With such an ever growing range of multimedia devices, no wonder format converters are becoming so popular these days!

Any Audio/Video Converter is one of those converters: a simple, easy-to-use application that support pretty much any format you can find nowadays and lets you convert both audio and video files in just a few steps.

The program works with a list where you add the files you want to convert, no matter what format they are. Then you configure the conversion options for each one of them separately and finally click on the "Convert" button to let the program do the rest. I think this method is quite handy and saves you loads of work and time; pity the trial version only accepts one file on this list!

Any Audio/Video Converter includes a built-in player in its interface, but it's only good to watch the video while it's being converted and not preview it before actually starting the process.

With Any Audio/Video Converter you can convert basically any audio and video file you can think of, in a quite easy process that involves very little effort.

Download Any Audio/Video Converter 5.6 in Softonic

The iPod is a great music player but it's also a bit picky when it comes to supported audio formats.

iPod Audiobook can lend you a hand in these situations by enabling you to convert a handful of audio formats to MB4, the audiobook format supported by the iPod. This means that you can convert complete music collections to this format and have them synced to your iPod via iTunes in the blink of an eye.

iPod Audiobook is very easy to use, with a wizard-style interface to convert audio files. Plus it supports multiple simultaneous conversions and is also seamlessly embedded into Windows File Explorer. This means you can convert files right from the context menu, without having to open the program itself. With such a nice interface and handy tools, it would be great to have more audiobook target formats to choose from.

iPod Audiobook is a format converter specially developed to convert from a wide variety of sound formats to the iPod native audiobook format.

Download iPod AudioBook 1.1 in Softonic

If you have a large collection of videos and a video-capable portable device, this might be the perfect app for you.

ImTOO MPEG Encoder Ultimate provides you with a straightforward tool to convert video files between a wide array of formats, with special attention to mobile devices, handheld consoles and multimedia players such as iPod, iPhone, iRiver and Zune. All supported formats are saved as profiles that you simply choose from a drop-down list, though you can also create your own format profiles by tweaking a few settings.

Besides converting, ImTOO MPEG Encoder Ultimate includes some extra tools with which you preview the video, take a snapshot, add special effects, trim the image or even add a watermark to it. Too bad the program was so unstable during our tests: it crashed every now and then without any apparent reason.

Despite these crashes, ImTOO MPEG Encoder Ultimate is a very complete video converting tool that well deserves a try.

Download ImTOO MPEG Encoder 5.0.9.9 Ultimate in Softonic

There are a multitude of audio converters and rippers around but few free programs offer the simplicity and functionality of BonkEnc. As well as being able to rip music from a CD and turn it into an audio file, the program boasts a converter for changing the format of a file between a wide range of file types, including MP, Ogg, AVI and WAV.

BonkEnc queries and stores track information using the online free CDDB database, automatically adding this meta data into the file to make it much easier to search and sort your music collection. The application performs its duties quickly and reliably and although the user interface looks rather old-hat, it hides a huge number of options for ripping and converting music, which makes this one of the most powerful free rippers you'll find.

Download BonkEnc 1.0.9 in Softonic

Some music players are so complex that you spend more time fiddling and customizing them than enjoying your music.

If this sounds like thinly veiled criticism of iTunes then it is a little bit I guess but the point is that some people don't want online stores, most played lists etc, etc. QuuxPlayer is a simple and straightforward player that has you up and running in minutes and includes a 30 band equalizer.

However, the big draw of QuuxPlayer is Wireless Gamepad support which means that you can control it in a unique way from just about anywhere in the room as long as you in range of your receiver. The look and feel of QuuxPlayer is certainly unique in comparison with other similar efforts. However, the developers already seem to be going against their philosophy of keeping it simple by adding automatic lyrics download, control locking for child management and an automatic directory monitoring service for updates amongst many other things.

That said, QuuxPlayer definitely occupies a unique position in the world of music players and if you've got a gamepad, you should definitely give it a whirl even if controlling music in this way is a bit odd.

Download QuuxPlayer 2.0.6.13 Standard Edition in Softonic

While the iPod is best know for being the music lovers best friend, it can also be a useful tool for movie buffs.

Xilisoft DVD to iPod Converter lets you extract DVD video and audio tracks of DVDs and convert them to audio and video formats compatible with the iPod Video (MPEG-4, MP3, AAC or M4A formats). Like most Xillisoft converters, it's very easy to follow and use with a good looking interface to boot. Conversions are fast but most impressive is the quality which is as good as any iPod converter you'll find. The conversion process is very simple - you can choose to either rip and convert a whole film or sections of a film. Apart from this, there are some customisation options too such as setting a file limit for your conversions, normalizing audio or the ability to compress files that have been extracted to fit your iPod - useful for if you've filled your hard drive with too many tunes. You can also customise the audio, subtitles and part of a DVD that you want to rip. If you've got an iPhone, the program has also now been updated to allow you to put films on your hard drive too.

