Cool Mac Gear

You don’t have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on software in order to assemble a capable and efficient suite of applications for your Mac. There is a great selection of of free and inexpensive application software available for both OS X and the legacy Mac OS.

The main software categories that cover what most people do with personal computers are:

• Office Suite
• Email Client
• Web Browser
• Word Processor
• Spreadsheet Program
• Draw and/or Paint Program
• FTP Client
• Database
• Presentation Software
• HTML Software
• Spellchecker
• FAX Software
• MP3 Player

No article of this sort can be completely comprehensive. The applications listed are my personal picks -- apps. that I have actually used, and in many cases use every day for production work.

I’ve listed software in three categories:
• OS X/OS 8.x-9.x Ambidextrous (ie: either Carbonized or separate versions covering each platform)
• OS X Only
• Legacy Mac OS/ OS X Classic Mode Only

The office suite is the personal computer killer app., and ironically, Microsoft virtually owns this category on the Mac platform. PC users have an excellent choice in free office suite software in the form of Sun Microsystems’ StarOffice, which supports both Windows and Linux as well as Sun’s own Solaris UNIX variant, but the Open Source Mac port isn’t quite ready for prime time yet. However, mac users can get ThinkFree Office, which is not free, but is pretty inexpensive at $49.95, and which has just been released in a new, OS X compatible version.

ThinkFree Office features an office productivity suite that offers compatibility with the full Microsoft Office suite of applications including MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint. both Mac OS and Windows users have a consistent experience via a file manager that looks and performs like Microsoft Explorer. The product suite also supports Mac OS X’s native open/save dialog interface for easy access to stored files. In addition, ThinkFree Office for Mac OS X takes advantage of Mac OS X’s specific APIs to provide features like spell checker. ThinkFree Office for Mac OS X also supports Classic Mac OS and Windows platforms.

Thinkfree Office includes:
• Write, a WYSIWYG Microsoft Word compatible word processor/HTML editor
• Calc, a Microsoft Excel compatible spreadsheet
• Show, a Microsoft PowerPoint compatible presentation graphics program
• Folders, an intuitive, easy-to-use file manager enabling you to centrally manage all your files and folders on your local hard drive and on your ThinkFree Cyberdrive.

More on Write, Calc, and Show in ther individual category sections below.

You can download ThinkFree Office from the Internet (less than 10MB) or buy it on CD.

ThinkFree Office is cross-platform, supporting Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and UNIX, and claims to provide identical features for every platform, using the same document file system, so you can open files from other operating systems without having to convert them first, as well as being file compatible with the Microsoft Office suite components Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. ThinkFree Office can read from and write to files in either format.

System requirements:
• Java VM: MRJ (Mac OS Runtime for Java) 2.2 or higher (MRJ 2.2.3 or later recommended)
• Operating System: Mac OS 8.6 or higher (Mac OS 9 recommended), or OS X
• CPU: PowerPC processor (PowerPC G3 or higher recommended)
• Memory: 64MB or more (96MB or more recommended)
• At least 12MB of available hard disk space for basic installation.

ThinkFree Office sells for $49.95.

For more information, visit:
http://www.thinkfree.com

OS X users of course have the built-in OS X Mail, which is a pretty good email application, but I’ve not warmed to it as yet, partly because I want to maintain file backwards compatibility with OS 9.x.

However, Eudora 5.1.1, arguably the most powerful and versatile Mac email client, is available in a free (ad supported) full featured version and a completely free reduced features “Light” version.

System requirements:
• Macintosh PowerPC or better
• Mac OS System 8.1 or later
• An Internet mail account that uses POP3 protocol with an Internet Service Provider or a network connection
• Access to the mail account via PPP dial-up networking using a modem or a TCP/IP Internet-style network connection or
• To use QUALCOMM PureVoice™ plug-in for Eudora, microphone required

To download Eudora 5.1, visit:
http://www.eudora.com

Green is a freeware email client from France that happily offers a 68k version (‘040 only), and that lets you work with several mail accounts at different locations over different connections at the same time.

Green lets you create hierarchical mailboxes to easily organize your mails, and allows you to import mailboxes from Outlook Express (pre 5.0 versions), Netscape, and Eudora.

Green allows you to define mail rules that will automatically reply to incoming mails, print a paper copy of a mail, or forward the mail to someone else, and even start an AppleScript, all at the same time!

Green allows you to share one machine with other people without each person needing a private copy of the program. Each person can define a personal mail environment, and password protect it against unwanted access from others.

