After profiling organization enhancer and troubleshooting apps , our look at the serious deal software deform to the fun side of the Mac , with platform that will help you get the most out of your digital lifestyle . Below , I apportion 10 of my favorite multimedia programs — everything from image - editing tools to special essence source . On the next page , we ’ll look at five must - have programs for managing iTunes and your iPod , as well as two top podcasting benefactor .
All version numbers for the programs below are current as this article was posted ; however , with the rapid nature of software development , it ’s possible that some of the programme may be update by the clip you learn the clause . And while the apps I ’ve listed here work with the latest variation of OS X , you should two-fold - check the system requirement at the developers ’ vane pages to ensure the program will run on your Mac . ( I ’ve included connection to the developers ’ Page in each write - up . )
Comic book creator: Comic Life 1.2.6
All the world ’s a comic book forComic Life 1.2.6 ( ) , which lets you use your own photo as panels in homemade comic strips . The simple user interface — similar to iPhoto ’s Book characteristic — have you choose your landing strip layout ; images ; and ocular elements such as text bubbles and box , thought balloon , and levelheaded effects ( thosepows , smacks , andthudsthat are often find in comic record ) . If you ’ve already got an iPhoto record album you need to transform into a risible strip , a mouse click of a push bring it into Comic Life and pose it out for you ; you just need to add text . And basic photograph dick let you edit cellphone and hold Core Image filters . When you ’re done create , you could publish your comic or export it as a World Wide Web page , iPhoto record album , or QuickTime glide show . A Deluxe variant of the program is uncommitted from Freeverse . ( $ 25;Plasq ; Deluxe version , $ 30;Freeverse )
Comic - art imitates lifeYou can turn your exposure albums into comic books with Comic Life .
Image editor and converter: GraphicConverter X 5.9.1
Sometimes you need more pic - redaction functionality than iPhoto provides , but not so much that you ’re unforced to blast out vainglorious clam for Adobe Photoshop . GraphicConverter X 5.9.1 ( ) is a decent compromise . As its name implies , it ’s adept at mental image conversion : it can interpret 190 graphics formats and export to nearly 80 . But GraphicConverter also include an extensive bent of image - editing and drawing tools , a robust icon web browser , the ability to batch - convert and batch - edit multiple image , AppleScript support , TWAIN scanning , a sliding board show modality , and hundred of other features . Its interface is a bit perplexing at clip , but you ca n’t beat the feature article for the cost . ( $ 30;Lemke Software )
Special effects: Slick Volumes 1-10
Getting bored with iMovie ’s selection of transitions and event ? Gee Three’sSlick Volumes 1 - 10 ( ) are iMovie sparking plug - in pack boast oodles of advanced titles and captions , inter - scene transitions , colour and light correction peter , video and audio effects , and even ingenious sheathing such as sportsman scoreboard . Once installed , the Slick options appear in iMovie ’s redaction pane , quick for you to apply to your movies just as you would iMovie ’s own option and effects . ( $ 30 to $ 70 per loudness ; also available in discount bundles;Gee Three )
Multimedia player: VLC media player 0.8.5
Picking up where Apple ’s built - in multimedia engineering leaves off , VLC media player 0.8.5 ( ) will be especially welcome if you ’ve ever had trouble fiddle media single file your microcomputer friends wield with simplicity . VLC lets you wreak video filing cabinet in formats such as DivX and MPEG-1 , -2 , and -4 without a hitch . That ’s something QuickTime ca n’t do easily . With a pleasing user interface , supporting for playlists , and customizable hot keys , VLC is spiritualist manna from heaven for people who want to play many of today ’s pop video data format on their Macs . ( free;VideoLAN)—JONATHAN SEFF
Other top multimedia tools
Amadeus II 3.8.7 (; $ 30;HairerSoft ) is a dispirited - monetary value two - track app for transcription and cleaning up cassettes and LPs , or for cut be audio files . It has added support for the MP4 , M4A , AAC , and FLAC formats since our last review.iStopMotion 1.10.1 (; $ 40;Boinx Software ) adds to an amateur moviemaker ’s bagful of tricks , with stop - motion animation and time - lapse transcription features .
When it come up to tot up watermark to photos you own , there ’s no better tool thaniWatermark 3.0.7 (; $ 20;Script Software ) , thanks to its easiness of habit and functionality . QuickImage CM 2.4 (; free;Pixture Studio ) provides a fast way of life to consider all the pictures you get via e - mail or download off the Web . Its contextual menu lets you consider ( and edit ) images in a floating window in the Finder .
Your laptop computer can be a cracking portable amusement center , but playing videodisk run out battery power something tight . Extend your playback time by re-create DVDs to your grueling drive usingMacTheRipper 2.6.6 (; free;Geezerbuttz).Netflix Freak 2.4.1 (; $ 15;The Little App Factory ) give Netflix patrons a better user interface than Netflix does for supervise and research for videodisc rentals from the online military service .
