Just below this post is one remarking on a free program being better than the market leader.
That program is IMGBurn.
I add another Audacity for audio editing.
Come on. Enter into the spirit of the Internet frontier !
ok, I'll give you the top 25 free apps on Zdnet
:p
http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=5368&tag=col1;post-5368
I'm impressed with Google's Picasa
I've used at least half of the programs on the list from fuddam's link, and have to agree with most of them being as good, or better, than the market leader.
For video/ audio I would add Virtualdub and the x.264 encoder to nick's two, and it will interesting to see just how good the upcoming freeware editor from VLC turns out to be http://vlmc.org/
Although it was often used for the wrong reasons, I would have to give a pretty high rating to DVDshrink --if only for the elegant way it dealt with a seriously difficult technical task. Brilliant piece of software writing, IMHO. - I still use it to shrink oversized authored DVDs for a best 'fit' onto a single layer blank. Sure beats having to do all those bitrate calculations!!
Lots of freeware reviews and tips here
Directory Opus was pretty good ;)
Vob2Mpg is excellent.
http://www.svcd2dvd.com/VOB2MPG/default.aspx
AVI frame rate changer (no commercial alternative)
http://www.inmatrix.com/files/avifrate_download.shtml
The Rename (no commercial alternative)
http://www.herve-thouzard.com/the-rename
Open Office
Google Docs
Google Mail - which can be configured with your own mail servers.
Just go to Google and set up and account.
Nokia Messenger, Nokia Maps - free push email, free satnav for supported Nokia phones.
http://maps.nokia.com/explore-services/ovi-maps
Free Rip - very easy to use MP3 ripper
There's a load more I've stumbled upon over time but that'll do for now.
For Creating Movies for Ipods and probably a miriad other uses I offer Handbrake:
So Paul - would this Handbrake prog take my finished avi from my timeline and turn it into a sharp, smooth and colourful movie on the 3.5" screen on my Creative Zen W? I use the Creative encoder that came with the Zen, but camera or subject movement's never properly smooth.
I suspect it might Tom, I've just checked it will recognise AVI as an import file format and it seems happy there....In fact as I write, it's now finished encoding to an MPEG 4 movie using the Ipod preset and looks rather good!
Tom try Format Factor or Super C to convert practically anything to anything (free)
As another user of the Creative Zen I can vouch for the fact that their own video encoding program is just about the worst.
I have used Super C and others, it's all a bit trial and error and has vexed a lot of Zen users - see the Anything but Ipod site http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=139
John D johnross93.freeserve.co.uk
I've tried Super to encode for the Zen W but I still hit this slight stutter on pans. Of course my footage is 25fps and the Zen works on 30 fps, so I've always assumed that's the stumbling block.
Other than that though the Zen's encoding gives me very sharp movies for very small file sizes, though it does take an age to encode at the best quality settings.
tom.
Not software but still a handy thing and it is free.
Its a free 10Gb of space on line to store items or make items available to others.
There is a tutorial to make a folder on your desktop and you can drag and drop items to the for site storage.
If you have a google account you can use that to log in