Green comes with a comprehensive online and integrated help system, making it easy to get any information on how to use Green or eMail in general.

Green is freeware for personal use. Corporate or educational users pay a small fee.

System requirements:
• Any Macintosh with System 8.1 or more recent.
• QuickTime needs to be installed if you want to view and hear enclosures inside mail windows.

For more information, visit:
http://www.eware.fr/dev/index.html

Also see Netscape 6.3 and 7.0, and Mozilla 1.0, all of which are free and have built in email clients. and Microsoft Internet Explorer (Outlook Express) in the next section

Your freeware choices here are Mozilla, iCab, Netscape, Opera, Wannabe and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

iCab is my favorite browser currently available on the Mac platform. It’s small, fast, stable, and competent in performance. iCab is sort of the Mercedes of browsers. It’s subdued rather than flashy in appearance (but the latest 2.8 build for OS X has been spruced up with some very nice “Crystal” icons), but the solid engineering is evident under the skin. The downside of iCab (which is still a late beta despite its polish) is that Javascript support is not yet fully implemented, and it consequently does not support some Websites, making it necessary to keep another browser around.

The iCab final version will be commercial software that will sell for $30, but a free “light” version will continue to be offered.

To download the latest public beta version of iCab, visit:
http://www.icab.de

I’ve been enjoying the Mozilla 1.0 final release, which is a great browser in both OS X and OS 9. It’s fast, stable as a rock, and I have yet to run into a Website it wouldn’t support. Like its netscape cousin, Mozilla includes an email client, an html authoring application, a newsreader client, and a chat client as well as a browser.

Mozilla its
heavy demands in those areas, and a beefy enough processor to run it adequately. The minimum processor specified is a 266 MHz 604e, but I wouldn’t suggest bothering with anything slower than my 233 MHz G3.

Speed wise, Mozilla loads most pages very quickly, but lags behind iCab and Opera in things like initial startup and opening new browser windows.

Mozilla has wonderful drag & drop support, and its Javascript implementation works well, and takes care of one of the primary reasons I need a second browser in addition to my mainstay iCab.

Mozilla is now a perfectly adequate (and faster) alternative to Internet Explorer.

For more information or to download, visit:
http://www.mozilla.org

Netscape then takes most – but not all – of the Mozilla codebase and uses it to create the Netscape 6/7 products. Netscape adds a set of features to the Mozilla core, such as the AOL Instant Messenger, a Java virtual machine, and a set of plug-ins; Netscape also adds its logos and other branding items, and may set default URLs, etc.

Netscape 6/7 are therefore a customization of the Mozilla codebase intended for a consumer audience, while Mozilla itself is targeted at the developer community.

Netscape 7.0 Preview Release 1 is the pre-release version of the Netscape 7.0 software and is not final release product. However, I’ve found it to be the fastest browser available for OS X, and have not experienced stability problems, so I wouldn’t suggest bothering with the Netscape 6.3 final.

This software contains 128 bit Strong Encryption which enables you to make secure transactions, used in online banking and trading.

System requirements:
• Mac OS 8.6 or higher
• PPC 604e 266MHz or faster processor
• 64 MB RAM
• 36 MB hard drive space

For more information, visit:
http://www.netscape.com/browsers/

Netscape 7:
ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/netscape7/english/7.0_PR1/mac/

Opera features 128bit SSL encryption, version 2 and 3. The first browser on the market to support TLS 1.0. This means that you can do secure online ordering of goods and services, online banking without any additional security proxy software or modules, ensuring complete security for your online transactions. The browser includes features such as cookie manager, a sophisticated hotlist, muliple download monitor and keychain support.

