Author Topic: Software beyond MusicBee  (Read 78843 times)

ma_t14

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In the music players section MusicBee is king, no room for argument there, but what about other areas?

 I would be interested what software everyone uses everyday, be it freeware or not and maybe reason for their choice. I always was, and still I'm, a software junkie and love uncovering those not so well known gems. It's been some time now since I settled on a carefully selected few that I find indispensable but I'm keeping my options open :P

So here's my list

Indispensable software:

* MusicBee   - best music player hands down free or paid
* PotPlayer - best video player hands down free or paid (imo). Very frequently updated. English version found here: http://www.videohelp.com/tools/PotPlayer where you can set up an update email notification as well. EDIT 28/04/2016 - I have been playing around with MPC-BE recently. MPC-BE/HC have come a long way and I'd say is up to you what you use. Especially on older hardware they have the upper hand.
* Launchy - Very good, open-source, program launcher, no need for a start menu (especially now with the horrendous Win 8 start screen), desktop icons, quick launch bar... You'll instantly become more productive. Note that it uses indexing, if you don't like that try Find and Run Robot which is even more flexible and tweak-friendly.
EDIT 28/04/2016 - Replaced with KeyPirinha. This is the launcher we have been all waiting for since the demise of launchy (still perfectly fine but development has stopped since a few years). If you don't mind fidling around with text files for the settings (ala Sublime Text) this launcher is already one of the best at what it does in spite its young age. One to watch, definitely!
* Everything Search - extremely lightweight free search utility and more importantly gets results instantly. Once you start using it you will wonder how you manged before that . Found at www.voidtools.com
* Listary - type-to-locate done right, free but pro version available. Gets better and better with every release. It may replace everything search for me in the future but for now searching is not what I use it for.
* ArsClip - best clipboard manager IMO, free, how can anyone live without one is beyond me EDIT 28/04/2016- Replaced by Ditto. Both are feature complete, as far as functionality goes they are at the top in this category. What made me switch was Ditto's easy to access search function plus better performance/responsiveness (in my experience).
* Opera browser - still loyal... The new Opera is based on Chromium (basically uses the same engine used by Chrome). It feels like a lighter more snappy version of Chrome  with some additional features in some areas while missing some elsewhere. Developer stream/beta versions  can be found here (that's what I use): http://blogs.opera.com/desktop/ (the last few builds look very promising for things to come)
EDIT 28/04/2016 - Replaced by Vivaldi. Old Opera (< v.12) spirit lives on.


Secondary List:

* Process Hacker - powerful open-source task manager
* Uninstall Tool - unfortunately not free but its the most straightforward and well designed uninstall manager I found. Home page: www.crystalidea.com
* Tixati - most tweak-happy torrent client available, open-source. Don't expect anything fancy but functionality-wise its second to none
* AMPWinOFF - advanced timed shutdown utility, free
* ShareX PicPick - one of the two best free screen capture utilities, the other one is Screenshot Captor. I was searching for a utility that could automate the process of uploading images right after capture. Luckily I stumbled upon ShareX, an open source utility that not only is feature complete its flexibility is immense. I'm in love with this program especially because it makes uploading screenshots on the forums a breeze. For example, with a single key press the program allows me to capture a region, save the image to disk, upload the image to imgur, copy the image url to clipboard as bbcode and copy the image to clipboard as well. And this is just a very basic example.
* Autohotkey - Really powerful automation and macro-creation tool.
* DeskPins - simple utility to make any window stay-on-top, free EDIT 28/04/2016 - Now use an AutoHotkey command instead bound to keyboard key combination.
* BandiZip - the only freeware archiver that does everything I wish (after making the move from WinRar), their other programs are decent as well.
* Fastone Image Viewer - free image viewer/manager, quick, stylish, feature rich. All you could ask for EDIT 28/04/2016- Replaced by HoneyView (from the makers of BandiZip. Much more straightforward, simpler and mainly snappier for my simple needs.
* Freemake Video Converter - I think the interface is geared mostly towards novice users but still, its easily one of the better free video converters
* Jing - free and basic but all you will ever need for quick video captures of your screen. Made by the same guys behind Camtasia and SnagIt
* Sublime Text - extremely fast, productive and feature rich programmer's notepad. Steep price but can be used freely as nagware. It's class leading in terms of productivity. These video tutorials should give you a better idea why I say that: http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/news/perfect-workflow-in-sublime-text-free-course/
* CCleaner - Everyone is already using this probably, and for a good reason. Cleans unnecessary files with a single click.

