Mac users are often said to be the most loyal customers in the computer market, but that's because they have very good reasons, such as iTunes, to stick to Apple products. And if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to have this application on my Windows PC.

iTunes has become one of the most popular music managers available today. When you run it for the first time, you can choose your music folders or let the program take care of everything. Then you can keep on adding new music, videos, podcasts and other multimedia elements from various sources and – of course - synchronize all this content with your iPod or iPhone thanks to a perfectly seamless integration.

Managing your iTunes library is a piece of cake. The program's interface is simple and straightforward, plus there are right-click shortcuts and keyboard hotkeys for many tasks. You can view extended information about each track and edit their tags, give them a score with the iTunes star ranking tool and comfortably browse through your collection with the amazing Cover Flow system. And for those of you who work in a LAN environment, the great news is that you can share your music libraries with your network mates.

One thing I particularly like of iTunes as music manager is its ability to create playlists. The Smart Playlist tool enables you to create almost any kind of playlist based on just about any criteria you set: artist, genre, date added, star ranking or even the number of times you've played each song. Another great playlist is the so called Party Shuffle, which comes in very handy when you invite some friends over to your place. You can then leave iTunes working as a DJ and play music on its own, but if you drop by the PC at any time, you can freely add more songs to the list or rearrange them in any way.

However, if there's something where iTunes is not perfect yet, that's the player function. You may disagree here, but I think the iTunes player falls too short, especially when compared to its music manager side. It does have some interesting features, like the Smart shuffle function and crossfading playback, but I still find it too simple. The visual effects in the Viewer window are particularly poor. I also missed the ability to control the player from anywhere with global hotkeys, which is great if you listen to music while you're working on the PC with other apps. Fortunately there are some plug-ins that cover this need.

In all, despite these slight flaws, iTunes is probably the best choice to manage your music collection –and that includes Windows users.

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It's an incredible oversight by Apple that iTunes does not import album covers. iTunes Art Importer comes to the rescue however by allowing you to have all your favourite album covers alongside your favourite tunes - and it looks great.

The program is connected to the Amazon database and adds the album cover of the song that is playing at any one time. It doesn't always offer you the right album unfortunately although it prompts you to select one from a list of probable candidates. You can configure the program to automatically choose the one that it thinks is correct although you may end up with Billy Joel instead of Billy Ocean.

When you start up the Importer, iTunes will also start up if it's not already running. The best way to use the Importer is to select all the tracks for a single album in iTunes and click the search button in the Importer (denoted by the magnifying glass). It will then query Amazon.com for albums that match. If multiple albums are found, the best match will be automatically selected. When the correct album is selected and the album art is displayed on the left, simply click the Import button and you're done.

This is not an essential program for music lovers but it can deepen your appreciation of your collection by learning about the album cover info.

Download iTunes Art Importer 0.9.2 in Softonic

Zune™ software is your one stop for music and entertainment. Manage and view your songs, videos, and pictures. Rip and burn CDs. Create playlists. Edit track and album information. And Zune software can automatically import your existing files, including your music and video from iTunes® and Windows Media® Player.

Browse Zune Marketplace to discover new tunes and find old favorites. Plus, Zune works with Xbox™ 360! Access media right in the Xbox dashboard, or listen to music while playing games. And don't forget, Zune works with...Zune!

Download Zune software 2.3 in Softonic

There's nothing better than having the lyrics to your favourite songs with you on iTunes. Unfortunately, iTunes doesn't include a lyrics retrieval tool but you can get round it by adding this program.

iTunes Lyrics importer or "iLyrics" automatically searches the net when you click "Get Lyrics" and downloads the song lyrics based on their titles. It has a huge databank to choose from thanks to the Lyricswiki project which allows users to upload the lyrics of their favourite songs. Because of this, you're more likely to fine the lyrics of obscure songs rather than other lyrics sites which concentrate more on mainstream offerings.

Normally, iLyrics will give you a direct hit and provide you with exactly the song you were looking for. However, occasionally it will confuse the song with another one but you only have two modes "Update automatically" or "Manual Mode". If you select the former and it finds the wrong lyrics, note that you'll lose the old lyrics and they will be replaced by lyrics that may be wrong. If your initial experiments prove to be a bit dodgy, then I'd recommend using the latter mode which gives you control over whether to definitely replace the lyrics or not.