Flexible, simple to convert and fast, Xilisoft DVD to iPod Converter has more than enough to fulfil your conversion needs.

Download Xilisoft DVD to iPod Converter 5.0.40.0729 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

With multimedia portable devices growing in popularity and features, it's not surprising that DVD ripping tools like Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate have started to offer support for them so that you can take your favorite movies anywhere with you.

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate is one of those applications: a full featured DVD ripper than can extract all data inside your DVD movies and convert it right away to another video format, including the most popular ones and – of course – video formats for mobile devices such as the iPod, the iPhone and the PSP.

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate lets you choose the video size, image quality and audio quality, and also create and use different profiles according to the target format or device. Also, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate lets you trim specific video fragments, edit video effects, adjust subtitles and even add a watermark so that you obtain fully customized DVD video and audio files.

Additionally, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate can help you clip video segment, crop video size, edit video effects, adjust subtitle, and add video watermark, to get the customized DVD audio and video files.

In addition to ripping the whole DVD, you can also select specific chapters and convert only those. The whole process is done via drop-down menus and Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate is generally very easy to use.

With Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate you can rip the contents of your favorite DVD movies and convert them to different formats – including mobile video - in just a few easy steps.

Download Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate 5.0.40.0729 in Softonic

In an age of multiple media players all with different codecs and formats, it's nice to know there's at least one out there that can play just about anything.

Haihaisoft Universal Player supports almost all popular digital media formats and can also play digital media files protected by DRM-X. Amongst the players it can emulate are Windows Media Player, Real Player, Adobe Flash Player, Apple QuickTime Player, PowerDVD and Flash Video (FLV) Player. Whatsmore though, this player embeds itself into Internet Explorer meaning that whenever you are presented with a format compatible with any of these file types, you can watch it instantly. The number of formats it can play is mind-boggling, including those protected by DRM such as WMV(Windows Media Video), WMA(Windows Media Audio), ASF, WMS, DVD, VCD, SVCD, MOV, RM, RMVB, AVI, MPEG, WMV, 3GP, FLV, SWF, MP3, AMR, M4A, ACC, OGG, MIDI, GIF and JPEG file format. Best of all, the program is constantly updated with the latest codecs so you don't need to worry about it suddenly not being able to play files.

A completely free player that supports just about any format imaginable and embeds itself into IE perfectly.

Download Haihaisoft Universal Player 1.0.7.1 in Softonic

Despite being known mainly as a music player, the iPod has evolved into supporting video as well which means it's also a great device to watch videos on the move.

But before that, you need to convert your videos with ImTOO DVD to iPod Converter, a powerful video conversion tool that has been especially developed for iPods and iPhones. The program supports the popular video formats for iPod (MP4) plus MP3 and AAC, all of them categorized in several profiles to meet different requirements in size, audio quality, video quality and other settings. You can create your own customized profiles as well.

ImTOO DVD to iPod Converter can convert video from DVD discs or IFO files on your hard drive. Also, you can choose between converting the whole movie or just some selected chapters. Just make sure there's enough space on your device!

With ImTOO DVD to iPod Converter you can easily convert DVD videos to iPod format and watch your favorite movies on the go.

Download ImTOO DVD to iPod Converter 5.0.35.0515 in Softonic

As multimedia portable devices grow in popularity and include more advanced features, DVD ripping tools have started offering support for them so that you can watch your favorite movies on the go.

ImToo DVD Ripper Platinum is among them. This application is a complete DVD ripper that extracts all the contents of your favorite DVD movies and converts them right away to another format, including the most common audio and video formats and – of course –for mobile devices such as the iPod, the iPhone and the PSP. The program works both with DVD discs and IFO files stored on your drive.

All available formats are presented as profiles with their own characteristics, but you may as well create your own user-defined profile by selecting the video size, image quality, audio quality and channels on the right-side pane and then saving it as a new profile.

ImToo DVD Ripper Platinum features a nice interface with a skins menu that unfortunately it's empty, so you can't really change or customize it in any way.

ImToo DVD Ripper Platinum is an attractive DVD ripper, especially designed for portable devices, which makes the whole ripping process easy even for a newcomer to video conversion.

