I must admit I'm not very fond of audio editing tools. Mixing music has never been my cup of tea, so when it comes to testing an audio editor, chances are I end up more confused than satisfied. However, this isn't the case with Audacity. To begin with, this editor is free source and supports MP3, two features which usually don't meet in this kind of application. Secondly, it's easy to master, even for newcomers. And finally, there's a wide range of filters and special effects you can apply to your music so that you easily achieve the desired effect.

Audacity doesn't stand out for its interface. At first sight one wonders if this program is really going to be that easy to use. In fact, the interface sometimes makes it really hard to work with your tracks, especially when you zoom in on them for a more comfortable editing session. Besides this, I found myself constantly right-clicking on the working area and the tracks too, waiting for some handy context menu to appear but nothing came out.

After these few first minutes struggling with the interface, it's time to begin having fun. You can open as many tracks as you want by just dragging and dropping audio files onto the program's interface. Use your mouse to select the fragment you're interested in and begin working with it. You can perform the basic editing actions (cut, copy, paste) or apply effects to it. The zoom tool helps a lot when selecting small areas, as well as the chronometers found at the bottom of the program's window. Obviously, you can use the integrated player to check how your work sounds before saving the project.

Audacity features quite a large selection of filters and effects. Each one has its own setting options to adjust it to your liking. But what I loved is the possibility to preview how the filter will look on the audio track. This preview function allows novice users to test each filter before actually using it and also configure it with great accuracy.

On the downside, Audacity doesn't have much more to offer. After a few days playing with the program, you soon grow tired of selecting audio fragments and adding effects, and you feel like you need something else. In other words, the simplicity of the program makes it easy to learn, but at the same it makes it too basic and requires a lot of creativity on the user's side to obtain ear-catching results. Anyhow, Audacity is still a perfect choice to take your first steps in the music mixing world and then perhaps move on to another more professional tool.

Download Audacity 1.3.5 d in Softonic

FastCut offers video editing in realtime. Experience outstanding performance. FastCut uses the power of the GPU for accelerated graphical calculations.

Feature List:

• Dynamic playback quality for optimal performance
• 3D motion keyframe animation
• Masking
• Video transitions and filter FX (CoreImage)

Download FastCut 3.0.6 in Softonic

Build better iTunes™ and iPod™ playlists using beaTunes. By analyzing the songs in your existing library beaTunes is capable of finding songs that simply match. Could your last mix CD's song order use some improvement? Let beaTunes re-arrange your playlist for you!

Always wondered how you could take advantage of the BPM (beats per minute) field in iTunes? Let beaTunes fill in the blanks and help you while DJ'ing at your next party.

Here are some more examples of what you can do with beaTunes:

• Automatically determine BPM (beats per minute) and store the result in iTunes
• Manually determine BPM and store the result in iTunes
• Sort existing playlists so that matching songs succeed each other
• Create matchlists, i.e. playlists based on one or more sample songs
• Browse songs from your music collection that match the currently selected song
• Discover albums that aren't in your music collection, but would complement it
• Keep up to date through Amazon™ album charts
• Automatically set start and end times of songs based on their volume
• Categorize songs by their sound color
• Build playlists per drag and drop
• Create blog entries on blogger.com with your favorite playlist or songs
• Inspect and fix your music library
• Add tags to your songs

Download beaTunes 1.2.14 in Softonic

Possibly the biggest advance in digital video since non-linear editing, Frameline 47 is a professional application for video notation, dynamic content navigation & media asset management.

New Enhanced Podcast & Final Cut Pro export features make Frameline 47 the ultimate tool for liberating Digital Video Assets. From Film and TV production to Broadcast, Archive & Multimedia, Frameline is set to redefine the industry.

Features:

• Powerful Multi-level Description Engine
• Embedded MPEG-7 XML Descriptive Data
• Seamlessly build up Collections of Media
• Fast Automatic Scene Detection
• Innovative Dynamic Video Frame Display
• Full Open Standard Compliance
• Generate Enhanced Podcasts from Video
• Final Cut Pro integration
• Advanced Narrative Modeling Tools

Download Frameline 47 3.0.2 in Softonic

Sound Studio 3 is an easy-to-use Mac OS X application for recording and editing audio digitally on your computer. Digitize tapes and vinyl records, record live performances, create your own mixes with crossfades, tweak the levels and EQ, apply digital effects, and save in all major file formats with Sound Studio 3!

With Sound Studio 3 you can record professional sounding Podcasts and other audio dialog. Check out the article on Suggested Recording Hardware to find out more about how to mic properly and other useful audio information. Positioned perfectly between more expensive programs with steep learning curves, and far less robust apps, Sound Studio 3 is for anyone who needs to record or edit audio.

