Top free tools for Windows: VLC Media Player
Download: VLC Media Player
Purpose: Media player, including video
Platforms: Windows 7, Vista, XP; Mac, Linux
Cost: Free
Another poster child for open source software, VLC Media Player plays just about anything -- including YouTube Flash FLV files -- with no additional software, no downloads, and no headaches. I use it exclusively for videos.
Unlike other media players (notably the versatile but complex KM Player), VLC sports simple, Spartan controls, built-in codecs for almost every file type imaginable, and a large and vocal online support community. VLC plays Internet streaming media with a click, records played media, converts between file types, and even supports individual frame screenshots.
VLC is well-known for tolerating incomplete or damaged media files. It will even start to play downloaded media before the download's finished.
Top free tools for Windows: Jaangle
Download: Jaangle
Purpose: Music organizer
Platforms: Windows 7, Vista, XP; Windows Server 2008, 2003
Cost: Free
While VLC excels at playing videos, Jaangle covers the music bases, with the best combination of tagging and library support I've seen. (Yes, it was formerly known as TeenSpirit.)
Jaangle reaches out to the Net and retrieves a bewildering array of ancillary information about the music: album art, of course, but also artist biographies (see screenshot below) and artist pictures. If you're tired of seeing the same old album covers, it's like a breath of fresh air. The tag editor's just a right-click away. More than that, you can right-click on a song and download the Google Lyrics, right there inside Jaangle. Finally, we're seeing online music libraries used for something other than ordering more songs.
With customizable options to slice and dice, reorder and reorganize, Jaangle takes a fresh, new approach to organizing and managing a music collection.
