µTorrent

For ages, µTorrent was only available on Windows, which made converts like me very unhappy indeed.

But luckily, it was recently made available for Macs. "So what makes µTorrent better than all those other torrent clients about?" I'll tell you what! To me, µTorrent just seems so much easier to use than all the other torrent clients about. It's lighter, faster, and comes with an inbuilt option to search through a selection of Torrent sites. Maybe it's the fact that I've become accustomed to it, but using µTorrent just seems natural.

µTorrent Website

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SuperAnalyzer

As I have probably said in some earlier post, I am an absolute stats freak. I don't care what the stats are about. Like bread and water for most normal people, pointless little tidbits of information form the base of my diet.

SuperAnalyzer is an extremely neat little Java Application that does exactly what its name suggests. It analyzes your iTunes library quickly and without fuss. Ever wondered exactly how many tracks you've played? At what time you play the most songs? Or hat your Top 10 most played artists, and Top 10 most highly rated artists are? Well wonder no more! Thanks to SuperAnalyzer, I can say that I've played 5,283 tracks, I play the most songs between the hours of 9pm and 10pm, my most played artists is Beirut and my highest rated artists is of Montreal. (Although the last one's a bit inaccurate because I don't tend to rate my music. I change my mind too quick.)

SuperAnalyzer Homepage

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iLinkPod

I love iPods. They're easy to use, have an abundance of accessories available, and they make me look very suave when wearing the sleek white earphones. But to me, their biggest fault is the fact that they don't come with support for transferring files on them directly onto a computer.

Luckily, there are many pieces of software that allow you to do this. One of them is iLinkPod. It's very easy to use. Simply connect your iPod to your computer, then launch iLinkPod and click "Select Your iPod". Then you just need to find your iPod in the Finder, and all of the available buttons will be activated, and you can access all of the available functions.

With iLinkPod, you can:

• View the iPod system info.
• Create a folder on your computer and iPod to access the hidden audio files.
• Backup all the files from your iPod onto a destination folder on your computer.
• Stop whichever action is in progress.

iLinkPod Website

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Orator

Any of you who are, or have ever been a student will know about the desperate last minute cram before an exam, when revision is packed into every minute possible.

Orator can help squeeze out a bit of revision time no matter where you are. Just write, paste, or drag text into the Orator window, choose one of the twenty-four available voices, and then save the text as an AIFF. These files take up a load of space (about 10Mb per minute), but can be converted to MP3s in iTunes. Then you simply need to upload your file onto your MP3 player, and you're off! Revision. 24/7. Does it really get any better than that?

Orator Homepage

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Songbird

There are many, many music players out there. But besides a few minor differences between them, they're all the same. But not Songbird!

For those of you who've heard of Songbird before, you would've undoubtedly heard of the fact that it was extremely sluggish, had many bugs and was prone to crashing. But all this has changed in the new release. The new Songbird works extremely quick - my iTunes library of almost 6,000 songs was imported in a couple of minutes.

The main feature of Songbird that draws it away from all of the other generic media players out there is its customisations. Whereas iTunes is quite closed, without many third party applications, Songbird has a plethora of these. From within Songbird, you can launch its built in browser, and search through all the recommendations, and download and install them all from within Songbird itself.

The amount of available add-ons for Songbird are unbelievable. You can get all of the standard ones that are found on many different players, like artwork finders, lyric finders and last.fm support, as well as an abundance of new and original ones. There's an add-on that displays upcoming concerts for an artist you're playing, an add-on that recommends a new artist that isn't in your library based on what you're listening to, and many other intuitive ones like these. Songbird is like the Firefox of music players. It allows for near limitless cusomisation.

However, seeing as how Songbird is still relatively new on the scene, it's missing a few key features. There's no iPod Touch, iPhone or Zune support, has quite limited video support and it is not yet able to rip CDs.

Songbird Homepage

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Quicksilver

If I had to choose one application that every Mac user should have, it would be Quicksilver. At a first glance, Quicksilver's main use seems fairly redundant. It launches applications. So what? The Dock and the Finder can do that just fine thank you very much. And to be fair, they can. But nowhere as near as well as Quicksilver can.

One main advantage to Quicksilver is its simplicity. To open an app using the finder, you need to click the finder icon, go to the applications folder, and then find the application you want. In Quicksilver you simply need to press the shortcut combination, (Mine is F5, although you can change it to whatever you want), and then type in the name of the app you want. Or, if the whole name seems like it'd take a bit too much effort, you can type in only part of the name. E.g: When I press F5 and type in "sa", it comes up with Safari straight away. And Quicksilver's nice enough to remember what you use the most, and return those results at the top of your list. This function can be used with any file, not just applications. So if you want to open a text document, just start typing in the name of it, and it'll show up in the bunch of results.