Now let me hear your choices  :)
Last Edit: April 28, 2016, 10:09:07 PM by ma_t14

psychoadept

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I rely on Picard/Musicbrainz for all my tagging needs.  Picard is bare-bones, but I kind of like that about it.  I've written up custom scripts so that my files are tagged exactly the way I want, and aside from making sure that the appropriate releases are in the database I've almost got it to the point that I can throw some files in there, hit lookup, and save without worry.  Almost.  :)  I don't think there'll ever be a truly automatic tagger.

Gimp is my graphics program of choice, and Audacity for editing audio files.

I don't use this very often, but it's invaluable when I do.  Remove Empty Directories, which does exactly what it sounds like: http://www.jonasjohn.de/red.htm.

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beeing good

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Everything Search is brilliant.

- I used to use Xplorer2 because it has the ability to show dual panes and folder size (I've no idea why this is such a problem for Windows 7) but I've gone back to using Q-Dir recently and I really love it.
- MPC-HC with madvr. Just so much better quality than VLC, I was very sceptical at first but with a bit of fine tuning with madvr you can get excellent results.
- 7zip. I can't imagine not using it.
- Flux: changes the colour of your monitor depending on the time of day, not just making it dimmer but actually changing the colour tones. There is apparently some science behind it but once you start using it for a while you don't notice it until you turn it off, and then it's like looking at the sun.
- Calibre. I couldn't live without this, fantastic ebook manager.
- Irfanview. I just like the fact that you can do a fair amount of light editing in it.
- WinDirStat. Only just started using this but it has been very helpful trying to see what my space is being swallowed up by.
- Variety of Sound VST plugins. I can't say how much I love these plugins, they're just beautiful and work wonders - https://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/vst-effects

I can't think of much else really.


spartan

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I rely on Picard/Musicbrainz for all my tagging needs.  Picard is bare-bones, but I kind of like that about it.  I've written up custom scripts so that my files are tagged exactly the way I want, and aside from making sure that the appropriate releases are in the database I've almost got it to the point that I can throw some files in there, hit lookup, and save without worry.  Almost.  :)  I don't think there'll ever be a truly automatic tagger.

Gimp is my graphics program of choice, and Audacity for editing audio files.

I don't use this very often, but it's invaluable when I do.  Remove Empty Directories, which does exactly what it sounds like: http://www.jonasjohn.de/red.htm.



Nice call on the empty directories. That is something I never heard of and would love to try.

As for me, the usual (some are the same as you guys) that I install on any fresh build
-VLC (loyal to it and it's never given me issues, feel no need to switch to Potplayer)
-7zip
-Firefox
-Thunderbird (yes, I still use a desktop email client)
-SumatraPDF (extremely lightweight and does its job, no questions asked)
-Flux
-LibreOffice
-GIMP if I need it
-Spacesniffer for finding out what is taking up HDD space
-XBMC for media- especially nice now that all my media is properly tagged with .nfo and all that
-IMGburn (for burning ISOs or just copying to DVDs, etc.)
-Notepad++ if I need to edit code or something

GoodWill41

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So, here is my list:

1.) Surfing + E-Mail + Security
a) Firefox
b) Thunderbird
c) MailStoreHome (free; sorry, only available in German) - for storing my E-Mails from Thunderbird
d) Avira Antivir Free
e) SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition

2.) System Maintenance
a) CCleaner (free)
b) TuneUp Utilities (Payware) - huge package of tools for system maintenance