Download Sound Studio 3.5.7 in Softonic

This is an application utility for concatenating several files into one single Quicktime movie. It supports various input file formats, including, of course, Quicktime movies. It's useful if you've downloaded a movie into various clips and want to have it into one, to burn it on disc, for example.

Download AddMovie 1.5.5 in Softonic

CoverSutra is a gorgeous little app to enjoy cover art from albums and play your iTunes library from your desktop.

I admit that I love using CoverFlow to browse and playback my music in iTunes, but this little app might just change my musical habits. First of all, it serves as a player for your iTunes library, with your list appearing in a sleek dark interface and playback buttons present in a floating dark window.

Secondly, CoverSutra knows how to put cover art forward like no other app. Every time you play a track from a new album, the cover will discreetly appear on your desktop, with its rating. You can also choose from three different CD case styles to display albums in.

Cover Sutra includes a full range of keyboard shortcuts by which you play back your songs and is fully set up to work with your Apple Remote. Users will also like having Growl support and Last.fm integration, so you can still scrobble what you're playing. Additionally, the latest version includes Spotlight search, which is much more powerful and faster than the search feature you originally have in iTunes.

Thanks to a gorgeous interface and intuitive tools like keyboard shorcuts, Growl and Last.fm support, Apple Remote and Spotlight search integration, CoverSutra is an excellent way to enjoy your music. Definitely recommended.

Download CoverSutra 2.1.4 in Softonic

Avid editing systems are standard across the video editing industry but in more recent times, they've also become available to home PC and Mac users. Managing video projects can still be tricky on Avid systems though which is why MediaMover was developed.

However, organizing video editing projects in Avid is not always as easy as it seems and MediaMover is designed to lend you a helping hand. MediaMover works with a wide range of Avid products including Avid Media Composer, Nitris, Adrenaline, Mojo, Xpress, Liquid, NewsCutter, Symphony or DS. The basic principle of MediaMover is that it makes backing up and deleting projects much quicker which is a huge task when you can be working with projects several hundred gigabytes in size. MediaMover works with both local and network drives so it doesn't matter where your media is stored.

MediaMover is quite useful if you're not sure how much space you've got left on a storage media because it dynamically monitors drive space and will warn you if a project is going to fill up your drive or lack space before you spend lots of wasted time capturing or copying video files. In addition, if you're working with multiple drives, MediaMover can generate reports for each one and can be programmed to automatically backup projects at specific intervals.

MediaMover is a useful tool for an Avid editor who finds themselves dealing with huge amounts of video data but has no easy way to manage and back it up.

Download MediaMover 3.0.3 in Softonic

Ever wanted to record a song from the internet but just didn't have the right tool? Audio Hijack Pro can do that for you. Even better it can record literally any sound from any application or piece of hardware connected to your Mac.

Every piece of audio you grab is saved in the recording bin list. You'll find that Audio Hijack Pro has a quick record function and also lists preset recordings for specific applications like Safari, Skype, iTunes or iChat. It's very easy to add new ones and this really automates the recording process.

You can schedule automatic recording at precise days and hours of the week for each application. Audio Hijack Pro also lets you enter metadata, although it all has to be done manually (I didn't see an import feature), which is a little tedious.

There really is a wide selection of effects to choose from, 60 in all, and you can add more. I did find the process of inserting effects a little confusing, and you really need to connect them correctly to get what you are looking for.

Audio Hijack Pro comes with some preset formats to save your audio. You can create your own but I found Audio Hijack does not let you save them for future use.

Overall though, Audio Hijack Pro lets you record and enhance sounds from any application really quickly.

Download Audio Hijack Pro 2.8.2 in Softonic

Web2 Delight is a tool to download photos and videos from a collection of well known websites, organize them in collections and then play them in other devices.

The application offers a very sleek interface by which you can preview and organize content. The program includes sites such as Flickr or YouTube that you can browse straight from its interface, instead of opening up your browser. Downloading is easy and can be scheduled automatically. You'll have to make sure you have a good connection though so you can download videos quickly.

The best way to organize content is by creating your own collections. Web2 Delight also offers four different view modes and a very handy search feature to quickly find your content.

Once your videos and pictures are stored in Web2 Delight you can send them to another program, like iTunes or iPhoto or a device like the iPod or iPhone. You can also leave your photos in Web2 Delight and create slideshows with transitions.

Despite the name, I wouldn't say there is actually anything Web 2.0 in Web2 Delight. Still, it's a smart way of downloading photos and videos and organizing them before sending them to another application or device.

Download Web2 Delight 1.1.93 in Softonic

Forget having to use the Finder to manage all your compositions. Minim is here to make it easy to manage your creations, leaving you free to do what's important... make music!

