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Useful programs you need to have on your Mac

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*ThaMovment*
Posts: 564 - Karma: 50
Here are a guide to a few useful programs for Mac.
All of these downloads are free, and I have never had problems using them.

First off, There are the iPod video related programs.

Handbrake make it possible to rip a DVD to mpeg4 or H.264, the formats needed to play video on your iPod. It can also convert an already ripped VIDEO_TS file to the iPod formats. Its easy to use, and very userfriendly. I have used it for a while and never had a problem. This link provides a nice guide that tells you everything you need to know. Click the download link on the top of the site to install it on your computer.

http://howto.diveintomark.org/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide/


iSquint is a converting program that converts almost all videoformats to mpeg4 or H.264. Extremely easy to use, just drag a video you like to have on your iPod and click Start.
I discovered this program recently, and it works great. Download here:

http://www.isquint.org/


Then there are the DVD ripping related programs.

Mac The Ripper is an easy-to-use DVD ripper that lets you rip any DVD you would like, in full quality. You can save the DVD file to your computer and play with the DVD Player, or burn the files on a blank DVD using f. ex. Toast (see below). There is a manual, which you get with the program, where everything you need to know is provided. Download the program here:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22715


Toast 7 Titanium is the best program to copy, burn or backup DVDs or CDs. You can use this program to burn the files you have ripped using Mac The Ripper to a blank DVD and it will work on Macs, PCs and normal DVD players. Like every other Mac program, it is very userfriendly. Choose the "DVD-Video from VIDEO_TS" option and drag the VIDEO_TS folder into the window. If you rip a DVD that is over 4,7 gig, which is the size of normal blank DVDs, you can use a compressing feature on Toast to fit everything on one DVD. Here is a good torrent to download the program. Choose the second one. (I cant find the torrent I used, but if this one doesn't work, its easy to find another one. Just search google or something):

http://www.isohunt.com/torrents/toast+mac?ihs1=11&iho1=d&iht=5


If you dont have a torrent downloader, download BitTorrent. You can get it here:

http://www.bittorrent.com/download.html



If you want to play a ripped DVD that you have saved on your Mac, simply open DVD Player and hit apple+O. Then choose the VIDEO_TS folder that you want to play.

If you know more programs like this, then add them to this thread.
Dec 18 2006 10:56AM
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aoe
Posts: 2947 - Karma: 51
Great thread. Thanks. Lets keep it going.
Dec 18 2006 12:24PM
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snoopy
Posts: 5240 - Karma: 30
if anyone wants serial #'s for photoshop elements 4,  keynote or pages I can hook you up. 
Dec 18 2006 4:28PM
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snoopy
Posts: 5240 - Karma: 30
pm me.
Dec 18 2006 4:28PM
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dowalibeast
Posts: 3339 - Karma: 207
thanks dude good thread.
Dec 19 2006 12:50AM
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Rez4frederick
Posts: 4740 - Karma: 40
http://www.caminobrowser.org/

This is basically Firefox/Mozilla made specifically for Macintosh.  I use it and really like it.  It's got the apple look to it.
Dec 19 2006 3:10PM
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Rez4frederick
Posts: 4740 - Karma: 40
[url]http://www.caminobrowser.org/[/url]
Dec 19 2006 3:11PM
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snoopy
Posts: 5240 - Karma: 30
handbrake is great. thanks
Dec 19 2006 3:16PM
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*ThaMovment*
Posts: 564 - Karma: 50
felt like contributing to this cult a little. we gotta keep it alive
Dec 19 2006 5:35PM
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dowalibeast
Posts: 3339 - Karma: 207
it's quite alive...
could someone please explain torrents to me?
can you get music from them or onlyother media?
Dec 19 2006 8:05PM
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*ThaMovment*
Posts: 564 - Karma: 50
i know, but there isn't that many threads yet.. just forget about it... You can download everything with torrents. Just go to http://thepiratebay.org/ or www.isohunt.com or any other website and download the torrent you want. You can get music, videos, programs, games and about everything else like that. When you have downloaded the torrent, witch is only a few kB, you drag it into the BitTorrent window and start downloading.
Dec 20 2006 12:48PM
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dowalibeast
Posts: 3339 - Karma: 207
but people have to "seed it?" so it is possible to not be able to download it.
Dec 20 2006 7:44PM
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*ThaMovment*
Posts: 564 - Karma: 50
thats why you have to choose the most active torrents, or the ones with good "health". Usually it says how many peers and seeds there is.
Dec 21 2006 2:09PM
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weenox
Posts: 1568 - Karma: 19
VLC media player.....simply the best.
Dec 22 2006 5:14PM
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bass_munkie
Posts: 300 - Karma: 10
i'll add a bit to this...

^VLC gets my vote

if you want a free word processor give ABIword a try. Java based but reasonably fast, pretty good function set and heck it's free so don't expect the world.

fetch is a great ftp... free 30 days but it seems you can start that over and over, atleast for me.

flip4mac is a must so you can play WMV files in safari as if it were quicktime. it's free

iBackup is kinda useful if you don't know how to make disk images in tiger. time machine in leopard will be doing this for you though (when it comes out) it's also free.

MPEGstreamclip for me has been pretty good not sure if you can still get it free but give it a try for all sorts of video converting goodness.

NVU is similar to dreamweaver but free. i like it.

hope you enjoy some of those. sorry i can't be bothered to search for links.
Jan 15 2007 4:03PM
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jmason
Posts: 1595 - Karma: 136
Wow when I saw the title for this thread, the first things that came to my mind were exactly what you posted at the beginning. Weird eh?

Anyway, aside from those suggested above, I would add Flip4Mac as it is an amazing program to run WMV files on. It runs most other files too (video). It immitates the quick-time look, so you'll know how to use it.

http://www.flip4mac.com/
Jan 15 2007 5:36PM
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jmason
Posts: 1595 - Karma: 136
Do any of you guys use ShapeShifter? It's basically a program that changes the appearance of your mac with themes, somewhat like you can chose the appearance themes on Windows, except this is much cooler. It also works really well. Once you download it (free), and it installs and whatnot, it pops up as a tab on your System Preferences. You can then download from a list of themes that it comes with, or go to find new ones. It's pretty self-explanitory and easy to use. Here's the link:

http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter
Jan 18 2007 6:43PM
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bass_munkie
Posts: 300 - Karma: 10
^yeah I've used it... i normally end up going back to the standard though but it's nice to play with.

plus i think it cost $$ now, free 30 day trial maybe
Jan 19 2007 6:26PM
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jmason
Posts: 1595 - Karma: 136
^ nah I just re-downloaded it last week. still free, full program.
Jan 21 2007 4:46PM
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