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.

With so many audio formats available, you'll probably need to convert from one to another some day. And ImTOO Audio Encoder stands as a good choice for this task.

This easy tool enables you to convert audio files between a wide range of formats including the most popular ones. The conversion process is reduced to three simple steps: select the files you want to convert, choose the encoder and click on the encode button to start. All the conversions we tried during our testings went quite fast and were successfully completed.

ImTOO Audio Encoder includes settings for each of the available encoders, so that you can tweak every single detail in the conversion process. Unfortunately we can0t say the same of the Tools menu, as it didn't open at all.

With ImTOO Audio Encoder you can easily convert audio files from one format to another, in three simple steps and with highly configurable settings.

If you are the type of person who always changes your mobile ring-tone, this application is a must-have for you. EZ Ringtone allows you to convert music, either from CD tracks or mp3 file, to different ring-tone formats compatible with all modern devices.

The interface is really clear and simple: you just have to open an audio file to have an image of the right and left channel. Then select the part of your music you would like to convert to a ring-tone and press the format button compatible with your mobile. That’s it.

It’s annoying though that the trial version limits the duration of ring-tones to 5 seconds and it is a shame that there is not even a simple editing tool. It would have been good, for example, to have the possibility of mixing different parts of a song or maybe different titles as well. A fading or echo effect to end the recording would have made the final ring-tone a bit more ’professional’.

The tool that compresses MP3 files size from 30% up to 70% is also useful, saving valuable space on your mobile phone in case it’s not yet as capacious as a proper MP3 player.

Don’t be bored with your ring-tone ever again and drive all your co-workers mad with your favourite songs!

In these days of a thousand formats, it's essential that you have the ability to convert your audio into a range of different file types. Arial Audio Converter allows you to do exactly that, converting between formats including MP3, OGG, WMA, MP2 and WAV.

Key features:

• Support all popular audio formats
• Fast conversion speed
• Batch audio files conversion
• Supports ID3 tags
• Playback facilities for all popular music formats
• Drag-and-drop functionality

LP Recorder has been designed with one purpose in mind - to record vinyl LPs. Connect the tape or line output from your stereo to the line input of your soundcard, select the recording input, enter a filename and press the record button.

You can also record from your cassettes or tapes, CDs, radio, MiniDisc player - or anything else that you can connect to your soundcard's line-in input. Once you have the LP recording on your hard disk, use LP Ripper to automatically split it into separate tracks ready to burn to a CD or to create MP3 files to play on an Apple iPod or similar portable MP3 player.

Audials One is designed as downloader and converter for music that, via it's subscription fee, allows you to download and copy music without fear of infringing copyright laws

The program tries to help you discover the kind of music you will like Simply select the music genre that you're into and click on "Start". The music is all copyright free because it has been recorded from over 15,000 internet radio stations that the program is affiliated to. If you don't find the kind of music you're looking for among the 100,000 artists listed in the MusicFinder database of regularly-played music, you can use the Audials One Internet meta-search engine to locate and download the MP3s you want. Whatsmore, the program comes bundled with a limited audio, video & DRM converter plus a simple CD & DVD burner to burn your favourite tracks. The converter is especially useful for recording music onto mobile devices with around 30 different formats supported. The aim to is to allow you to play your music, audio books and videos on mobile phones, MP3 players, MP4 players, PDAs, PSPs, auto radios and Apple iPods. In addition, there's direct access to podcasts from the community of listeners plus ID3 tagging options to organise your library.

This is a solid music program for those that want to download and share music legally although inevitably, the full subscription fee may put some people off.

For those of us whose sights are trained on a computer screen all day long, reading in-depth articles on our favourite blogs or sifting through long emails is the last thing we want to do at the end of a day at the office. Imagine our delight then when we came across a program that promised to read all this text for us as we give our eyes a well-earned rest.

The beauty of TextAloud is that it not only reads out anything you copy and paste into the voice window but also allows you to save the resulting speech as an audio file. Effectively this means you can transform any web page, email or text document into a podcast to download to your MP3 player and listen to at your leisure. File sizes are kept to a minimum so it's possible to save entire novels as an audio file of less than 1Mb.

Having tried similar text-to-voice applications before, we were sceptical about how monotone the speech would sound. Sure enough, the one preset voice in the free download sounds like the boring brother of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey and before too long you want to rip your earphones out to escape his ceaseless drone. Although you can change the pitch and speed of the voice, this proves no less robotic.

Before we reached for our reading glasses again we thought we'd try an upgrade to the full version of TextAloud, which incorporates the use of AT&T's Natural Voice technology as an alternative to the free Microsoft voice tones. With a wide range of different voices to choose from including, UK English, Indian English, and Spanish, the speech is seamless and almost as convincing as having someone sitting next to you. We particularly enjoyed being able to download a 150-page book from the net then sitting on the train listening to the dulcet tones of a softly-spoken English lady recite the tale to us.

The novelty of a text-to speech system is initially amusing but the voice in the freeware version soon becomes irritating. However, paying for the upgrade to more natural voices turns the application into a genuinely useful piece of kit that frees your eyes from the shackles of your computer screen.

FLV is the most popular video format on the Internet thanks to sites such as YouTube and DailyMotion that have found it the best way to distribute user content.

The reason is because it is ultra compact and yet it plays so seamlessly. Therefore, if you're ever uploading large videos to these sites, it's always a good idea to convert them to FLV first - because you'll experience quicker uploads.