An excellent addition to iTunes which has a huge resource of lyrics to draw from although be careful which mode you use.

Download iTunes Lyrics importer 1.1 in Softonic

With iTunes streets ahead of the rest of its rivals, Yahoo! is revving up its engine in a bid to catch up with the uber-popular music player and download service. Make no mistake about it, Yahoo! Music Jukebox is the search company’s attempt to wrestle the lucrative music download business from Apple’s clutches – and it’s not a bad effort either.

Billed as a complete music management system, the application allows you to organize your music collection, create playlists and access music downloads and streams from the well stocked Y! Unlimited portal. It pulls this off through an attractive, easy-to-use interface that looks and feels like the lovechild of iTunes and MusicMatch Jukebox.

Out of Beta and now with iPod support (apart from the Nano and Shuffle versions), Yahoo! Music Engine surprisingly does some things even better than its Apple-built rival. Adding music to playlists is much simpler for instance, because you can drag and drop tracks directly from your library into the playlist without having to open a new window.

However, the biggest differences between the two apps arise in the integration of their respective download services. The Yahoo! Music Jukebox brings the online service and the client app together much tighter than iTunes does. Some of the cooler features include the ability to create personalized LAUNCHcast radio stations, build playlists based on these personal preferences, and the ability to share songs and playlists via Messenger or email.

As with iTunes, streaming music is limited to 30 seconds per song, although registered Yahoo! members qualify for a free 7-day membership trial of Y! Unlimited. This entitles users to play every song in its entirety during this week – a tantalising prospect when you realize there are more than a million different tracks to choose from.

However, the deal becomes less appetizing when you realize you need to enter your credit card details to qualify for the trial, and unless you cancel, the company will start plucking five dollars a month from your account. What’s more, becoming a registered user only entitles you to a meagre saving on paid downloads – 79 cents per song (it’s 99 cents for non-members). As you’d probably expect from a big-brand internet firm, the service is riddled with adverts for itself and other Yahoo! services, sometimes subtly and sometimes annoyingly in-your-face. Even if you’re just using the player to spin tracks and organize your MP3 collection, you’re still forced to install Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Toolbar as part of the bloated software installation.

Given the swollen nature of the software and the fact that the player is so similar to iTunes it’s hard to see why anyone would want to switch over from the Apple software to Yahoo! Music Jukebox. Having said this while we’ve now uninstalled the app and removed its far-reaching tentacles from our machine, there are enough novel features to make this program worth checking out. Just remember to cancel your membership before the trial runs out.

Download Yahoo! Music Jukebox 2.0.2.049 in Softonic

There’s a plethora of music players to choose from, among which iTunes and Winamp usually have the upper hand. However, if you are curious enough, you might find that lesser known alternatives like MediaMonkey offer a reasonable amount of features and tools to organize and equally enjoy your music library.

MediaMonkey automatically scans your PC for all types of music formats. If you have playlists from other programs, it’s good to know that the application also adds m3u files, sparing you the pain of having to recreate them. The file explorer view on the left lets you easily navigate your music collection by categories like artist, genre or rating. You can convert tracks into any format you wish, depending on what size or quality of sound you’re looking for. MediaMonkey also lets you analyze and adjust the volume of tracks to increase your listening experience.

MediaMonkey has made its reputation on its advanced tagging management feature. Every time a track is added, the program will verify its tags. You can automatically fill in missing details with info from Amazon or Filename. The program can clean up your tags, move information into the correct categories and synchronize tags for selected tracks. You can also rename and move multiple files thanks to the auto-organize function. MediaMonkey also supports Winamp plugins and visualizations plus skins can be applied to spice up the interface.

If you want to make your own mix CDs, you’ll be happy to know that MediaMonkey rips and burns CDs and DVDs. Create a virtual CD of your favorite tracks and let MediaMonkey do its job. Budding DJs will enjoy the auto-DJ mode, which mixes tracks for you and the Party Mode, which blocks your configuration but lets anybody play their favorite tune. MediaMonkey’s versatility doesn’t stop there. The music manager also lets you synchronize with your portable music devices like your iPod or iRiver.

