Developed by the creators of the popular recording suite, Nero Kwik Media is very similar to other Nero apps in terms of interface design and usability – but unfortunately also in more negative aspects like lengthy installations and a somewhat excessive weight on system resources.

That said, the truth is that Nero Kwik Media is quite a nice media manager. It automatically scans the most common places where you store your media files, and adds them to a centralized library, neatly organized by groups or tags. The image module includes basic photo retouching and optimization tools, while the audio player lets you burn custom music CDs.

Other interesting features included in Nero Kwik Media are a quick photo slideshow creation tool, support to create and play audio playlists and the possibility to share content online by uploading it to Flickr, YouTube and Facebook right from Nero Kwik Media.

Organize and view your photos, play videos and listen to your favorite music, all in Nero Kwik Media.

Download Nero Kwik Media 1.18.19600 in Softonic

Web apps like Pandora and Last.fm are incredibly popular when it comes to discovering new music. Now Mixtape joins in as a sleep looking if simple desktop app.

Mixtape presents a ribbon of nice looking images that represent different playlists. Roll your mouse over each image to read the playlist's title and to see the name of the playlist creator. If you click on the playlist, the music will start immediately. You can pause or opt to skip it in favor of the next song on the playlist. In addition, you can star songs you like, as well as heart entire playlists you think are awesome. You can even purchase individual tracks you like on iTunes with a quick click within the app.

As an added bonus, you can connect your 8tracks account with Mixtape for even further personalization.

Some users might get annoyed that you can't change the size of the app, as it's relatively small. There's also no actual search box integrated into the app. You can search by genres easily enough, but not by specific songs. These are minor complaints though, given how nicely stream-lined the Mixtape app happens to be.

Mixtape is a great alternative to some of the other popular music streaming and discovery services online.

Download Mixtape in Softonic

Initial setup of MyTunesRSS involves setting up a server using the IP address of the computer that contains your music. Once connected, the user interface is like a stripped down version of iTunes showing you your tracks and categories such as the 25 most played, best rated and most recently added. You can browse your whole library by album, artist or genre, plus you can access your playlists or create new ones.

To play tracks, you can either download them or play them directly in MyTunesRSS. If they will play in Flash format, you can play them directly in the MyTunesRSS player but anything that won't play in Flash will require a plugin. Alternatively, you can download an entire playlist in M3U or XSPF format and play them in any application that can play them such as iTunes or VLC Player. If you're a Last.fm user, it can even continue to scrobble your tracks as they play.

There's even a theme creator in MyTunesRSS to give your own touch to the app's interface but this requires knowledge of how to use the remote API, which isn't particularly easy if you're a beginner to XPI. The main downside of MyTunesRSS is the fact that it's written in Java and as a result, it can run rather sluggishly. Note that in addition, this trial is limited for a period of 30 days.

MyTunesRSS is a simple but powerful program that can help you access your tunes over a network or wherever you are in the world as long as you have a decent internet connection.

Download MyTunesRSS 4.1.3 in Softonic

This little app does a good job of organizing and playing your music. BBox features a clean, skinnable interface and divides its main features - Music Library, CD Player, Internet Radio and Visualization - into easily accessible tabs across the bottom of the main window.

BBox also has a number of very useful features - a good tag editor, playlist creator and file ripper/converter. The audio quality is high and there are a number of configuration options - for both the player and your music - that you can modify to your liking.

There is, however, one major problem with BBox. There is no getting started guide and no offline help. This makes it pretty difficult to find your way around at first, and really increases the likelihood of missing an interesting feature. Our advice is to have a good look at the features online here before starting to use BBox, because other than that, it's an excellent alternative to other music management systems.

It's a bit difficult to get started with BBox, but once you do, you'll be glad you made the effort.

Download BBox 3.0.4.1000 in Softonic

The name of the program says it all - with Playlist Creator you can create playlists easily and quickly. The composition and creation of a playlist is done within seconds: Just add all desired files, enter the name of the playlist and select its save location and one moment later your first playlist is already done! By the way, the fastest and easiest method for adding files to the playlist is via drag and drop from Windows Explorer.

Playlist Creator supports the powerful open-source library id3lib. Thus a reliable readout of ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags in combination with a very high processing speed is guaranteed. The user can choose if the program should readout ID3tags and which data exactly should be extracted from tags. You can also create dynamic titles using simple variables.

