You are very welcome, InNeed and Triphammer. I really enjoy the Songbird software .. and Jinzora is terrific for cataloging both audio and video .. I think you will find them useful, too.

Lee .. you are absolutely correct. The smaller developers do work harder on their wares than the corporate gluttons. That's why I use and promote the smaller developers at every opportunity. Now, if I could just learn how to do html, I'd be walking in tall cotton! (Yoohooo, Giveaway Team .. that was a shameless plug for an easy website-development program!)

BuBBy ..I agree; there is a noticeable taste for waste, for lack of a more civilized expression. Lots of hooha about each new version's eye candy but no fundamental change. I do not fault the individual developers, drawn by high salaries and bragging rights; the employer, not the employee, will own patents, which can be changed to suit corporate needs. I'm with you .. give me small programs that do one thing, brilliantly.

Nice links Bobby.. Thx!

Thank you much Bobby!

Loved the developer's comment:
'Very carefully written, I don't want to crash my own desktop!'

----

Microsoft say they also have a similar philosophy called
"Eating your own dog food"

Trouble with that is after a while, you begin to acquire a taste for it - and you begin to think that eating raw offal isn't all that bad (once you get used to it).

- I'm thinking not so much in terms of crashing, but bloat, poor performance, and escalating requirements. Personally I prefer the lean, mean program that performs one tasks and does it brilliantly. I'm not interested in software that is everything to everybody.

Great comment that.

I know a comment written by someone that will remain nameless few years back.

When acrobat writer was released for $50, it became so popular the price got humped up so much not many can afford it.

I think a lot of developers work hard writing their wares so that the big big players, such as adobe, M$, symantec, google, corel will come in and aquire their wares for huge bux.

Bubby, it's amazing how many absolutely wonderful programs were started to solve the 'buy or build' dilemma. I use open source and the best freeware whenever possible; I grew weary of having one choice: a corporate boondoggle that causes more problems than it solves, lacks customization capability and is outdated before it reaches the consumer's computer. Don't get me started on 'They-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless' and their faulty digital rights management (aka kill switch) feature, which has erroneously disabled computers ... mine included.

But I digress ...

This is the first multi-monitor toolbar I've seen; how I wish I had this a few months ago, when all six of the grandkids were visiting! Pity it only works on the newer Windows platform. I know of many running older computers that would consider this a valuable asset. Maybe with a little motivation and support, the developer can expand the capabilities?

Loved the developer's comment:
'Very carefully written, I don't want to crash my own desktop!'

Nice find on the multimonitor toolbar. Fairly stable - just reported 2 bugs though - hopefully they will be fixed (even though the author initially only wrote it for his own use).

You are very welcome, Wolven! Hope you enjoy the programs.

Thanks for the effort, Bobby. Some nice finds there. Much appreciated.

Initializing open program shutdown, now.
Installing Songbird in ...5...4...3...

Cheers!

...2...'click'

Tux Paint, a customizable, open-source paint program for kids: http://www.tuxpaint.org/download/windows/

All VicMan software is now free, which you probably already know :) http://www.vicman.net/

Power Pro, to let you configure Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP the way you want: http://powerpro.webeddie.com/

Multi-monitor taskbar for XP: http://www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm

Musik Cube, a very fast program based on an embedded SQL database engine known as sqlite. "Dynamic playlists" allow fully automatic, randomized playback of songs based on your observed listening habits. The more you listen, the smarter it gets. It also features browsable, user reorderable playlists.
http://www.musikcube.com/

Another versatile audio program: Jinzora http://www.jinzora.com/
Someone wanted a program that could organize their music .. Jinzora can do that, and more..including streaming your music to _any_ computer.

Songbird, a jukebox and web browser mashup built from Mozilla: http://www.songbirdnest.com/

B-Works, a multimedia authoring and graphics software with MP3 support, great for autorun CD - a easy to use CD autorun and multimedia authoring tool. http://www.mediachance.com/digicam/bworks.htm

Audio programs here:
Subsonic: http://subsonic.sourceforge.net/
Vibe streamer: http://www.vibestreamer.com/

And even though you do not have a forum for unusual or interesting 'free' sites (hint hint), you might want to check out 'Ficlets.' A ficlet is a short story (1024 characters) that enables you to collaborate with the world. Once you’ve written and shared your ficlet, any other user can pick up the narrative thread by adding a prequel or sequel. http://ficlets.com/