Store Song Metadata

Load your songs with meta data. Time signature, Key, Tempo, Date Recorded and many more.

Look After Lyrics

Minim allows you to keep your lyrics with your songs. No more hunting for text files or scraps of paper

Autofill iCompositions Upload Forms

With a click of a button you can be taken to the iCompositions upload form with many of the fields autofilled for you

Manage Collaborators

Minim integrates with iChat to show you when those collaborating on your song are online

Create Albums

Once you've made your masterpieces you can group then together in albums and give them album art

Keep Your Files In Check

Minim lets you keep all your audio files with each song. Not only that but you can also keep your master files, manuscript files and even images and videos

Download Minim 1.2.1 in Softonic

FramebyFrame is a basic application to create stopmotion with your webcam.

If you have an iSight camera, FramebyFrame is very easy to use. It takes no configuration from your part, just press the little camera button to take shots and make sure that your webcam is capturing what you want. The timeline at the bottom displays all your different takes. FramebyFrame displays what your camera records on the left and all the frames superimposed on the right. The scissors button will allow you to erase unwanted frames.

We did find FramebyFrame a little too basic, and compared with an application like Boinx iStopMotion, it really appears very limited. Although you can set the frame rate from 0 to 30, there's no explanation as to what that will change. The interface also felt a little crowded and the timeline didn't always give a clear view of the different shots.

If you're like looking for a really program to create stopmotion videos, you'll like FramebyFrame. We still recommend the cleaner and more advanced Boinx iStopMotion.

Download FrameByFrame 1.4 in Softonic

WireTap Studio is a serious solution to record anything from your Mac. What used to be called WireTap Pro is still as reliable as ever, all in a small interface that lets you record, edit and save your audio in any format.

WireTap Studio can both software and hardware sounds so long as you select the input source. There are two available in the interface. Just press the recording button to get started. Once you are done WireTap Studio will open up a new editor window, which will display the waveform of your recording. Although editing is a little basic, you can still select areas of the wave, add markers and cut and paste. Even better, all recording in WireTap Studio is lossless, so you don't degrade your audio, and thanks to LivePreview Bliss you can listen to the recording before saving.

WireTap Studio allows you to save audio in any popular format, including MP3, AAC and MP4. It includes a range of presets you can choose from. Otherwise you can tweak the format yourself in the edit window. WireTap Studio only has two sets of effects available Camel Studio and Apple but you can add some yourself.

Once ready, your audio can be exported to any destination, whether a folder in your Mac, your iPod, iPhone or iDisk. I was a little disappointed with the email feature in WireTap Studio, which felt a bit limited though.

Need to record anything on your Mac? WireTap Studio is the app you need. Intuitive and powerful.

Download WireTap Studio 1.0.6 in Softonic

SndSampler is an easy-to-use audio recording and editing application for the Macintosh which enables you to record and edit digital audio. Digitize your old LPs and cassette tapes with SndSampler and save them as AIFF files for burning on CDs, archive them using a lossless compression scheme like FLAC or Apple Lossless, or convert them to MP3s and put them on your iPod. You can record sound through your Mac's built-in audio device or via an external recording device like the iMic. Once recorded, you can edit and modify your digitized audio in myriad different ways: amplify, fade in or out, pan, mix, declick, apply special effects like echo and tremolo, or resample to different sample rate.

You can also open all kinds of different audio files that you download from the Internet or get from friends—WAVE, AIFF, MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, FLAC, System 7 sounds, sound clippings—edit them, and then save your changes in the same file format or in a new file format. As an editor SndSampler provides all the standard editing features: cut, copy, paste, insert, mix, amplify, pan, and resampling, as well as more unusual editing features that are not found on many audio editors such as pitch bend, dynamic pan, channel swapping, QuickTime movie editing, and most uniquely of all, superimposition of different sound waveforms on top of one another.

SndSampler also supports audio with more than two channels—up to 32 channels, in fact. Each channel can be manipulated independently of the others. This is accomplished through channel activation. When you apply some sort of transformation to an open sound, it is a general rule that only the active channels will be affected. You activate and deactivate a given channel using the checkbox in the lower left of the Zoom Window. Or you can use a menu command, or you can use a really cool shortcut—option-click on the channel in the waveform display and its activation state will flip. When a channel is inactive it is drawn in gray (see screen shot). Don't stay stuck in the stereo past—unleash the power of multi-channel audio with SndSampler!

Download SndSampler 6.0.6 in Softonic

TwistedWave is an audio editor with an intuitive interface and a number of solid features.

The simple interface makes it easy to record and save your own recordings. Thanks to the wave view you can quickly analyze and clean up your recordings. TwistedWave also makes it very easy to add samples to your recordings and move sections around.

