softonic

Certain audio players and portable devices only work with very specific formats such as AAC, M4a and other MPEG-4 based formats. Luckily you can now convert them with Free M4a to MP3 Converter.

Free M4a to MP3 Converter is an audio converter that has been especially developed to convert AAC, M4a, MP4, M4b (audiobooks) and other similar formats to the more standard formats MP3 and WAV. The first one is perfect to enjoy those files in your regular audio player, while the latter is more suitable for further converting with an advanced audio editor.

Free M4a to MP3 Converter has a straightforward interface and is very easy to use: browse the folder structure to add files - or simply drag and drop them on the program's window – and select the target format. Free M4a to MP3 Converter also features some configuration settings, though they're rather simple.

My main complaint about Free M4a to MP3 Converter would be the fact that the program displays ads on its interface, only that they're presented as buttons on its toolbar so that the user is fooled into clicking on them.

With Free M4a to MP3 Converter you can convert any MPEG-4 based audio files into the more standard formats MP3 and WAV to play them anywhere.

Download Free M4a to MP3 Converter 6.0 in Softonic

You may be wondering what the point is of converting files from MP3 to audioboks. Well, audiobooks are a special audio format with their own features, like the ability to resume playback exactly in the point where you left it, even if you listened to some other music in the meantime.

With MP3 to iPod Audio Book Converter you'll be able to enjoy these special features with any MP3 you have, even if it was not intended to be an audiobook in the first place.

Conversion is very fast and you can also edit tags if you want. On the downside, the program lacks any kind of configuration.

Download MP3 to iPod Audio Book Converter 0.14 in Softonic

Freez Flv to MP3 Converter is a tool to convert Flash FLV files to MP3 files so that they can be played in Windows Media Player. You can set the output MP3 audio's bitrate, frequency, channels, or simply set the values same as Flv's audio stream. With just a few clicks, you can convert batches of Flv files to MP3 files at a high speed. The simple and friendly interface makes the program very easy to use.

Download Freez FLV to MP3 Converter 1.2 in Softonic

Able MP3 OGG to WAV converter converts MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files to WAV format which are then suitable for burning to CD. Just drag your files, hit convert and you are done!

If you need to fill your CD to the max, you'll make use of the sorting and total size display function.

Able MP3 OGG to WAV Converter supports drag & drop for adding files and sorts songs by name or length to further assist in preparing your files for CD burning.

Download Able MP3 OGG to WAV Converter 1.0 in Softonic

Nitrous Voice Flux is a voice recognition and system control utility made by Nitrous Online. Voice Flux has been downloaded and used throughout the world for many different tasks; from simplifying day-to-day tasks to aiding the disabled in their computer use.

Voice Flux is designed to take commands and react accordingly, not to be a continuous dictation application for writing documents. These commands can range from simply opening a program, file, or website, to the more advanced scripting that allows the user to create complex instructions to automate tasks and improve their computer experience.

Download Nitrous Voice Flux 3.1.114 in Softonic