Opera 5.0 for Mac Features:
• Fast rendering of pages Opera claims to be the fastest full-featured browser on the market today.
• Easy keyboard navigation Opera’s easy keyboard shortcuts save time as well as benefit people with disabilities.
• Instant toggling of image and documents settings For even faster browsing, images can be turned on/off with just the press of a key.
• Multiple Document Interface With Opera you can surf the Internet with multiple windows open at the same time.
• Save windows before closing When closing Opera, choose whether or not to save the open windows for the next surfing session.
• High quality zooming Opera users can zoom in on a page up to a 1000%, be it text or images.
• Cookie Manager Enjoy the advanced cookie management capability in Opera for Mac. Filter, accept or deny third-party cookies.
• Keychain Store realm passwords and forms passwords in the Keychain. You can store usernames and passwords securely in the Apple Keychain and retrieve them with Cmd+K. • Drag and drop Drag proxy icon for bookmark, drag proxy icon to other applications, drag link to transfer window for download.
• Support for Internet Control Panel Opera reads your home page and helper applications from Internet Control panel making it easy to store all information in one place.
• Sophisticated hotlist Import from other browsers, search your hotlist bookmarks or retrieve them with one click. Use nicknames for easy access to your favorites.
• Download Monitor multiple downloads in a special download window with all your download items listed.
• Advanced search In the search feature, users can easily migrate between the most popular search engines, and search for terms, domain names, music, Mp3s, images, video, audio, books or company information.
• Standards-Compliance Opera continues its commitment to the standards as laid out by the W3C. Opera 5.0 for Mac supports the following technologies: 128-bit encryption, TLS 1.0, SSL 2 and 3, CSS1 and partial CSS2, XML, HTML 4.01, HTTP 1.1, ECMAScript, JavaScript 1.3, WAP/ WML and partial support for DOM.

Opera 5.0 for Mac is available for free for a trial period of 30 days without banner ads, and thereafter in a free ad-sponsored version from http://www.opera.com.

Users can register the ad-sponsored version for US $39 to remove the banner ad. Various discounts apply. The Opera Web browser is now available on the Macintosh in two flavors: PPC and Carbon for Mac OS X.

Opera 5 for Macintosh will run on PowerPC Macs with MacOS 7.5 or later installed or OS X for the OS X version. Systems prior to 8.0 will require installation of Appearance Manager. Opera 5 for Macintosh Beta supports the following World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards:

For more information, visit:
http://www.opera.com/mac/

One of my favorite pieces of freeware, and one that I use every day. WannaBe is a limited text-only web browser for MacOS under development by David T. Pierson. If you’re on a slow dial up connection like I am, you need WannaBe.

For more information, visit:
http://mindstory.com/wb2/

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 5.2 is arguably a decent browser, although I’ve found it to be the slowest of seven browsers available for Mac OS X (see OS X Odyssey 135 http://www.applelinks.com/news/odyssey/) you need to add Apple’s Mac Runtime For Java to achieve full Java functionality. IE 5.0 has a busy interface with lots of bells and whistles that apparently appeal to many users, and is freeware for the downloading.

You can download Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/

ThinkFree Write is a powerful word processing application that enables you to create rich, professional quality documents and web pages. You can insert tables, images, and clipart, or even apply custom layouts to your document, then effortlessly proofread your work with the easy-to-use spelling and auto-correction features.

With ThinkFree Write you can read, edit, and save files directly into the Microsoft Word (.doc) format with no special import/export process. So it is always easy to share documents and collaborate with Microsoft Word users.

With the powerful HTML features of ThinkFree Write, you can save your document as a Web page and include hyperlinks, images maps, frames, extendable tags, even form fields and style sheets.

• ThinkFree Write can open and save documents in Microsoft Word format.
• ThinkFree Write provides various fonts and formats to enable power word processing techniques.
• ThinkFree Write offers advanced printing features such as printing background images, page numbers, and high quality print.
• ThinkFree Write provides rulers, print previews, and various magnification rates to enhance your editing capabilities.
• You may insert hyperlinks, image maps, frames, and various tags to create an effective web page with ThinkFree Write.
• Publish your web pages directly to a web server using ThinkFree Write.
• ThinkFree Write provides various add-ons such as spell check, user dictionary, and clip art.

For more information, visit:
http://www.thinkfree.com

StevePerfect is a suite of applications for the MacOS and MacOS X that includes a word processor, picture viewer, e-mail client, dictionary client, quicktime viewer, mp3 player, streaming quicktime viewer, editpad and an integrated help system. StevePerfect is designed with the novice computer user in mind.

StevePerfect’s suite of integrated applications can do all of the following:

Word Processing:
•Change text fonts, styles, sizes and colors.
•Save in standard text format.
•Print.
•Save in PDF format.*
•Type in a full screen mode.*

Picture Viewer:
•Open popular web formats such as JPEG, GIF and PICT.
•View images in a full screen mode.*

E-Mail Client
•Check POP e-mail accounts in a simple interface.
•Send mail from a POP e-mail account.

Dictionary Client
•Search an online english dictionary.

Quicktime Viewer
•Open Quicktime or MPEG video files for viewing.
•Open VideoCD movies for viewing.

MP3 Player
•Play MP3 files from the internet.

