If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.
You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!
Over the past few years, whenever someone asked me how to convert music file formats, I always referred them to dBpowerAMP. I received some bad news a few months ago. It seems dBpowerAMP's music converter is no longer completely free. I saw that they now offer the mp3 codec on a trial license because of legal reasons. Never fear! I have a friend who is storing the old freeware version.
The webmaster of Last Freeware Version has hosted this version of dBpowerAmp so you can always find it. Thank you mdm.
Quote from the website
*Rip digitally sound from Audio CDs and store in a multitude of formats, dMC is the Fastest CD Ripper and now AccurateRip Compatible
*Convert from one format to another, just about every audio type is supported: mp3, mp4, Windows Media Audio (wma), Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Monkeys Audio, FLAC and many others (Codec downloads), whilst preserving ID Tags,
*Volume Normalize audio files,
*Windows Explorer Integration - right click Convert To & popup useful information on audio files (such as bitrate, length).
*ID tag editing (Power Pack Option),
*Record from LPs or anything (optional Auxiliary Input install),
*Fully compatible with Windows 95/98/ME NT4/2000, Windows XP and Linux (using Wine).
*100% Free (mp3 encoder on trial license), No nags, popups, hidden spyware or bundleware.
Last week, I posted a question from Rick C about combining bookmarks from his multiple browsers ...
between IE, Firefox and Opera i have acquired in excess of over 3500+ favorites on my favorite list between all my computers and browsers, i would like to combine them all together and be able to access ALL of them from any computer perhaps via e-mail would be the best, alphabeticallized would be great. Do you know of any such program?
Peter read this question and wrote me with the answer he's been using ...
It does everything I need including combining Favourites fron different browsers etc. Very good application.
I decided to try out JetLinks and I have to agree with Peter. It's a very good program. It supports importing bookmarks from 3 different browsers, IE, Netscape, and Opera. I found that I was able to import Firefox bookmarks by opening up the bookmark manager and exporting the bookmarks to a bookmarks.html file. Once that was done, I made JetLinks import the html file as if it belonged to Netscape.
I also found that JetLinks can export to those three browsers as well. If the export format isn't what you want, it can save the bookmarks as a "JetLinks" file, whick is actually an XML file. Generally, once you have an XML file, the information in the file can be easily accessed by other applications.
Finally, I played around with the JetLinks program and copied it's program folder to my thumbdrive. It seems to work ok as a stand-alone or portable application so you can take it with you wherever you go.
Quote from the author's website
General information
All complete JetLinks downloads contain the main JetLinks program files and complete online help. Online help is only available in english. The main JetLinks program can speak english AND german. JetLinks is essentially freeware, please have a look at the license information displayed during installation for details. JetLinks does not contain any kind of SpyWare.
Thanks to the readers who wrote in with suggestions on combining bookmarks
Comments from Mike B
You might start by looking at these products:
Powermarks www.kaylon.com
Linkman www.outertech.com
LinkStash www.rosecitysoftware.com
Bookmark Buddy www.bookmarkbudy.net
urlBase www.terriadev.com
netmarks www.wetasoft.com (may be out of biz)
I am still looking for an easy to use and logically searchable bookmark utility.
Comments from Philip G
I have a similiar problem but not to the same extent! Mine only go into the hundreds.
I mainly use Firefox, so that is my main bookmarking tool. When ever I find a site that I like in another browser, I cut and paste into the Firefox toolbar, click, and add to favourites.
The reason for this is my favourites in Firefox are organised into an alphabetical list of folders and then filed as subjects eg space.com is in the Astronomy folder, which is filed in the A folder.
Every now and then I sort them alphabetically by using the Windows sort feature on the actual folder.
I also export the favourites to My Documents. When Firefos exports My Favourites, it exports the as an HTML file, sorted as they appear in the browser.
Hopes this help and not confuses!
Comments from Eli C
To combine the bookmarks I would simply install a Mozilla based browser and then get it to import bookmarks from all the different browsers on the system one by one, until you collect all your bookmarks in one Mozilla HTML Bookmark file somewhere in your application data folders.
On my Firefox, when I select the import bookmarks feature, these are the options I get:
Comments from Aggie75
I stopped using bookmarks several years ago for this very reason. I now only use tags in del.icio.us with my Firefox del.icio.us extension. Any webpage you want to bookmark, just click on the "tag this" icon, select some tags (del.icio.us provides you a suggested list)and click on save. Now you can access your "bookmarks" from any computer by signing on to your del.icio.us account (free of course). Added bonus is all the websites available to you that others have tagged. My advice -- ditch the bookmark concept and go with tagging!
Sweet! This is a tiny program that will help you when you are either stressed or feeling creative. Just launch it and paint all over your PC. Hitting the number keys, 1 to 0, will change the colors. To save pictures, you'll have to hit the PrtScr key and paste it into a graphics program.
Desktop Graffitist is a small program that enables you to spray paint your desktop, and anything else that might appear on screen. DG is designed for recreation and creativity, and can be used to relieve office stress and boredom.