Another killer feature of Quicksilver is the iTunes compatability. After downloading the plugin, you simply need to assign a shortcut key to the iTunes plugin, and then with a press of a button, your entire iTunes library is available. Without even exiting the current window. E.g: I'm browsing through digg.com, and feel like changing song, but don't want to stop reading my current article. All I do is press F6, then start typing in Bananarama, press enter, and let the fun commence!

Quicksilver Homepage

Wake Up

For quite a while I've been searching for an application that lets me set a song as an alarm in the morning. Until now, I've had to settle with creating a workflow in Automator, but I've now found something much better.

Wake Up is a very simple, lightweight programme. To set your alarm, all you need to do is drag to clock hands to the time you want, and select the file you want to be played as your alarm. Then you just need to click 'Start', and the alarm is set! 3 very simple steps.

Wake Up Homepage

GimmeSomeTune

Nothing irritates me more than when I'm having a quick nose through my iTunes library, and am confronted by countless albums without any artwork. But thankfully, I discovered this little gem.

GimmeSomeTune is a programme that runs in the background. Whenever you play a song in iTunes without either artwork or lyrics, GimmeSomeTune kindly fetches them from the internet, and effortlessly incorporates them into your library, leading to a much nicer looking iTunes.

GimmeSomeTune Information page
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XNJB

If you own, or are thinking of buying a Creative Zen MP3 player, the main problem that you'll face is the lack of support on Mac. The software disc that comes with it is for Windows only, and the MP3 player does not support dragging and dropping. You could run boot camp, but XNJB is a far easier solution.

XNJB is a nifty wee programme that allows you to transfer files to and from a Creative Zen MP3 player with minimum fuss. It takes a while to transfer, but is extremely easy to use: all you need to do is select the song you want to be transfered, and then click the arrow. Simples!

XNJB Web Page
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FluidTunes

This has got to be one of the most original, intuitive pieces of software I have ever used. FluidTunes is basically an application that gives you a more fun and hands on (quite literally!) way to change songs in your iTunes library.

It lets you control your music using only a webcam and your hands, feet or head. To scroll through your library, you simply need to brush your hands across the cover flow interface on the screen, and a song can be played by just waving over the play button.

So right now, you're probably thinking: "This all sounds too good to be true!" And to be fair... you're absolutely correct. It takes ages to browse through your music as it's presented song by song, as opposed to by artist or album. Odd movements you make can sometimes spark unwanted actions, like playing the wrong song, or scrolling the wrong way. And the background has to contrast with whatever you use to control your music, or sometimes the camera doesn't recognise your actions.

FluidTunes Homepage
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Audacity

Audacity is a brilliant piece of audio recording and editing software. (Which also happens to have a lovely shiny 3D-ish looking icon.)

With it, you can easily record whatever is playing from your Mac’s speakers (Line-in), or an input from a connected microphone. You can then edit the recording and export it as an MP3 file.

Audacity also allows you to edit an existing sound file. There are many available editing options, from simple things like making a sound louder, faster or higher pitched, right up to more complex options like Equalizing, inverting and levelling.

Audacity Download Page

last.fm

If, like me, you love being recommended new music, last.fm is just what you need. It’s also brilliant if you’re a bit of a stats fanatic, and want to see a range of facts and figures about your listening habits.

The last.fm application that you download is a web radio with a difference. Instead of listening to a track list selected by an unknown DJ, you simply enter in an artist’s name, and last.fm plays a bunch of tracks by similar artists, as well as a few by the artist you searched for. If you don’t know which artist you want, you can instead choose to just type in a word or two to describe the type of music you want to listen to (e.g. happy, laid back, rock, rap), and last.fm will churn out tracks that match your description.

The statistics taking part of last.fm is equally interesting (If like me, you too are a stats nerd). When you listen to a track for 50% of its duration, it is “scrobbled” to your profile, and is available for all to see. (So be careful how often you play your much-loved Backstreet Boys track!) You can see your most played artists and tracks over a week, 3 month, 6 month, 12 month or lifetime period, as well as your entire listening history.

(Note: last.fm does require the creation of an account, although this is a simple process, and you can opt out of the occasional email they send your way.)

Last.fm home page. (The sign up link is in the top right)
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