Streaming Quicktime Viewer
•Watch the BBC World News.
•Listen to National Public Radio.
•Listen to online Quicktime radio streams.

EditPad
•Quickly copy and paste text between documents with a copy and paste pad.

Integrated Help System
•A simple help system is just a click away from the toolbar or menu command

*Works in MacOS X only.
**Works in MacOS 8 through 9.1 only.

StevePerfect supports the basic typing features: Font, Style, Color, Size, Search, Save, Open, and Find. It also includes more advanced features such as streaming Quicktime Media support and web and email links (the latter only supported in MacOS 9). StevePerfect is completely balloon help compatible and also features a help system. It also uses Apple’s new Open/Save windows otherwise known as navigation services. Themes Support is included and is geared towards the user installing Kaleidoscope and the Aqua II Scheme or the Liquid Theme for MacOS 8.5 and above. Also, StevePerfect runs beautifully under Worldscript extensions. This means that StevePerfect works with Apple’s language software. Many users have reported success n Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and other languages. If it does not work in your preferred language please let me know. StevePerfect can also correctly print other languages besides English. Lastly, if you have Quicktime 4.1 installed you can listen to mp3 files or quicktime audio files while you work.

Get StevePerfect at;
http://homepage.mac.com/stevesoftware/

Tex-Edit Plus has long been my favorite word-cruncher, html markup editor, and general dogsbody application. It’s not free, but at $15.00 it’s not expensive either, and is a bargain considering what it’s capable of. There are (I think literally) dozens of text editor applications available for the Mac, but I’ve never found one I like better than TE+, thanks largely to its speed, rich feature set, text-cleaning facility, happy ability to open almost any kind of file, and especially its extremely slick implementation of AppleScript, unmatched, IMHO, by any other program.

With Tex-Edit Plus you can:

• Explore the power of AppleScript. Visit the AppleScripts for Tex-Edit Archive web site: http://www.malcolmadams.com/te/
• Quickly create, edit and print styled text documents of any size (limited by RAM).
• View and print TeachText or SimpleText read-only (“ReadMe”) documents.
• Play QuickTime movies
• Easily create TeachText/SimpleText read-only documents, including embedded pictures.
• Read and create UTF-16 (unicode) text files.
• View and print color PICT files, such as those produced by draw programs or Apple’s built-in screen snapshot utility.
• Copy a selection from a PICT file, cropping the image for use in the company newsletter.
• View, edit and print text documents created by virtually any word processor or computer.
• Reformat downloaded e-mail or text, correcting word-wrap problems and removing extraneous, non-Mac characters.
• Prepare text for upload to the Internet, so that people with Wintel or UNIX systems can view the document as it was intended to be viewed.
• Instantly quote a brief passage from received e-mail, allowing the sender to remember their original message.
• Read any text document aloud, if you have Apple’s Speech Manager extension. (Listen to a SimpleText read-only file, for example, as the text and pictures scroll by!)
• Quickly optimize a document for printing, replacing generic, typewriter-era characters with professional-looking typographically correct text.
• Create simple hypertext documents.
• Insert attention-getting sound annotations to spice up ordinary inter-office mail.

• Customized with Applescripts, TE+ is a great little html editor.
• And that barely scratches the surface.

Kudos to Tom Bender for his continued efforts with Tex Edit Plus.
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Tex-Edit Plus X is $15.00 shareware Ê

For more information, visit:
http://www.nearside.com/trans-tex/

BBEdit Lite is a free text editor for the Macintosh based on the award-winning BBEdit. Unlike a word processor, which is designed for preparing printed pages, a text editor focuses on providing means of producing and changing content. Thus, BBEdit Lite doesn’t offer fancy formatting capabilities, headers and footers, graphics tools, a thesaurus, and other staples of modern feature-laden “office” software. Instead, it focuses on helping you manipulate text in ways that word processors generally can’t.

Some of the powerful features you can use in BBEdit Lite include regular expression-based (“grep”) search and replace, multi-file search, and sophisticated text transformations. Whether you need to find (or change!) all the occurrences of some text in a set of files, modify or reformat text files of any size or kind, or just write without any distractions, BBEdit Lite is the right tool for the job.