The most notable feature of the program though is probably being able to apply effects even when a process is underway. TwistedWave implements changes fairly quickly and we suggest listening to your recording afterwards to make sure you're satisfied with it.

This feature wouldn't be complete without unlimited undo/redo which gives you a good level of flexibility when editing your audio recording. TwistedWave plays and exports all the popular audio formats you'll come across, including wav, mp3, ogg and aac.

The only drawback is the price. At $49.90, TwistedWave is a little bit expensive, for what is an excellent but very specific type of application.

Despite being a little expensive, TwistedWave is an excellent audio editor with intuitive controls.

Download TwistedWave 1.5 in Softonic

If you download a lot of TV shows (legally of course) then you know the pain it is to maintain them organized. iWatchTV is a good application for keeping your TV shows well sorted.

Fitted with a simple iTunes-like interface, iWatchTV makes it easy to find all your TV shows. They're all listed on the left side of the interface, and clicking on one of them will bring up the list of episodes in the center part of the program.

iWatchTV is fitted with plugins to help you recover information on shows, such as the cover or future titles. While this is a good idea, it is fairly unstable and you need to make sure that the source url you enter will work properly.

If you get all your new TV episodes from iTunes, they'll all be well categorized in the player. However if you're downloading them from another source, iWatchTV gives you an interface by which to browse through them. It may not be the most elaborate but it's definitely much better than by just using the Finder.

Despite some glitches in the plugins, iWatchTV is a handy tool to organize your downloaded TV shows by episode.

Download iWatchTV 1.5 in Softonic

With SimpleMovieX, searching for commercials inside a movie is easy. The accurate time line will do a good job marking the segments to remove. Saving takes only a few minutes thanks to native support of most popular formats.

Main features:

MPEG, AVI, iPod

Most popular file formats mov, mpeg, avi and iPod mp4, are natively supported, so you can edit and save them in a breeze without loss of quality.

Batch Converter

Choose the files, the format, and let your Mac do the hard work.

Chapters

Add Chapters to give direct access to sequences inside the movie, to create compilations of movies or songs.

Audio Synch

Sometimes a movie can have synchronization problems. Having the audio delayed or in advance with respect to video is very disturbing for playback experience.

Searchable Movies

Easily find a sequence inside a long movie with Thumbnail view and Audio Waveform.

Download SimpleMovieX 3.7 in Softonic

AtomicView is a powerful organizer for all your media files.

What should strike you at first is the interface, which is nothing like your traditional Mac application. I know I needed a little time to adjust to it, but after playing around with it I found the interface quite enjoyable. AtomicView switches between windows quickly full screen view is well implemented.

Tthe bottom half is reserved for folder browsing. You'll be able to structure your media in groups and smart folders. The top part shows your selection and a preview window. You'll also find that AtomicView handles a wide choice of metadata, including EXIF and Photoshop.

I was also well impressed with the search function, which displays results really quickly.

Switching between windows and browsing through your files is really simple, yet I was a little disappointed not to find mouse scrolling, a great way to display your media quickly.

The interface gets a little getting used to, yet AtomicView is a beautiful and highly flexible media organizer to handle large amounts of files.

Download AtomicView 1.0 in Softonic

FootTrack is an application to import, catalog and search your digital video recordings. You can compress your viewings to store them on a hard drive and view them quickly. It has the following features:

• Compresses your footage so you can keep your video on your hard drive for easy viewing Burn your catalog onto CD/DVD.
• Drag and drop support with iMovie and Final Cut Pro/Express
• Easy to use interface familiar to iPhoto and iMovie users
• Organize your video clips with ease to find what you are looking for
• Reads the date recorded and timecode information from the DV footage

Download FootTrack 2.4 in Softonic

The TapeDeck audio recorder will immediately appeal to all of you that, just like me, still keep all their cassette tapes around. The application looks and sounds just like a tape deck player.

The design is simple yet reminiscent of the classic recorder. The tape rotates as it is played and TapeDeck features all the basic playback buttons you'd find. The slide window on the right stacks up all your tape recordings. What really makes this application feel like an old recorder though are the snappy plastic sounds of the buttons and the clicks and whizzes from the tapes. Rewinding could almost make you feel nostalgic, although it won't take as much time as on a traditional tape recorder.

Essentially, TapeDeck is a simple audio recorder, with three levels of quality and only one recording format, m4a. However it also includes a very useful search box, which not only reads tape titles but also all the notes you''ve added to your recordings. We also quite liked being able to export to iTunes, a feature which is almost essential in any proper audio recorder.

Despite limited functionalities, TapeDeck is a very original audio recorder, which should appeal to all of you who miss their good old tape recorders. Worth checking out.

Download TapeDeck 1.0 in Softonic