About a decade ago, in those dark days when I had no Internet connection and all my software was coming from friends(on floppy disks, of course) and computer magazines shipping together with a CD, Winamp was the one and only media player to use. Oh, there also was that early version of Windows Media Player available in Windows 95, if I can call it "media player," since it was only the shadow of a media player's idea... Slowly, I began experimenting with a lot of new media players and CD grabbers, ripping those few audio CDs again and again and trying to enjoy the results as much as possible. Leaving behind my computer-related history, here's what I have for you today: real player, free download!

I know a lot of people who really have something against Real Player, but since I never used that one on a regular basis, at least as my secondary or tertiary player, I can't confirm or deny their claims. While I can't claim that Winamp is a bad player either, I found a lot of better ones to play with, especially foobar2000, Jet-Audio and, my latest discovery, the one-and-only Spider Player, which you can see pictured above.

I know some may say "What is this guy talking about? This Spider thing looks just like Winamp!" right after seeing the screenshot above, and I can't blame them for that, because same thing happened to me, when I saw this program for the first time. <-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->Even its licensing scheme is the same as Winamp's, with a Basic free version, and a paid one with a few extra features, but don't tell me this is no real player, because it's as real as it can get, and it's also a free download, since if you really need those extra features, you can get specialized programs for them...or simply buy Spider Player, only because they managed to make it so good!

While crossfading doesn't really sound like something to make you "trade your Winamp for a spider," the amazing sound quality of this player featuring internal 32-bit sound processing(it's enough to say that it can really blow my windows if volume is pushed too high, like no other player can!) and its native support for 5.1/7.1 Surround audio qualify it as a worthy Winamp replacement...and we're only getting started!

One of the great things about Spider is its Radio Directory, a manager of online radio stations with filtering and search capabilities. The best part about it is that you don't have to add your stations, since it automatically gets information about Shoutcast stations from the Web. Of course, if you want to add your own stations, nothing can stop you...

While the Favorites Manager is also a very powerful feature, I want to tell you a few words about the DSP Effects Manager, Spider Player's module allowing you to apply the high quality 32-bit DSP effects you need as you wish, while also offering support for Winamp DSP plugins. Awesome! The downside of this feature is that SPider Player only comes with the Winamp Plugin Wrapper, and no plugins of its own...

Skins are also supported, while recording from Internet radio stations or losless CD ripping are limited in the Basic version. Anyway, what I really like is the power of the Basic version as a player, and that's what really matters, after all! Real player, free download, remember? It's not "real grabber-player-audio CD burner, free download," so...

Just one last thing before I run on my couch to enjoy some more Spider Player-driven musical mayhem - the PRO version comes with losless encoding, unlimited recording from Internet radio stations, batch processing, the ability to rip all CD tracks at one and use command-line encoders with custom presets, as well as enjoy Spider Player PRO on your PC, USB drive or U3 device. As a final note, you should also keep in mind that the Basic version is available for USB drives!

Hehehehe...one of my favorite topics, once again! No, no, it has nothing to do with hardware, Linux, video compression or music. Wait! I think it has, in the end. After all, it's not the tool that really matters, it's how you use it, don't you think? No, I am not talking about THAT tool! Now wash away your dirty thoughts and let's talk about P2P, one of the reasons for starting modern witch hunts on a regular basis, even when there are no real "witches" around...


Yesterday, Northwestern University decided to drop communist methods like filtering, monitoring, bandwidth caps, and others (I think the RIAA and MPAA would even enjoy shooting P2P users on stadiums, as long as they get their money...), simply switching to a battle with flowers instead of guns!<-250x250 Square - right-> Well, not quite flowers, but when talking about copyright infringement, an email warning is just like a flower facing a gun - considering we have a really bad P2P user, of course.

Developed at the University of Michigan, Be Aware You're Uploading (BAYU) really had some success in reducing P2P usage and DMCA takedown notices, as ArsTechnica reports. This University turned the entire program into open source, including the documentation, so now everyone could do it. The idea is very simple - packets inside the network are scanned, and the system generates automatically an email notice to the one uploading data through a P2P connection. That's it!

Unfortunately, these emails are not answering questions like "Is it OK to download promo records?" or "Is LimeWire Illegal?," but I think I like this idea. After all, we're talking about people who are willing to learn about a lot of stuff, including copyright infringement...

At last, it should be noted that a lot of users have P2P programs installed, but some of them simply don't understand the fact they may be sharing copyrighted content located on their computers, like the iTunes library, for example. Knowledge is power, that's the conclusion, my friends, but feel free to add your own thoughts below.

Apart from antiviruses, most fake programs I have seen so far are related to video conversion. What is a fake program? Well, think about a program that you pay for, and you end up with an empty interface that does...absolutely nothing! Anyway, I am not going to talk about that now, because I have to tell you about a free video converter, or maybe more than just one. More is better, right? OK, ready or not, here we go...


For most users, until starting to have DVD burning problems, the most annoying problem is that of the video conversion. Why? Well, think about a new camcorder or a new digital camera with decent movie making capabilities - what do they usually have in common? I am not talking about a certain brand, the maker of these devices doesn't really matter.

From my own experience, and from what I heard from my friends and other people I talked to, virtually all digital cameras and camcorders come with video conversion software that can be described by a single, meaningful word: disaster<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->
(you can also think about the "F word," it describes perfectly one of the first words you'll say out loud after using those conversion programs for only a few minutes).

If you want to know more about this kind of "free video converter," then let me add two more things - these programs always sacrifice power to be as user friendly as possible, and the range of video formats supported is usually extremely limited.

About two weeks ago, when we talked about free DVD player downloads, I told you about one of those programs that saved the day for me a few times, VLC. Just read that article, get the program, and once you start to find your way through its not-so-friendly interface, you'll surely be rewarded by its very good video conversion capabilities, but now...

...let me tell you a few words about today's free video converter, namely VirtualDub, described by its author as "a video capture/processing utility for 32-bit Windows platforms (95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP)."

Unfortunately, while this software comes with extended audio and video processing filters, plugins and options, its main target is to work with AVI files, and while it can open MPEG files and convert them to AVI as you wish, it doesn't work properly with other formats popular with digital cameras and camcorders, like MOV, for example. VirtualDub has support for third party plugins, so it can be pushed pretty far, depending on what kind of plugins you can find for your tasks.

These being said, I think I'll leave the next free video converter for another time... What do you think? After all, you have a lot to work with today, especially if you missed grabbing a decent free video player so far!