Zia has found a good solution for backing up files. Remember, it's a good idea to backup all of your portable drives (CD, CD-R, CD-RW, thumb, SD Cards, etc) in addition to your hard drives.
Now, this is great...I use a laptop at work and I often backup my critical files on my USB stick. myEasySync is a superb little freeware which I use to backup my data...The best features are speed and easy set-up with the added bonus of being a self-executable (>>>can run on USB stick).
Quote from the website
myEasySync is a small program to synchronize two folders. At startup you will see a dialog where you can select two folders and some settings. The settings will be saved in a shortcut on your desktop, so you can easily perform certain backup tasks.
The authors have done a excellent job of revamping this program, for people that can't afford snagit or similar programs this is it.
Quote from the website
FastStone Capture is a powerful, flexible and intuitive screen-capture utility. It allows you to capture anything on the screen including windows, objects, full screen, rectangle regions, freehand-selected regions and scrolling windows/web pages. It has innovative features such as a floating Capture Panel, hotkeys, resizing, cropping, text annotation, printing, e-mailing, screen magnifier and many more.
This is just fun to play around with if all you have is hotmail and want to get color creative ...
Quote from the website
Tired of MSN’s fixed font colors? Use this tiny application to change it to the color you love. It is easy and fun to use. You may need to restart MSN for the changes to take place.
I am compelled to write a review on this most wonderfull application for anyone running two computers having differant operating systems (or same) called synergy.
Quote from the site:
Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It's intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).
Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems. Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop together. Finally, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires a password to unlock them all. Osh! By! Gosh! it's a beautifull thing. No more grabbing for the wrong mouse or reaching over to the other keyboard. They claim it works on most every operating system across the board. All they have to have in common is that all systems must support TCP/IP networking. You have to pay close attention to the setup instruction, but I found that if you use the defults and don't tweak the other settings untill you have it up and running you will be fine. Where did I find it you might ask? Well I actually stumbled upon it using my StumbleUpon tool bar in IE, but that's another review.
I would like to record some music from live365. Screamer has a record button. Can Audacity be made to record live365 radio?
regards,
John
Hi John,
I just fired it up and tried it. It couldn't be easier. First, tune in your 365 station. Next, fire up Audacity. Now set up the Audacity to record from your sound card by choosing "Stereo Mix" from the pull down menu in the recording section (circled in blue), then set the sound level (circled in red).
Now when you are ready to record, just hit the pink recording button. When you are ready to quit, just hit the stop button and save the file. There may be other things you need to do for a good sound, but I think this is a good starting point for playing around with it.
Bill wrote me with the following tip and I just had to pass it on. I've been talking a great deal about how handy and useful USB drives are without telling anyone about the downside ...
From Bill Webb
With the proliferation of applications meant to run from flash drives, we need to become more cognizant of their lifespan limitations. While they're cheap, the data stored on them often isn't!
To Fred's remarks I would add that the lifetime of the plug is also a factor. The number of times one can plug and unplug a USB drive is also finite. The plugs will eventually work loose from their bonding material, especially if inserted/removed carelessly. When they do, they are dead to all but a skilled technician who might be able replace a plug.
One should always: (a.) pull/push the plug straight into the socket, being careful to apply as little twisting or up and down pressure as possible; and (b.) make sure USB plugs are well-lubricated. Silicone works best, since it won't gum up and attract dirt. Even better is to plug the drive into a short extension and plug that in and out of the system, thus eliminating wear and tear on the drive plug itself. Since the extension plug is attached differently, it will last almost indefinitely.
Bill is right. I work in an electronics lab and I've personally witnessed the premature death of 3 thumb drives. Two were irreparable, but one was revived by repairing the plug. One of the engineers lost a Gig of music files. Luckily they were backed up. So if you use a USB drive (thumb drive, flash drive), please back up those files.
A handy program to help you back up files is MyEasySync. Since it's a portable application, it'll be right at home on the thumb drive.
Thank you very much Bill, you've reminded me that a USB's life, like my own requires a little planning.
I don't recall where I found this website, but it's become very valuable to me lately. Using Firefox on my new laptop has forced me to start using more keyboard shortcuts. Below is small sample of the shortcuts you will find at this website.
As of today, beta users of Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger IM client (like me) now have the option to add Yahoo contacts to Messenger. Together the networks comprise 350 million accounts and is the first time two large, commercial networks joined forces. The proposed merge was announced nine months ago, and has been anxiously awaited by ...
You need a free 2.7 GB Gmail account to access many of the cool features at Google. I'll send you an invitation right away if you write me and say I WANT GMAIL.
I think Gmail works best in the awesome Firefox browser. It's free, easy to use, and it's way more secure than Internet Explorer. My favorite thing to do is to customize Firefox so that it does much more than IE ever could. You can select new button controls for your toolbars, install extensions to add new features, or change the look of your browser with themes - the way Firefox looks and works is under your control.
Wow! Over 300 people and still growing! I invite all of you to record your locations on this map. You can include as little or as much information as you wish. I think you'll enjoy seeing yourself there.
Here's a small look at my frapper map.
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