If you feel like completing your library with a couple of fresh albums you can browse sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble or AllPosters and purchase tracks. However, unlike Songbird, where you can type in a URL, browse and save your favorite music blogs and sites, MediaMonkey only allows you to browse their selection of online stores.

We were disappointed with the web radio selection, which only features Shoutcast and Icecast, and were surprised to see no sign of podcasts anywhere in the application. However version 3.0 is planning on incorporating this to the application.

Despite these drawbacks, we recommend MediaMonkey to anybody looking for a solid alternative to iTunes or Winamp. This original music manager is more than capable of organizing a very large music library and offers advanced tagging management rarely seen in other music applications. While the browser and web radio are fairly limited, MediaMonkey allows you to rip your custom CDs and connects to most portable music devices. If you really take a liking to MediaMonkey, cough up a few bucks and upgrade to the Gold version, which will open up all of the program’s functionalities like finding missing tracks or creating auto (smart) playlists.

Download MediaMonkey 3.0.3.1183 in Softonic

Audio/Video To EXE converts audio files and video executables and allows you to send them to another person without having a player and codec. In addition to this primary function, Audio/ Video To EXE also performs conversions between various media formats.

There are two types of conversion offered - EXE and multimedia formats, with a list of tasks and completed quickly. The only drawback of this free version is that you cannot select the sampling frequency and hence the quality of the resulting files. This is a great tool for sending small videos and songs by e-mail, ensuring that the recipient can play the file. Almost all audio/video formats [3GP, AAC, AC3, AIFF, ASF, AVI, EXE, FLAC, FLV, GIF, M1V, M2V, M4V, MOV, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, MPG, NUT, OGG, RA, RM, SWF, VOB, VOC, WAV, WMA, WMV, WV, YUV] are supported. You can even play and convert your executables without a player or a codec. It works as a standalone and the latest version adds M1V, M2V, M4V, and YUV support.

If you love to share clips with someone who's forever having problems with their media player, then Audio/Video to EXE is the answer to your prayers.

Download Audio/Video To Exe 1.5.2.1 in Softonic

How much time do you spend scrolling through your iTunes library, trying to decide what to listen to? Ever try to find songs that fit your mood, event, activity, or sound you're after, only to give up because it takes too much time to find them?

Soundflavor DJ can help you to find the right song for the right moment. This program is able to find in your library songs that are similar to the one you're playing in iTunes. It also enables you to discover and download free new songs that match your taste based on the songs that you already have in your library.

Soundflavor DJ can create instant playlists based on sound, style or era and play them on iTunes or save them to your iPod. It can even generate the necessary code for a widget that will allow you to display your playlists on your webpage.

Download Soundflavor DJ For iTunes 1.30 in Softonic

If I told you that your computer could recognize songs just by listening to them you probably wouldn't believe me. If you use Tunatic though, you'll manage to do just that.

To make the application work the inbuilt microphone of your computer needs to be working or you need to have a microphone installed. Just run your media player and let the computer listen to your tracks. You'll have to click on the interrogation mark in the application window for the program to search its database. It lists the title of the song and the artist's name as soon as it finds it.

Obviously Tunatic doesn't get it right all the time, and depends hugely on the database of songs that is being maintained by the developers. It is still quite a surprising tool and can find certain songs really quickly.

Once Tunatic finds a song, it will also let you search iTunes for it, let you look for the ring tone, or search Google to find the lyrics.

Tunatic may not work all the time, but it is a really clever way of finding title's of all those unnamed songs in your library. Worth a try.

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Believe it or not, this is another program designed to address the problems that are being experienced by Windows Vista users with DirectSound3D games.

For some reason, in Windows Vista, Microsoft have decided to remove the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for DirectSound and DirectSound3D. This means that any of your games that require use of this card will be rendered almost useless or at least, not work properly. Fortunately, this small program from Creative Labs allows you to enjoy them still as the developers intended with full hardware accelerated 3D Audio and EAX support. The program works by translating the legacy DirectSound calls into OpenAL and simply isntalls a few files in each game directory. Unfortuantely, at this stage it still does not work with all games and you'll have to check the developer website to see whether the games you want to run are supported. Note that this is not some kind of driver software and therefore requires that you have an appropriate driver installed and functioning properly first.