3.) Utilities
a) UltraDefrag (free)
b) Revo Uninstaller (free)
c) AdvancedRenamer (free, portable Version)
d) MultiCommander (free, portable Version) - better alternative to the Windows Explorer with 2 windows-view, similar to Xplorer2, I think
e) NitroReader (free) - PDF Reader and Creator in one
f) 7-Zip
g) PicPick

4.) Video
a) MPC-HC
b) XMedia Recode (free, portable Version) - for encoding video clips to different formats; only for advanced users
c) MeGUI (free) - for encoding my DVDs to MP4/H.264 + AAC
d) VirtualDub (free) - for joining/cutting AVI (DivX/Xvid) video clips
e) asfbinwin (free) - for joining/cutting WMV video clips

5.) Audio
a) MusicBee - We all here know what this is for!!
b) Streamwriter (free - portable Version) - for recording Internet Radio Station streams
c) Exact Audio Copy (free) - ripping my CDs to MP3
d) mp3directcut (free) - cutting recorded Internet Radio Station streams to appropiate length
e) MP3tag (free) - tagging my MP3 collection together with discogs database

So, as you can see, the software I use is all Freeware except one, but I sometimes make donations to projects (MusicBee and Streamwriter).


9cupsoftea

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- Flux: changes the colour of your monitor depending on the time of day, not just making it dimmer but actually changing the colour tones. There is apparently some science behind it but once you start using it for a while you don't notice it until you turn it off, and then it's like looking at the sun.

I tried this a while ago but found it really strange. Do you use a desktop monitor that is very bright or something?

spartan

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- Flux: changes the colour of your monitor depending on the time of day, not just making it dimmer but actually changing the colour tones. There is apparently some science behind it but once you start using it for a while you don't notice it until you turn it off, and then it's like looking at the sun.

I tried this a while ago but found it really strange. Do you use a desktop monitor that is very bright or something?

Don't have to. It's mainly to simulate the rising and setting of the sun. Bright screens at night tend to distort sleeping patterns and f.lux works to alleviate that. The only time it is noticeable is at night when the color dramatically shifts on mine (not sure why, maybe I need to tweak it.)

beeing good

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I tried this a while ago but found it really strange. Do you use a desktop monitor that is very bright or something?

No, just a laptop. My monitor isn't very bright and I didn't start using because I had any issues, I just thought it sounded like a good idea and decided to try it. It is strange at first, especially if you have it set too far to the left but you get used to it very quickly and don't notice it at all. My screen only seems bright when I disable it at night and you can see instantly how harsh the normal monitor colours are in night light.


The only time it is noticeable is at night when the color dramatically shifts on mine (not sure why, maybe I need to tweak it.)

There's a setting to make it change slowly over the course of an hour rather than 30 seconds, make it much less noticeable.

greenday1987

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  • Long live OiNK!
Not all used every day but the software I couldn't live without includes the following:
Firefox - Well known browser
EAC - CD Ripping king (Sorry MusicBee)
F.lux - Mentioned above - adjusts screen colour according to time of day
µTorrent - Well known torrent client
mkvmerge - Video encoding software - I use it mainly so make simple changes to downloaded MKVs so they stream correctly on my blu-ray system
WinSCP - Used to SSH into my iPhone on occasion
mIRC - Well known IRC chat client. Not used often but Brilliant when I do
MediaInfo - Simple little tool to perform it's name. Show various media encode information - video/music bitrates/encoder/container etc etc
LastPass - Firefox extension to manage passwords
CCleaner - Browser/Registry cleaner
dBpoweramp - Used mainly for transcoding FLACs to MP3 V0 for importing into my MB library.
RIP OiNK


I've recently joined last.fm - http://www.last.fm/user/drjswho
Feel free to add me if you wish :)

EAC V1.0 beta 3 can be downloaded here
And a full guide on setting it up and ripping a CD can be here

9cupsoftea

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I tried this a while ago but found it really strange. Do you use a desktop monitor that is very bright or something?