Key Features:
• Runs natively on Mac OS X; supports Mac OS 7.5.5. and later
• Reads and writes Macintosh, DOS, and Unix line endings
• File sizes limited only by available RAM (up to 2GB Mac OS limit)
• Powerful grep search and replace
• Multi-file search and replace (grep too)
• Sophisticated text transformations
• Numerous hard and soft wrap options
• Zap Gremlins (remove control characters)
• Case change command
• Rewrap quoted text (from email or newsgroups)
• Support for BBEdit plug-ins
• Documentation in PDF format
• Customizable key bindings
• Automated file backups
• Extensive Drag & Drop support

System Requirements
• Mac OS 7.5.5 or later (Mac OS 8.6 or later recommended)
• PowerPC Mac
• 1 MB available RAM (plus additional for files)

For more information, visit:
http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit_lite.html

The Kennett Network’s Writer is designed to be a replacement for SimpleText, boasting a more user-friendly interface, and support for all the new Mac OS 8.5+ and later things like proportional scroll boxes and themes. It’s not free anymore, but at $5.00, it’s certainly cheap.

Writer is a small word processor that allows you to create basic documents with the minimum of effort. The interface has been designed to be as user-friendly and intuitive as possible, allowing you to work on your document without interruption. It has extra features such as an internet dictionary for looking up words, a calculator, and more.

The Mac OS X version is fully tuned for the Aqua environment. 128x128 icons for document and application icons, and large, fluid toolbars, along with native scroll wheel and sheet support make Writer a joy to use in OS X.

Features
• Unlimited windows open at once
• Unlimited file size (SimpleText only allows 32k)
• Fully Mac OS 8.5.x / 8.6 / 9.x / X compatible
• Full text styles, including, font, size, style, and colour.
• Spelltools Support
• Includes tools, including calculator and the clip box
• Internet dictionary; look up words on the internet.
• Multiple undos

System requirements:
• System 8.5 - 9.x, 2MB free memory.
or
Mac OS X 10.0
• PPC
Ê
Writer is $5.00 shareware Ê
Ê
You can find out more about Writer here:
http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/software/writer.htm

ThinkFree Calc is a full-featured, easy-to-use spreadsheet application that can easily tackle the most complex analytical tasks with over 40 charts and 300 function capabilities. ThinkFree Calc reads and writes Microsoft Excel files, so users can seamlessly share documents and collaborate with Microsft Office users.

You can use your mouse to drag-and-drop data between cells, and to auto fill cell data. The Format Painter tool saves your time by enabling you to copy and transfer cell formats with one step. Use the Chart Wizard to quickly and easily create colorful, compelling charts and graphics. Sort cells, rows or columns in ascending or descending order. And use the split panes and zoom features to easily navigate through large spreadsheets. ThinkFree Calc also enables you to save your spreadsheet as HTML for easy publishing as a web page, complete with multiple sheets, images and formatting.

• ThinkFree Calc can open and save documents in Microsoft(R) Excel format.
• ThinkFree Calc enables you to easily transform your data into 40 different charts using its intuitive step-by-step Chart Wizard.
• You may insert various images and clip art, including gif, jpg, bmp, and wmf files into your document.
• You may create your very own user dictionary and use it in your spell check.
• Increase the credibility of your document by checking its spelling.
• Set auto-correction options to correct misspelled words as you type your document.
• You may save ThinkFree Calc and Microsoft(R) Excel files in HTML format.
• ThinkFree Calc provides more than 300 functions, facilitating a variety of calculations such as date and time, financial, statistical, engineering, logical, and mathematic calculations.

For more information, visit:
http://www.thinkfree.com

Not free, but not expensive, GraphicConverter converts pictures to different formats. Also it contains many useful features for picture manipulation.

Key features of GraphicConverter:
• Imports about 160 graphic file formats
• Exports about 45 graphic file formats
• Browser
• Batch conversion with additional actions
• Slide show
• Easy creation of optimized images for the internet
• Basic images manipulation
• Enhanced images manipulation
• AppleScript support
• Support of new technologies like LuraWave LWF format

System requirements:
• Mac OS X 10.0 or higher Ê

GraphicConverter X is $35.00 shareware Ê

For more information, visit:
http://www.graphicconverter.net

Cobweb is a non-WYSIWYG HTML text editor. It is designed to work as a companion to Z-Write, Stone Table Software’s revolutionary non-linear word processor, but may be used by anyone needing a simple HTML editor.