Download Playlist Creator 3.6.2 in Softonic

Playlists are a great way of listening to your songs, because they allow you to specify the style or range of music while still keeping an element of surprise. Unfortunately, most music players force you create playlists by dragging and dropping or selecting individual songs. If you have a large collection, this can take much, much longer than you'd like. Not so with Random Playlist Creator with Genres, however, a very handy app that lets you create your playlists sorting by genre, artist and title, allowing you to regain control of your tunes.

Random Playlist Creator with Genres (yes, even the developer admits that it’s a bit of a mouthful!) consists of a simple interface and limited options. That's ok though, because the program performs its job with total ease. You show it where you keep your music, and it scans all your songs into its database. It then presents the music to you in several windows - song information, genre and artist. You specify how you want to define your playlist - by duration, number of songs or size - and the you get down to the business of specifying exactly what you do or don't want it to contain, selecting or unselecting genres, artists, titles etc.

Obviously the main drawback to this method is that your song tags have to be in good order for Random Playlist Creator with Genres to be able to use the information they provide. If you want the program to work properly, you'll have to sort those issues out first. Tag management is a job you can either do manually, or with the help of a program like mp3Tag.

In my small, well-tagged collection, Random Playlist Creator with Genres worked beautifully, saving my playlists in files that were easily read by my media player. The genre selection cuts out a huge amount of playlist-creation work, and the ability to filter on three levels means that your playlists should turn out exactly as you want them.

Random Playlist Creator with Genres - far more efficient than the name suggests!

Download Random Playlist Creator with Genres 2.1.0.14 in Softonic

Beatscanner is a little application designed to scan your music collection, and organize it by BPM, so you can find the perfect selection to match your workout speed.

BPM (beats per minute) detection is either done automatically, or in the case where BeatScanner can't detect the beat, there is a manual tool that you can tap to create the right BPM.

The application is very simplistic in looks, and while it's easy to and quite fast, the automatic BPM detection is very weak. On one collection we have, none of the songs could be read, even electronic tracks with strong 4/4 beats.

If it does read the beat, or your music player has already added BPM information to your MP3 meta data, you can create a playlist by BPM. While creating gym-optimized playlists is a good idea, there are much easier ways of doing it. For example, music player Beatport SYNC has a perfectly functioning BPM detector, and can be used easily to organize libraries by speed and create playlists.

While Beatscanner is a nice idea, this current version isn't fully functioning, and other media players do the same job with less effort.

Download BeatScanner 1.42 in Softonic

Are photo slideshows getting a bit dull? With Sysygy Gallery Creator, you can show off your pictures in a 3D gallery.

This freeware program is hampered by being a little complex, but a bit of patience will result in some nice results. The program folder has four .EXE files, though you should only need two. First open the gallery creator, where you have to import your pictures. This is not hard, and you can import them in batches. Then the gallery has to be saved, and you can exit the creator. Next open the SysGame file, where you can select your picture set, and choose one of three 3D galleries to show your pictures.

There are some odd features of Sysygy Gallery Creator, not least the default setting of having CPU visitors joining you are you walk around your gallery. These visitors look like video game characters, and will even comment on your photos. There is also a soundtrack, and all of this stuff can be turned off or changed in the game options. You can import your own music playlist if you like, which is a nice touch.

Sysygy Gallery Creator is not the most user friendly program, but it's not too complex either. It would be improved if the gallery creator was available in the gallery viewer, but this is not the end of the world. The other negative aspect is that the number of pictures for each gallery is fixed - if you display less than possible, your gallery will have empty white frames in it. Placement of pictures in the gallery is random, which is a shame.

Despite its complications, Sysygy Gallery Creator it a cool little toy that puts a different spin on viewing your pictures.

Download Sysygy Gallery Creator 1.3 in Softonic

Use AutoRun for your CD/DVD projects to deliver custom Menus, Web Sites, PDF and PowerPoint files, video playlists, SlideShows, and just about any other type of presentation. You can even compress your projects into a single EXE for easy distribution.

AutoRun's drag-and-drop Menu Creator allows you to create any type of Menu you want. Menu Themes are included. Create custom Buttons as well as choose from 14 button actions. Only AutoRun has 2 forms of Security. Disk and File Security protect your files and content, while keeping unauthorized users out.

Download AutoRun III 3.2.6 in Softonic

A perfectly categorized music folder is not only visually appealing but also far more effective and easier to manage. However, having an organized music collection requires time and a considerable effort... or maybe not. Now with Audio Tagging Tools you make this task less hard and boring.

This excellent tag editor includes all the tools you need to rename audio files, create or edit tags and exchange data between one and the other. The program analyzes your music folders and displays their content on its interface, enabling you to work right in this list. It also includes a built-in player, but it doesn't work.