Converting to FLV with Amadis Video to FLV converter is simple and it accepts so many file types that you'll never find yourself stuck on a format. The simple interface requires you to just navigate to a file, right click on it, choose "Convert to FLV" and that's it.

The conversion time depends on the size of the file but a five minute video should take less then a minute. You can also tweak the settings with a series of options when the encoding begins such as the bitrate, ID3 tag versions and stereo modes. The app also supports batch uploading and conversion for large numbers of videos. In this latest version, the program is now even better at handling iPod video and converts it with virtually no noticeable loss in image quality.

If you're looking for a speedy FLV converter that supports a plethora of formats, then you can't go far wrong with Amadis Video to FLV Converter.

If you've ever wanted to extract a favourite soundbyte or soundtrack from your movie collection, then this is the program for you.

Acala Video MP3 Ripper has been designed with speed in mind to rip audio from multiple formats including DivX, XviD, MPG, AVI, MPEG, VOB, VCD and SVCD into MP3 format. It also allows you to configure various audio parameters such as bitrate, sampling rate and frequency range when making conversions.

Like all Acala products, it also conveniently allows you to insert markers at the in and out points where you want to begin the conversion. Likewise, it supports batch conversions for groups of video files and allows you to edit the ID3 tags on your Mp3's so that they're easy to organise in your favourite media player afterwards.

The program also supports WMA and WAV formats. One of the best features is that it can be automatically programmed to shut down when your conversions have finished, which is great when doing batch downloads - no need to risk burning out your PC or waste energy by leaving it on all night. You can also preview your files as they are converted to check whether the quality is good enough or if it has worked properly.

Easy to use and fuss-free, Acala Video MP3 Ripper is a very fast product which gives you a decent amount of control over your MP3 conversions.

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).

Forgot about bulky CD's with your new MP3 player? We have something you will find a useful add-on to your passion: Total Audio Converter.

With it you will be able to rip your CD's and convert tracks to mp3 or other formats. Convert between more than 30 audio formats, change bit rate or frequency of your songs!

All done in batches to save your time and effort. Command line support. Download your FREE full optional trial copy now to make your own opinion about the tool.

Xilisoft Audio Converter provides an easy and complete way to convert between all of the popular audio formats, such as MP3, WAV, WMA, MP4, M4A, MP2, VQF, APE, OGG, AAC and FLAC.

One of the benefits is that the audio converter supports converting m4a to mp3, mp4 to mp3. The audio converter supports ID3 tag, all ID3 tags in the original files will be reserved after the conversion. In addition, you also can convert video formats including AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF to all popular audio files with Xilisoft Audio Converter. All conversion processes are very easy to handle and fast.

Features:

• Convert between MP3, M4A, WAV, WMA, MP4, MP2, VQF, APE, OGG, AAC and FLAC
• Convert AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF to MP3, WAV, WMA, MP4, M4A, MP2, VQF, APE, OGG, AAC and FLAC
• Support batch conversion
• Copy ID3 tag between audio formats (reserve ID3 tag during conversion)
• When converting to MP3, bitrate, VBR or CBR, stereo or mono are selectable
• You can select the compression method, sample rate, bitrate, stereo or mono when converting to WAV
• Allow users to select whether delete the original files

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.

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.

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.

The bitrate is the frequency at which your Mp3's were recorded. The higher the bitrate, the higher the quality although the more space it takes on your hard drive. 4Musics MP3 Bitrate Changer modifies the frequency of MP3s by simply allowing you to right-click and change it to the frequency of your choice.

In addition to this, it features a label publishing option that allows you to enter the data of the song, artist, group, genre etc. In order to make conversions simultaneously, you can leave a whole batch of MP3s for automatic conversion whilst you do other things or just leave your PC running.

If you regularly need to to alter the frequency of your music, then this is an incredibly quick and efficient way of doing it. However, once you go beyond 192Kbs, there really is little difference in sound quality and the space they take up on your hard drive or external device after that is way too much.

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.

AudioConverter Studio contains two powerful tools: easy-to-use Audio Converter from one sound format into the other and Audio CD Ripper. Program has a full support of MP3 tags (versions id3v1 and id3v2), WMA tags and OGG tags.

During conversion of a high-quality musical file into file with lower quality, tags are preserved. During the ripping of the Audio CD into MP3 files, OGG files or WMA files, track listings and album details will automatically be filled in because the program has CDDB support built in.

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.

MIDI Converter Studio is a handy software utility that converts MIDI files to WAV, MP3, OGG and WMA formats. Users can simply drag and drop a MIDI file from Windows Explorer, and the rest is done automatically. The tool is brainlessly simple, yet packed with enough options to please even the most demanding music professionals.

MIDI Converter Studio can use all common MIDI file formats (MIDI 0, MIDI 1, Karaoke MIDI, RIFF MIDI 0, RIFF MIDI 1) as a source. When converting MIDI files, users have an option to alter bit rate, frequency and Mono/Stereo settings as necessary. In addition to that, users can insert tags inside the newly converted file, if desired.

The program comes with a built-in player, so converted tracks can be played back right after conversion has been completed. Also, the software comes with the batch conversion option and is capable of simultaneously converting multiple MIDI files at the same time.

MIDI Converter Studio is perfect for professional and amateur musicians who compose MIDI tracks and need a simple, inexpensive tool to convert MIDI files to common formats, like WAV or MP3.