An essential little program for all DirectSound3D card owners but note that it doesn't work with all programs yet.

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If your music collection has grown too much, then it's time to start using a manager. Even if you're not a big fan of this kind of apps (just like me) you'll find they're extremely helpful to keep your music collection perfectly organized, no matter how much it grows.

Magix Music Manager 2007 is the perfect example of a well-done music manager. In fact, it's so complete you feel overwhelmed by all the options displayed on its interface. Luckily enough it only takes a few minutes to create your own database and start adding music.

Besides the usual features in these apps, such as a tag editor, an embedded player or a 10-band equalizer, Magi Music Manager includes other interesting extra functions like the possibility to record CD and DVD or a simple, yet convenient mini DJ console to play and mix two tracks simultaneously in real time and direct access to Internet radios and podcasts, as well as support for portable music devices.

Unfortunately, I was so excited to see such a wide variety of tools that the nagging window that appears when you try to use many of them really pissed me off. I know this is a trial version and that you're expected to buy the full application, but I prefer to have an fully functional app during a limited period of time rather than a crippled tool that leaves me yearning for more.

Download MAGIX MP3 Maker 12 (US) in Softonic

Magic Music Workshop is refined as a premier solution in audio realization. You can work with Magic Music Workshop in many different ways. Not only can you use Magic Music Workshop to grab music from a CD, but also record audios, in virtually any format.

Stop there, and burn your improved, converted audio files to disc. Or use the advanced audio editor to create your own music and songs that you can transfer to CDs, or share it with your friends at a party.

Features:

• Record audio from microphone, CD, video, and any audio you can hear from your computer
• Offers wide-covered Real-time Decoding technology. Whether you need MP3 in pocket player, or WMA for Web delivery, it offers the quality your business demands
• Edit audio files visually (Cut, Copy, Delete Selection, Delete Silence, Paste, Paste From File, Mix, Mix From File)
• Apply various effects (Amplify, Compressor, Delay, Equalize, Fade In and Fade Out, Flanger, Invert, Normalize, Phase, Reverb, Reverse, Silence, Shrink, Stretch, Vibrato, etc.)
• Apply different filters to any selected portion of audio files (BandPass Filter, FFT Filter, HighPass Filter, HighShelf Filter,LowPass Filter, LowShelf Filter, Notch Filter)
• Digitize MP3 to the hard disk, in a way that is suitable to burn it on an audio CD
• Bring every track in a CD to your professional productions

Download Magic Music Workshop 7.0.4.1 in Softonic

Power Mixer is an advanced Windows audio mixer, a complete replacement for the standard Volume Control. This application lets you easily change the sound volume just by rotating the mouse wheel or by using keyboard hot keys. It includes an audio mixer with advanced volume controls support, a scheduler, an on-screen display, command line support, the ability to store and recall different unlimited presets via one mouse click or system-wide hot keys. By using presets you can change all parameters of sound simultaneously! It is designed to be especially useful for those who play games, work professionally with sound, or are everyday users.

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HammerHead is a simple TR-909-like drum computer program aiming at the dance-scene. You can use it to create perfect Techno loops, Jungle patterns or House beats, but it's also suitable for Hip Hop, Triphop, Rap, Industrial and almost any other music you can think of.

HammerHead features six separate channels, 29 built-in drum sounds, six complete breakbeats and the possibility to import six samples of your own. You can save your patterns to completely noise-free CD-quality wave files to use them with your sampler, tracker or sequencer program.

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MAGIX have a long history of experience in the Mp3 business and MAGIX MP3 Maker 12 reflects much of this. Don't be fooled by the title though - it also handles WAV, OGG, AAC and WMA files just as easily as MP3s although it still does not support FLAC. The program aims to be an all-round solution for music enthusiasts providing everything you need to manage your music at home, on the road, and online.

There's very little you cannot do with the MP3 Maker. You can perform everything from creating MP3s, finding duplicate files and searching for track information to ripping CDs, creating unique mixes and copying & burning both CDs & DVDs. It even allows you to record webradio broadcasts and integrates with many mobile phones for MP3 transfers. The interface is clearly divided so that you can see which function each section pertains to. At the top of the screen you've got buttons that allow you to launch each separate function.