Although Audio Tagging Tools is a bit confusing at the beginning, you'll find that editing tags is really easy. What's more, can be done with several files simultaneously, which saves a lot of time. The program also features statistics about your music collection and the possibility to generate HTML reports.

Download Audio Tagging Tools 3.0.0 Beta 2 in Softonic

A few years ago, if you wanted to broadcast your own radio show you would have needed all manner of antennas and radio equipment, along with a licence (or the guts to transmit without one). Nowadays anyone can become a radio star thanks to the rise of podcasting technology. With the major media players now joining cutting-edge tech sites in the podcasting revolution, there’s plenty of competition around, so producing a broadcast that sounds slick and professional is essential.

As its name suggests, ePodCast Creator has been specifically designed for users who want to make their own online audiocasts. The application allows you to create, edit and manage podcasts on the fly, with a set of tools that let you record and mix audio from a variety of sources.

We like the way the program embraces the spirit of podcasting by keeping things pretty straightforward. Unlike many audio-editing applications, the interface is clean of clutter and consists of clearly -labelled playback and record panels, along with two timelines displaying the waveforms for the cast’s voice and music. Thanks to the ‘Music Segments’ menu, you get instant access to the music clips you’ve imported, which can either be dragged and dropped onto the timeline, or accessed via hotkeys.

Mixing audio tracks often proves tricky for novice users, but ePodCast Creator keeps things as simple as possible, with just one slider allowing you to blend music with voice recordings, or even two music tracks. Unfortunately this doesn’t give you quite the same precision and control as some of the more advanced sound editing apps, but should suffice for the average podcast. For the more adventurous podcaster, the bundled ePodCast Editor provides a series of tools for chopping up tracks, adding effects and adjusting EQ levels. Again, these features aren’t as powerful as those you’ll find in the likes of Acid or Reason, but we found them a lot easier to master.

EPodCast Creator makes for a great one-stop-shop for your podcasting needs, and the developer has pulled off something of a masterstroke by allowing you to record, edit, create RSS feeds and eventually upload your creation to the web. The package is perfect for those starting out their career as an Internet DJ, though it’s possible that you’ll outgrow the program as you become more ambitious in your productions.

Download ePodcast Creator 2.0.49 in Softonic

Helium Music Manager is a music tagger, renamer, cataloger, browser, playlist manager and report creator. It can catalog, edit and play the most common music formats (MP3, Ogg, WMA, iTunes M4A, FLAC, APE and MPC) as well as standard Audio CDs.

Catalog your entire music music collection with just a few clicks, regardless which media the music is stored on. Use the new built in Music Information Browser to navigate through your music collection in an intuitive manner by means of a Web style user interface.

Helium makes it easy to find your favorite music by searching for criteria such as Artist, Title, Genre, Rating etc. Avoid manual typing by downloading artist and title information from various sources on the Internet (CDDB, Amazon.com, AllMusic, Discogs to mention a few). Helium supports downloading of album pictures, artist pictures, track information, artist relations, biographies, discographies and lyrics.

Download Helium Music Manager 2007.0.0.5445 in Softonic

In fact, it’ such a concentrated music player, the creator didn’t even bother with a volume control or a categorized library, but despite this I like it. It isn’t complicated to install, starts without hassle and as long as you know where the music is on your computer, will play just about every file type you can throw at it. What’s more, the quality of the sound is very high and you can adjust the settings on an extensive equalizer to get it just right for your taste.

Another handy feature is the hotkey support for just about every control available. Using the number keys, you can skip, stop, pause, play or set the visualizations, while hitting the + or – keys of the numeric pad will maximize the player, set it to mini-player mode or minimize it to the tray.

This dedicated music player handles all the basics brilliantly and is perfect for anyone who doesn’t want the fuss involved in some of the more complicated applications that can be found on the market.

Download Heikki Apollo 37zz in Softonic

LongPlayer is a program that automatically fills your Winamp, XMMS or iTunes playlist. It basically replaces the randomization feature of those media players.

Those of you who have converted all of your CD's into mp3's (or wma/ogg/..) and try to shuffle songs in your big, static all-containing playlist will surely know the "hey, I already heard this song an hour ago!" problem. That random function just doesn't seem random enough! The main reason for this is the birthday-problem: the chances that you hear a particular song twice in, say the same day, are quite small, but the odds of ANY song playing twice in that timespan, are real, very real. Your typical media player just selects a random song from a statically generated list without saving where it last left off.

LongPlayer's smart queuing checks how long it has been since you heard a song, how good you think a song is and what genre you think it belongs in.

Download LongPlayer 1.01 in Softonic