Download ImTOO DVD Ripper Platinum 5.0.35.0515 in Softonic

SWF (short for Shockwave Flash) is a proprietary file format for multimedia and especially vector graphics. It is intended to be small enough for publication on the web and it is also often used for creating animated display graphics and menus for DVD movies, and television commercials. Unfortunately you can't just right-click and download this type of file. If you want to save them to your PC’s desktop or your mobile device, you need to find a way to save and convert them to a video file compatible with your favourite video playback software. Bare in mind that after the conversion process the output file's size will be much bigger, e.g. it’ll be more than 20 times bigger in a swf to mp4 conversion.

Magic swf2avi 2008 should simplify these operations, by checking the cache of your web-browser (IE, Opera or Firefox) and displaying all the swf files that your browser has saved while browsing. Sometimes website developers set meta tags which restrict SWF caching and in that case Magic swf2avi will hot help you in any way.

It’s a pity the application doesn’t provide you with an automatic tool to download SWF files, so sometimes you’ll need to use an additional program like Orbit Downloader. Magic swf2avi 2008 can convert SWF files in 38 formats, enough for nearly every device you might have, from MP3 player to mobile phones.

When the program manages to find swf files in your browser's cache, the whole process can be fairly quick. Unfortunately many videos are released in FLV format and not SWF and the program cannot convert them.

Download Magic Swf2Avi 5.0.8.408 in Softonic

Most of us who own an MP3 player or play digital music on a computer will admit that it’s possible to get a little precious over your audio collection. There’s something very satisfying about having a hoard of music with the correct track and album names for each song. Not only does it look a lot cleaner in your player, but it makes it a darn sight easier to organize your collection and manage playlists. Ensuring that all the tags in your audio files are correct can be a thankless task, but there’s plenty of software around that will make a much quicker job of it.

mp3Tag is one of the better tag editors around, allowing you to edit the metadata (the information about a track’s name, size, album name, artwork, etc.) with a good degree of autonomy. The app lets you rename files based on this tag information, replace characters or words from tags and filenames, import/export tag information, and create playlists. It carries out its dutiesdoes the job very well too. For instance, the program has a much cleaner interface than many of its rivals and is smaller to boot, making it very quick and responsive.

If you find that you have a lot of different audio formats on your machine that you want to keep in check then mp3Tag is perfect. It supports virtually every major audio file type, so you can edit tags for Ogg, Musepack, and AAC/MP4, besides just MP3s. tThe program isn't just a tagger, as it also includes cutting and joining functions that perform pretty well.

Perhaps the biggest boon though is the inclusion of a link-up with the online FreeDB database to import tags from the appropriate album, spelling a swift end to those MP3 albums you get with track names like ‘track01’, ‘track02’, ‘track03’, etc.) While the data returned from the FreeDB is sometimes erroneous, it’s generally pretty good (though probably not quite as quick as the import tool in Tag&Rename).

It’s fair to say that mp3Tag is one of the clear leaders in its field, and considering it’s a freeware app, it’s well worth downloading if you want to clean- up your music collection. Tag editing is very quick and once you’ve given your audio the mp3Tag treatment, you should find it so much easier to organize your tracks.

Download mp3Tag 2.41 in Softonic

If you're looking for an intelligent alternative to iTunes then you might find that BBox surprises you in more than just a few departments.

Bbox does the lot from organising your Mp3's to automatically tuning radio stations. Even better, it features a simple CD burner and allows you to edit Mp3 tags so that your collection is perfectly organised by genre, artist or era. Best of all in my opinion, is an integrated search tool which allows you to search for artist info on the internet directly from BBox. The music player comes with all the standard features you expect - equaliser, track list editor and a nice little function that allows you to customise the fade ins and fade outs of your songs. Although this program is packed with features, it never feels bloated although describing them all would take a while. In addition to the above, it also integrates fairly well into Windows shell, supports all those useless multimedia keys on your keyboard that you never use and even allows you to download additional information via the Amazon.com website.

As a feature rich, intelligent and intuitive alternative to iTunes, BBox is definitely a contender worth trying.

Download BBox 2.0.0.440 in Softonic

Jay Brain is a very original audio player both in its graphical design and functionalities. It supports many popular formats and also Internet streams, which can be conveniently added to an auto-saving playlist.

The program's functionality is a bit tricky. All tasks are showed under the same window, even when you browse Windows File Explorer to add music to the playlist. This can sometimes lead to confusion but once you get used to it it's no big deal.

Audio quality is good and what's more, can be tweaked with some special effects. The program can also find the lyrics for the song you're listening to on the web.

Jay Brain is meant to be a basic audio player that can be extended with more features by means of plug-ins, but unfortunately I couldn't find any. I would have specially appreciated a new skin, as the one included by default makes menus hard to read. Hopefully more coders will join the project in the future (thanks to the GPL licence) and we'll see a super-powered Jay Brain later on.

A small audio player with support for many formats and very promising features.

