foobar2000 0.9.5.5

Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats.

Features :

- Audio formats supported natively: MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC / Ogg FLAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, AU, SND, CDDA, WMA.
- More audio formats supported through optional components, official or third-party.
- Full unicode support.
- Customizable user interface layout (new in version 0.9.5). View screenshots...
- Advanced tagging capabilities.
- Support for ripping Audio CDs as well as transcoding all supported audio formats using the Converter component.
- ReplayGain support - both playback and calculation.
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts.
- Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player.

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Paint.NET 3.35

License : Free

Requirements : Windows XP/2003 Server/Vista, Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Limitations : No limitations

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plug-ins. Version 3.35 has a new Posterize adjustment, Intersect selection mode, dramatically faster selection editing performance (add, subtract, intersect), and some small miscellaneous bug fixes.

Editor's review of Paint.NET

If all you want is a quick image retouch, Photoshop is overkill. Paint.NET, on the other hand, is an open-source freeware editor with all the essentials, including tools to crop, rotate, resize images, adjust colors, and create collages.

Paint.NET supports common image formats--JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and others--but not high-resolution RAW files. There are enough basic and intermediate effects and features to keep image-tweakers happy, though the red-eye removal tool is notably weak; those images may require manual attention.

Unlike most free image editors, Paint.NET supports layers and has an actions manager. The pleasing interface boasts semitransparent windows for ease of use.

Version 3 fixes many old quibbles, including a convenient thumbnail manager for handling multiple image editing, and improved program graphics. Paint.NET is far more advanced than Microsoft Paint, and given its free price, it's a must-have for anyone needing to fix images.

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BitComet 1.03

License : Free

Requirements : Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista

Limitations : No limitations

BitComet is a fast and easy-to-use BitTorrent/HTTP/FTP download client. It is P2P file-sharing freeware and one of the most popular P2P protocols designed for high-speed distribution. BitComet supports simultaneous downloads, DHT networks (trackerless), a download queue, selected downloads in the Torrent package, fast-resume, disk caching, speed limits, auto port mapping, proxies, and IP filtering. Version 1.03 redesigned the option dialogue.

Editor's review of BitComet

Taking a slightly different approach to solving the multimedia lover's dilemma of how best to download torrents is BitComet, which uses an interface heavily cribbed from Windows Explorer--with a dose or two from the basic BitTorrent template--to create something instantly recognizable to the user.

There's a familiar tree of features on the left, including links to torrent-aggregating Web sites and several promotional offers. The top of the app has big buttons with familiar icons, the center window shows the files being downloaded, and the bottom pane has tracker and peer info. The pane on the right rounds out the layout, with a torrent search feature and advertising. Among the usual features, BitComet offers chat capabilities, the ability to bookmark your favorite sites, a toolbar for Internet Explorer 7, and a context menu for Firefox 2.

While the app held its own against better-known competitors in terms of speed and handling multiple torrents, we found the ubiquitous advertisements to be annoying compared to the competition's ad-free environs. Overall, we think BitComet is worth trying and could become a major torrent app in the future.

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Mario Forever 4

License : Free

Requirements : Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server

Limitations : No limitations

Super Mario Forever is really a classic Mario remake. Once again you strap on your wrench and hardhat and guide the chubby plumber through many skillfully made levels. The diversity of the levels is very impressive. You will have to get through levels ranging from underwater caverns to levels filled with hot lava.

Version 4 includes toolbar in Mario Forever installation which is compatible with latest Firefox release 3.0 and added new options where search is more precise.

Editor's review of Mario Forever

Hearkening back to the heyday of Nintendo, this game faithfully reproduces the classic Super Mario Bros. Although Mario Forever's graphics and sound aren't identical to those of the original, they're so close most users familiar with the game won't be able to differentiate.

The basic platformer action hasn't changed either. As the feisty little plumber Mario, you traverse different worlds to collect coins while dodging enemies such as malevolent mushrooms and ill-tempered turtles. You won't find an extensive feature set, but you can at least change the keyboard controls or disable the music and sound effects.

However, we do think Mario Forever consumes a bit too much processor time, especially considering its outdated design. But if you were a fan of the 1980s classic Super Mario Bros., then we doubt this freebie will disappoint you.

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