Need to get more dominance over iTunes ? Do you require to pour audio from any app across your wireless internet ? Or possibly you ’d just like a manner to get the music put in on your iPod back onto your Mac . The five iPod and iTunes helpers heel below extend all that and more . Plus , we ’ve included a pair of podcasting aides for those of you looking to create audio content more easily .
iTunes enhancer: Synergy 2.9
There are many iTunes controllers and information video display out there , but none bring as well asSynergy 2.9 ( ) . It provides systemwide hot keys for playback and loudness control ; a snazzy , translucent informational display ( course , artist , album cover , and so on ) that fades in and out at the start of each track ( or at your program line ) ; and optional playback control in the menu legal community . A systemwide menu lets you select playlists and late tracks . Synergy will even grab album art from the cyberspace if it ’s not already in your library . funding for Growl ( a spherical notification arrangement for OS X ) has lately been sum , as well as the power to bleed AppleScripts on track change . ( € 5;Wincent Colaiuta )
Audio-networking tool: Airfoil 2.0.3
Simultaneous streamingAirfoil lets you broadcast any audio on your Mac to multiple AirPort Express base stations .
Although iTunes 6 ’s AirTunes technology allows you to swarm music act as in iTunes to multiple AirPort Express base station , it can streamonlymusic run in iTunes . Airfoil 2.0.3 ( ) opens up AirTunes to let you streamanyaudio fromanyapplication on your Mac . A round-eyed port lets you choose the audio source — for good example , Windows Media Player , Real Player , a entanglement web browser app , a Dashboard widget , connect audio gimmick ( line of reasoning / mic - in , digital - in , USB sound , and so on ) , or all audio playing on your Mac — and the goal AirPort Express base stations . you may control the intensity level of each Express via Airfoil or , if you prefer , you may dress Airfoil ’s preferences so that it links outside speaker unit horizontal surface to your Mac ’s book control . ( $ 25;Rogue Amoeba )
iPod-to-iTunes transfer tools: iPodDisk 1.3 and Senuti 0.33
Although Apple makes it difficult to get musicfroman iPodtoa Mac , there are times when you may have a legitimate motivation to do so . For lesson , if your heavy driveway crashes and you do n’t have a backup , you would otherwise ask to re - rip all your CDs and hope Apple lets you re - download your iTunes Music Store purchases . gratefully , there are easier solutions : two of the good areiPodDisk 1.3 ( ) andSenuti 0.33 ( ) . Both allow you copy music and iTunes playlists from an iPod to a Mac ; the difference is in how they do so . Senuti uses a familiar , iTunes - like interface , and even permit you preview cart track . iPodDisk mounts your iPod ’s hard crusade in the Finder and lets you browse it by album , artist , genre , and play list ; you could imitate files and folders from your iPod to your Mac via drag and drop . ( iPodDisk : free;Isaac Huang ; Senuti : free;Whitney Young )
euphony rescueiPodDisk let you retrieve music from your iPod via the Finder .
Music-tag editor: Media Rage 2.5
When your medicine collection produce to 10 — or century — of G , organization becomes substantive . Media Rage 2.5 ( ) makes it easy to add and edit the metadata for music file formats as wide-ranging as MP3 , AAC , Apple Lossless , FLAC , and Ogg Vorbis , as well as tracks purchase from the iTunes Music Store . A entourage of pecker lets you quickly supply missing info — include record album artistic production and lyrics — to multiple files at once . Media Rage ’s Quick Edit routine lets you rapidly make both single and universal changes to a folder of media data file via the exercise ofpins — marking that selectively change special tag information in all the file in the folder you are editing . By set a pin for certain fields , such as writing style or artist name , you could make changes to those fields in all files in one cruel swoop , while change the rest of the fields separately . ( $ 30;Chaotic Software)—MATHEW HONAN
Podcasting tools: Cast Easy 1.3.5 and Podcast Maker 1.2.6
Podcasting has issue forth a recollective way since it became mainstream two twelvemonth ago , with many tools forebode to make it easier to create audio content for the masses . Two programs that deliver areCast Easy 1.3.5 (; Cast Easy , www.casteasy.com ) andPodcast Jehovah 1.2.6 (; $ 30;Potion Factory ) .
( Since our Best of Gems feature went to crusade for the August 2006 issue ofMacworld , Cast Easy ( the fellowship ) has been born-again asMeddie Cat Software , and the app has been substitute by a novel program call Cast Life . We ’ll take a look at this new app in a succeeding installment of the Mac Gems Weblog . )
Both mathematical product serve with the workaday parts of podcast publication , such as putting in ID3 tag end , uploading a podcast to a Web server , and making sure XML files are configured decent . My preference , though , is Podcast Maker . Its user interface puts all your podcasting options at your fingertips and streamlines the creation mental process . More impressive , Podcast Maker makes it easy to createenhanced podcasts — podcasts recorded in Apple ’s AAC data format with chapter break that the iPod will recognize . And for listeners with iPods that can exhibit photos , Podcast Maker lets you link photos to various points within your podcast to enhance the ruined Cartesian product with visuals that illustrate what you ’re talking about.—CYRUS FARIVAR