Cobweb’s key features include:
- Simple, elegant design
- Smart toolbar: inserts HTML tags in context - Syntax coloring
- Support for most basic HTML commands
- Supports fontsets, for use with the FONT tag - Support for 216-color web palette, tables, and images
- Multiple undos

System requirements:
Cobweb requires a Power Macintosh, Quicktime, and Mac OS 7.5 or better. It is free for downloading from the Stone Table Software website:
http://www.stonetablesoftware.com/cobweb.html

CreaText is a HTML text editor with some basic and advanced features. CreaText has got many functions which make creating websites easier, e.g. Tag Coloring, easy access to the Mac browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, iCab, Help Viewer, Opera, OmniWeb), the change of special characters into HTML characters, an Insert menu with rapid access to all usual HTML commands, a HTML color chooser, drag & drop, and the possibility to setup HTML parameters when creating a new document.

The main window allows the easy access to the basic CreaText functions. You can color Tags, change special characters and view your page in a web browser.

The color chooser allows you to choose a color using the RGB- or the HSV-model or even the Apple Color Picker. And when you select a HTML color in your document, the color chooser will display the RGB- and HSV-values when you open it.

System requirements:
• PPC
• CarbonLib 1.2.5
• 10 MB RAM
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Download at:
http://www.wasamoebel.de/mariusrb/

EZgather Database is a Mac and Windows95-98 compatible freeform database. EZgatherX is now available for Mac OSX. This version will also run on the Mac OS9 that comes with OSX. Store pages of text information. Anything from sales contacts to recipes to video tape collections. Search by text or keyword. For $10 you get multiple versions of the main program that access copies of the same file. Simply copy the database file from one computer to the other and the proper version of EZgather! will access it. Identical straight forward interfaces mean nothing new to learn from one computer to the other. Works with all Macs and Windows95-98 systems.

EZgather! is fully functional $10 shareware

http://www.unvisibleuniverse.com/infoEZgather.html

ThinkFree Show enables you to create high-impact presentations which include drawings, images, clipart, and other graphic features. ThinkFree Show effortlessly opens, edits and saves Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt) files.

You can instantly create clear, graphically rich slide shows using automatic slide layouts. Customize your slides using an extensive variety of fonts, bullets, colors and layouts. Select from more than 600 cliparts choices or choose from 140 different drawing tools to create lines, basic shapes, and flowcharts. You can even specify your slide formats automatically using slide and title masters.

ThinkFree Show can even save your multi-slide presentation as HTML for easy viewing in any Web browser.

• ThinkFree Show can open and save documents in Microsoft(R) PowerPoint format.
• Apply animation effects to your slides to create a more-powerful presentation.
• ThinkFree Show provides over 140 shapes, including lines, flowcharts, banners and stars.
• Adjust the view magnification rate so you can more easily view and edit the slide contents.
• Add background colors and gradation effects to your objects.
• Create consistent slide shows using slide masters and slide color schemes.
• Show supports additional features such as spell checking and auto-correction.

For more information, visit:
http://www.thinkfree.com

First mention of course goes to Apple’s wonderful Apple iTunes

iTunes 2.x features a clean powerful interface for importing music CDs to MP3 files, creating playlists, burning music CDs, moving music to your portable MP3 player and listening to hundreds of radio stations on the Internet. iTunes does all this and more.

iTunes 2 lets you create your own personal digital music library. You can manage and play your collection of MP3s with drag-and-drop simplicity. With a supported CD-RW drive, you can create your own custom audio CDs for use in your car, portable CD player, or home stereo system.

iTunes 2 allows users to burn audio CDs up to twice as fast as before, and can burn and recognize MP3 CDs. iTunes 2 offers a richer audio experience with a new 10-band equalizer with over 20 presets, enabling users to customize audio settings to fit any style of music from classical to jazz, rock or hip hop. The crossfader creates more graceful transitions between songs, providing smoother playback of songs mixed from different albums, and a new sound enhancer creates additional depth and richness in sound output.

iTunes 2 also allows users to:
• pinpoint any song in seconds with a powerful real-time search engine;
• quickly browse an entire music library by artist, album or genre;
• create custom playlists with an easy drag-and-drop interface;
• encode at up to 320 Kbps to ensure the finest MP3 sound quality;
• burn CDs with one click and get perfect results every time; and
• tune in and listen to hundreds of Internet radio stations.

iTunes 2 is available as a free download from http://www.apple.com.

For more information, visit:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/

A PowerPC native freeware sound player and converter for the Macintosh by Norman Franke.

For more information or to download SoundApp, visit:

http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~franke/SoundApp/

OS X Only

Legacy Mac OS/ OS X Classic Mode Only

Charles W. Moore

Cool Mac Gear