No, just a laptop. My monitor isn't very bright and I didn't start using because I had any issues, I just thought it sounded like a good idea and decided to try it. It is strange at first, especially if you have it set too far to the left but you get used to it very quickly and don't notice it at all. My screen only seems bright when I disable it at night and you can see instantly how harsh the normal monitor colours are in night light.


Hmm, I might give it another try and stick with it for a few days this time then.

mtone

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Hmm, I might give it another try and stick with it for a few days this time then.

The idea is not to go crazy low on the reddish tones. You just want to lower it so that it feels comfortable. If well adjusted, after a while the setting you use at night will look better than the default one which is damn too bluish. During the day with sunlight, however you want that colder (bluer) temperature to make your screen look nice and white. Hence Flux. I love it, and set it around 5900-6000K on my monitor.

You can also change the transition speed to slow (60m) so that it changes gradually.

psychoadept

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Has anyone here made use of a screen scraper program?  Is there one you recommend?

Update:  I'm testing out this software now: http://www.irobotsoft.com/  Not sure exactly how it's going yet, but I think I've almost got something working.
Last Edit: March 23, 2013, 05:19:39 AM by scampbll
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Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

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spartan

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I tried this a while ago but found it really strange. Do you use a desktop monitor that is very bright or something?

No, just a laptop. My monitor isn't very bright and I didn't start using because I had any issues, I just thought it sounded like a good idea and decided to try it. It is strange at first, especially if you have it set too far to the left but you get used to it very quickly and don't notice it at all. My screen only seems bright when I disable it at night and you can see instantly how harsh the normal monitor colours are in night light.


The only time it is noticeable is at night when the color dramatically shifts on mine (not sure why, maybe I need to tweak it.)

There's a setting to make it change slowly over the course of an hour rather than 30 seconds, make it much less noticeable.

Found it, thanks. Much, much better now.

jistme

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When I restrict myself to audio related software, I should name 'Spectro' :






and 'Lossless Audio Checker'



to help in detecting fake lossless files.

Thorbjorn

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MusicBee of course.
Spotify - For exploring new music
MediaPortal - Best media center in my opinion. Compared to XBMC etc. you need to play around with more settings to set it up, but I can customise it to be just like I want.
Potplayer - Best video player for whatever I don't watch in MediaPortal
Lightroom - Not essential, but good for organising and editing photos.
calibre - Not perfect, but the best option for e-books.
Skype - Essential as my girlfriend is 1000 km away :)
Excel - Essential
Any backup program! - Doesn't really matter too much which one. Just want to point out that backup is essential! I lost 2 HD's before I started taking this seriously.
µTorrent - Getting more bloated in the last versions, but still the best. Use this guide if you want to remove all the new shit:

**********************
How to Make the Latest µTorrent Less Bloated

We all know that there's a lot of bloat going on with the latest versions of µTorrent. Before all the comments of "use µTorrent 2.2.1 (build 25302) instead" some people prefer to have the latest installed. Okay, so forget about that now.

At the moment of this post I'm using µTorrent 3.2.3 (build 28705).

As some of you have noticed, there's a few major parts that are especially annoying that are removable and I'll show you how:
Featured torrent
µTorrent Plus ads
Portable devices

Some of them are harder to remove than others. We'll start with the "hard part".
Go into Options > Preferences > Advanced
Use the filter to search for these:
offers.left_rail_offer_enabled
offers.sponsored_torrent_offer_enabled
gui.show_notorrents_node
offers.content_offer_autoexec
gui.show_plus_upsell

The easier part is obviously a bit easier, we'll just go through a few settings that will change the appearance that isn't needed by the advanced menu. These are also more personal for your own liking. I'll go through what I use:
Click on Options
Below you'll what I have checked in and unchecked
? Show Toolbar
? Show Detailed Info
? Show Statusbar
? Show Featured Content
? Show Devices
? Show Plus Information
? Show Apps
? Compact Category List
? Icons on Tabs

How it looks: