Over the past few years, the biggest influx of consumer data has been in the area of multimedia. More than anything else, the increase in popularity of smartphones, tablets, digital cameras etc. have created a huge increase in the use and demand for multimedia – pictures, music, and video. This is one of the biggest reasons why I like Nero 12. Its one of the best optical media utilities available for Windows today.

With Nero 12, you can burn, edit, backup, rip, convert & play all of your multimedia. It’s one of the most-complete multimedia suites ever. You can use it to format your media for use with all of your computing devices.

Nero 12 allows you to stream your movies, photo slideshows and music playlists throughout your home network. Nero uses the latest high-quality video formats to convert, edit and burn your data. The app supports streaming to your XBOX 360™, PS3™, Android tablet, PC, digital media adaptor, streaming-enabled TV, or other DLNA- or UPnP-supporting devices. Nero 12 supports virtually all the latest video formats, including AVC/264, MKV, MP4, 3GP, AVI.

The result of Nero’s support for burning and streaming is disaster-proof data; and Nero is Windows 8 compatible. It takes only seconds to schedule an automatic backup with Nero LIVEBackup in Nero BackItUp 12. Now, you can back up to hard drives larger than 2 TB. Nero also supports USB 3.0 storage devices. Should your destination be optical media, Nero supports burning to CDs, DVDs or Blu-ray.

Nero 12 is a great application; and one of my favorite multimedia burning suites. I’ve used it for years. While the app supports Windows 8, streaming, and nearly any multimedia format you’d be interested in, it is quite pricey, and there are other, suites that you may find more affordable. If cost isn’t a huge issue, then this is probably the best optical media app you can invest in.

Download Nero 12

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XnConvert is an image converting program that supports over 500 image formats for easy single and batch image editing and converting. The software has all the standard tools for image editing, whether it’s cropping and watermarking, or adding slick effects to your images. The interface makes for a simple approach to your image editing and converting. Crucially, XnConvert’s interface allows for multi-image editing simultaneously and for the most part, the program is convenient to use for the these tasks.

There’s an easy ‘Clear All’ button for getting rid of your changes and starting fresh on the image but the lack of an ‘Undo’ button is a little testing at times. However, the simple ‘before’ and ‘after’ tabs above your image editing make for quick comparisons as you work. Similarly, there are arrow buttons below your work screen to move easily between each of the images you’re working on. XnConvert’s ease of use is definitely its greatest strength.

XnConvert isn’t an essential program but would be more useful for slightly more casual image editing and not for frequent, more in depth image editing. Other free programs like GIMP are better equipped for that.

Download XnConvert

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With this marvellous new software suite it is possible to create an awesome 3D video directly on your own PC. With 3D Video Maker you can select a movie file of your choice and have it digitally converted into a three dimensional format in a matter of just a few clicks. As part of the unique features of the software you can also create a 3D video from a single source file or from two original source files.

This software suite offers a host of adaptable features and combines them together in a wonderfully simplistic interface. As anyone who works with video editing software will tell you there is nothing worse than having to learn a new package. With the range of complex features that this generally involves it can be a painfully laborious process. Thankfully this is not the case with the 3D Video Maker. Everything you need it is neatly housed and on screen with no hidden menus or fiddly settings panels.

Getting a movie into the 3D format is incredibly straightforward. Once you are in the program you can browse to select the file you want to use, tick the box that says ‘single source file’, click ‘Make 3D’ and hey presto; you have a 3D version of your video.

Unlike many other free video editing packages this software is clean of any adware or spyware. It is a genuinely safe free package that will cause no problems on your PC or home network.

Download Free 3D Video Maker

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Having a Mac usually means having a lot of multimedia on your PC. Having a lot of multimedia on your PC usually means you’re going to need a tool to help you capture and preserve it. That’s one of the reasons why I really like Toast Titanium. It’s one of the premier multimedia tools available for your Mac.

Toast is the fastest way to capture video from your AVCHD camcorder, with no lengthy imports. You can use just about any HD video source. With it, you can create stunning Blu-ray video or HD DVD discs for playback on compatible set top players as well as your PC.

Toast allows you to edit video clips. You can trim start and end points, remove unwanted segments in the middle of video clips before export, or even apply audio effects. You can capture any streaming Internet audio on your Mac, without interference from other apps or system sounds. Toast’s MusicID automatically adds artist and title tags to captured music for easy syncing to your iTunes library.

Capturing streaming web video is just as easy with Toast. You can save streaming video from your favorite web sites and then burn the content to DVD for viewing on your big-screen TV. Toast can even send it automatically to iTunes for syncing with your favorite iDevice.

You can digitize and restore your LP’s and tapes, without the pops, clicks and hisses. Toast’s audio filters and tools help you clean up your audio and then burn it to CD or DVD, or send to iTunes for syncing with your iDevice. Ripping audiobook CDs to iTunes, with chapters, pause/resume support and variable playback speeds is also easy with Toast. You can convert for enjoyment on iPad, iPhone, or your favorite on-the-go-device with just a few clicks.

Toast Titanium is THE audio and video editing and capture application for your PC or Mac. There are very few apps out there, in my opinion that are better at these tasks than Toast. It’s that good. The biggest problem, however with this app, is its price. At $79.99 as of this writing, it’s a bit on the pricey side unless you do a lot of audio-video editing on a regular basis or have a large project ahead of you, like converting your VHS-based home movies to DVD.

Download Toast Titanium for Mac

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Creating PDF’s is pretty common place now-a-days. There are a number of different products that you can download and install to quickly “print” to PDF. Having in one is important, as sharing information in a non-editable format is often important.  However, sometimes, you need to edit those PDF’s you get. It’s at times like those that I really like using Nitro PDF Professional. It’s on my short list of must have Windows apps.

Nitro Pro lets you quickly create, convert, combine, edit, sign, and share 100% industry-standard PDF files. It’s easy-to-use PDF tools make working with digital documents pain free. You can save time and effort with easy-to-use PDF creation tools that don’t require you to open a file before converting it.

One of Nitro PDF Pro’s best features is its tight integration with Microsoft Windows. This integration means you can create PDF files the way you prefer, such as drag and drop, right click, or within the application. The conversion process is very easy.  You simply drag files from within Windows Explorer or the Desktop into Nitro Pro. Its integration also extends to Microsoft Office.  You can print to PDF from the ribbon toolbar in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  If needed, Nitro PDF Pro also supports batch convert collections of different files – like reports, spreadsheets, drawings, and presentations – all in one task. It’s easy to combine documents into a searchable, easy-to-share PDF file.

Read full review | Download Nitro PDF Pro

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Anyone with a lot of paper documentation or photos needs a scanner. If you have a scanner, then you no doubt have taken a look at the software that came with it and have found it wanting.  Scanners today are very affordable.  The biggest problem with scanners isn’t the hardware; it’s the software that goes with it. This is why I like Nuance PaperPort Pro. It’s a complete document and photograph scanning solution for Windows.

Most everyone that’s scanned a document has bumped into the strong likelihood that it didn’t come out exactly the way you wanted, requiring you to re-scan it. More than likely, the scan needed some kind of enhancement that your scanner simply doesn’t provide. PaperPort Professional gives you SET (Scanner Enhancement Technology) Tools to correct your scans.

PaperPort also provides a complete end-to-end document solution for scanning, converting, organizing, assembling and sharing your documents. PaperPort Professional goes further than other solutions by organizing all of your scanned documents and photos as large, clear thumbnail images on its desktop. This allows you to quickly find the files you’re looking for based not only on their name but also by their type and appearance.

PaperPort Professional is an awesome application.  Unfortunately, it’s expensive.  I also had a great deal of trouble locating a demo version to try before you buy.  The software can do a great deal, and its features will be a huge value-add for those with a lot of paper they want to scan and shred.  Unfortunately, its price point makes it impractical to simply purchase without a demo version.

read full review | buy Nuance Paper Port

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ABBYY FineReader is an optical character recognition software that is able to scan documents and readily converting images of documents such as scans, photographs, and PDF files into editable and searchable electronic formats. It’s the best alternative to manual retyping, because its text recognition system delivers precision accuracy in converting almost any type of printed document including books, magazine articles with complex layouts, tables and spreadsheets, and even faxes.

FineReader 11 brings the OCR technology to a new level due to a new black-and-white mode that increases document processing speed up to 45 percent. To streamline document conversion processes, FineReader further improves its unique capability to reconstruct native formatting of multi-page documents and also supports easy creation of electronic books in the most popular formats.

In addition to Microsoft Word documents, ABBYY FineReader 11 now adds support for OpenOffice.org Writer (ODT) files. When saving to PDF, the application intelligently identifies and reproduces the document’s content outline bookmarks with live links for better navigation and reading.

The new version delivers significant improvements in the detection of vertical headers, as well as margin notes, diagrams, tables, and styles, minimizing the effort typically required for manual correction. A new feature allows users to convert paper documents and images of text to a variety of formats supported by e-book readers, tablet PCs and smartphones, including the newly added Electronic Publication (.ePub) and FictionBook (.fb2) formats. Additionally, texts converted with ABBYY FineReader 11 can be sent directly to the users of Amazon Kindle account.

download Abby FineReader 11

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Digital photography is all the rage. It’s so compelling that most everyone that I know who isn’t computer savvy wants to jump on board. The biggest problem with people in that category, however, is that once they have their pictures, they don’t know how to enhance them. Red eye, resize/crop, etc. and similar activities become problematic. This is where applications like Picture Dude Image Converter come in handy.

Read the full review | Picture Dude Image Converter

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