Of course, for most users, you'll spend most of your time in playback mode and your playlist will take up the majority of the space in the main window. The controls however are located in a small strip at the bottom of the screen which can be slightly cumbersome. It would be better if these were more easily accessible higher-up the screen or to the right of the playlist.

If you throw parties sometimes, one nice little bonus of MP3 Maker is the DJ function which intelligently matches the tempo of tracks so that your cross-fading and mixing sounds surprisingly professional. You can also create your own mixes by cutting and splicing tracks how you want them. This shows just how comprehensive MP3 Maker is and there are few solutions out there that make music management so easy within one application.

Download MAGIX MP3 Maker 11 (UK) in Softonic

Express Talk basically makes calls between computers using IP Telephony. This application is compatible with other software-based VoIP SIP protocols which can be called free of charge to computers that have installed Talk Express. In addition to the functions typical of a VOIP call via the Internet, Talk Express maintains up to six simultaneous conversations, reduces background noise and can be configured to circumvent firewalls, record conference calls in MP3 format, identify incoming calls, store numbers etc.

You can configure up to 6 lines on one phone with the ability to put calls on hold. It supports video (H263, H261) for webcams or IP Phones and also integrates with Microsoft Address Book (with some difficulty). Business users will however have to upgrade to the Business Edition which supports call transfers and allows up to 6 people to join one call using the Call Conferencing feature.

If you need something that offers a bit more than Skype or your normal VOIP service, Talk Express is a useful option for individuals and business users alike.

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Sound Control is a replacement for Windows Sound Mixer applet which includes most of the features of the standard Windows mixer and some other extra functions. It allows you to add hotkeys to adjust any combination of your sound mixer volumes, features support to control Winamp with a series of hotkeys and also includes an on-screen display.

Here's what Sound Control has to offer:

• No run-time files needed
• Context sensitive help
• Control volume using definable hot keys

Download Sound Control 2.15 in Softonic

I've always had curiosity about podcasts, but never tried to create one of my own until today. And I must say it's been a great experience!

This is probably thanks to Wildvoice Podcast Studio, a great application that helps you take your first steps into the podcast universe. Once you read the accompanying guide and familiarize yourself with the program you'll be able to handle every stage in the process, from recording your voice to publishing your podcast. What's more, if you don't have any web space where to store it, you can create an account in the Wildvoice site and publish your podcast right there for free.

Of course, podcasts are not only about talking. The program enables you to easily add music, with support for the most popular formats. You can insert short music clips or else use it as background soundtrack by adjusting the volume level. Wildvoice Podcast Studio includes also a great variety of sound effects to add to your recording, achieving a higher degree of realism or producing a hilarious mixture of sounds. The only problem I found here was that some sound effects are much louder than others, which affects the quality of the recording.

The podcast can be created as a series of short audio clips and that makes the job even easier to manage. Once you're happy with the result – which you can check at any time with the Preview function – you can save it as an MP3.

Although it may look complicated at the beginning, Wildvoice Podcast Studio is an excellent tool to get you started with podcasts.

Download Wildvoice Podcast Studio 1.0.2502 in Softonic

Virtuosa is a great digital MP3 jukebox, CD Ripper, MP3 converter and MP3 CD burner that allows you to do everything related with audio conversion. Virtuosa is also the very powerful all-in-one player that can play MP3, CD and DVD, WMA, Aiff, Divx, MPEG, avi, MP2. Enjoy this unique program with best sound effects of your own home-based cinema!

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iTunes Agent sits in your system tray and will automatically synchronize with iTunes. Associating with playlists is a nice feature and helps you to constantly renew the music in your playlists and in your MP3 player. You can also have iTunes Agent recognize the file type for each device. This is particularly useful as each MP3 player usually favors a different file format.

Although the interface is fairly basic it lets you easily set up your devices and how you want them to interact with iTunes. This program is great use for anybody looking to sync MP3 players other than an iPod with iTunes. It launches quickly and efortlessly.

Download iTunes Agent 1.2.2 in Softonic