Download Jay Brain 1.1 in Softonic

Got a music collection with hundreds of poorly labeled mp3 files? Like having complete information about your music files – album, performer, genre, lyrics, year of release, and so on? Hate editing tags manually?

mp3Tag is a tag processor for MP3, WMA, OGG, APE, AAC, MPP/MPC/MP+, MP4/M4a files with great features, like an automated search for lyrics and pictures (album covers); tags import from Amazon and FreeDB. Another important advantage is the automatic tag filling option, which works great for mp3 albums that come without tags and meaningless file names, like 01.mp3, 02.mp3, 03.mp3, etc. The program takes the track lengths and compares this information with FreeDB data to find the appropriate album to import tags from. After confirmation the information is stored in the tags and if required can be used to rename the files.

mp3Tag allows the users to view and edit tag information, save lyrics and pictures inside MP3, M4a or WMA-files, view technical information about music files and delete unused MP3-tags.The program is capable of changing one or more tag fields simultaneously (including multiple files), generating WinAmp and Windows Media Player playlists, exporting tag information, renaming groups of files according to their tag data and much more. And special feature for iPod lovers – m4a tag editor!

Download maniactools mp3Tag 5.9 in Softonic

Sometimes your video player can't play all the files that you want it to. Only the most versatile players like VLC Player can help in such circumstances but Total Video Player is a welcome addition to that family.

Total Video Player is a player for audio and video that reads all major formats including 3GP, MP4, FLV and DVD. The interface is very straightforward featuring a file menu, scroll bar, library files and shortcuts that integrate simply with the file being played. It truly is a universal player and there's little you will be able to throw at it, either audio or video, that it won't be able to handle.

For some reason however, the developers have not included the ability to view subtitles or change the audio track. You can only select one audio track which is a bit annoying and it's clear that from the perspective of audio in general, it's very limited. There are few controls over equalization options other than a simple volume control.

Total Video Player can play just about anything. If only it could handle subtitles and audio better, it would be a much better product.

Download Total Video Player 1.20 in Softonic

Say you have an impressive collection of DVD movies. Say you just bought Microsoft Zune. Why not mixing both elements?

With Nidesoft DVD to Zune Converter you can easily rip your entire DVD video collection and save it into Zune's video format, so that you can enjoy your favorite movies on the move. The program includes several presets with different audio and video adjustments, which means you can choose your preferred size/quality proportion when ripping the video file. There are some sliders on the right side of the interface to manually customize audio and video quality but unfortunately these can't be saved as new presets. Nidesoft DVD to Zune Converter also enables you to extract the audio track of your DVD movies to AAC, MP3 or M4A formats.

The whole ripping process is quite simple. Just insert the DVD, select the most suitable preset and let the program do the job. Before actually starting to rip, you can preview the video in the app's embedded player.

Nidesoft DVD to Zune Converter lets you rip your DVD movies to watch them on the Zune player, although you'll need to adjust to the program's presets.

Download Nidesoft DVD to Zune Converter 3.1.12 in Softonic

Nidesoft DVD Audio Ripper enables you to extract the audio track of your DVD discs and save it to a wide range of audio formats in a very easy way.

Simply launch the program, open the DVD files (usually by clicking on your DVD drive) and select those you want to save. Select the target format from the drop-down menu and click on "Convert". Available formats come as default presets and can't be modified. Also, the program features an embedded player, but it didn't seem to work properly – it only played sound, not image.

The conversion process is surprisingly fast, although I must say we only tested it with small video fragments due to trial version limitations. Also, please note that this program may not work with fully protected DVD movies. In any case, I especially appreciated to be able to extract and convert audio from a DVD in such an easy way.

Use Nidesoft DVD Audio Ripper to easily rip DVD audio tracks and save them to popular audio formats.

Download Nidesoft DVD Audio Ripper 3.1.12 in Softonic

With Nidesoft DVD to MP4 you can convert DVD movies to MP4 files, which is the most common video format for portable devices such as the iPod, the Zune, the PSP or the iPhone. The program includes also some other formats but focuses mainly on MP4, with different image resolutions according to the quality you want to obtain and the size you'd like the target file to be.

The whole process is really fast and easy: simply open the DVD movie, select the right conversion profile and click on "Convert". The program includes an embedded player but it didn't seem to work properly. My guess is that we lack the appropriate codecs but then again, it would have been nice to receive some feedback - like an error message - from the program.

Also, please notice that Nidesoft DVD to MP4 may not work with commercial DVD movies which are usually protected against any copying or ripping methods.

Nidesoft DVD to MP4 enables you to enjoy tour favorite movies on the move.

Download Nidesoft DVD to MP4 Converter 3.1.26 in Softonic