Introduction to Free Multimedia Software
The following article provides an outline for Free Multimedia Software. The use of multimedia today has expanded all boundaries. The things that were impossible to do yesterday are very much possible today. Today it is difficult to imagine our life without the use of multimedia in the day today. For example, simple communication of the idea that would have been cumbersome in the yesteryears and would require a lot of text and drawings can now be done simply by preparing a slideshow or a video. But what exactly does anyone mean when they use the word multimedia?
As the name suggests, Multimedia uses various types of media to express the content, such as text, animation, video, etc., as opposed to the traditional form of voicing opinion, such as the text-only way of expressing. But to access the multimedia content of expression, you would want a specific kind of multimedia device such as an mp3 player or a video player. But now you don’t have to carry all those big hefty devices where ever you go if you have got just software on your laptop or an app on your phone.
In this article, we will see some Free Multimedia Software.
Characteristics of Multimedia
The basic invention of technology has made our lives much simpler than it was before. And it has also made the previously boring experiences quite fun and engaging now.
Multimedia can be used in the presentations to make the presentations more fun and interesting. The multimedia presentation has various viewing options, such as a projector, a media player, etc. You can also download the multimedia presentation or can play it live or on-demand, according to your needs. Multimedia technology can also be utilized in gaming to enhance the overall experience and make it more engaging and enjoyable. Multimedia games make use of various special effects to create a whole new experience for gamers.
Multimedia technology can make it easier for users to access and understand information without much hassle. And it will also help the users to make the information understand better. But multimedia technology can also make the art experience more surreal through various special effects. Just like the laser light show has been seen in various events. The show is mesmerizing and beautiful and takes the use of technology to a whole another level.
Multimedia technology has improved the learning experience by combining various different forms of media together. Imagine a boring, monotonous college lecture where you are finding it really hard to concentrate your attention on the topic. And you wish that the lecture could be made more interesting in some of the other ways.
But unfortunately, there is no such way. And this hampers your learning capacity. On the other hand, consider a lecture where the teacher uses various slideshows and real-life videos to teach the same topic to you. Will that not be more interesting and make you understand the topic much better, hence using multimedia to make the learning process much more fun and effective? Who knew multimedia could make our life so much easier and more fun too. Multimedia technology is not limited to visual and auditory learning experiences. With the invention of haptic technology, viewers can touch, feel, taste, and smell virtual objects, making the multimedia experience even more immersive and engaging.
Importance of Multimedia
The characteristics of multimedia have found their way into various fields of professional lines and hence have made its importance felt in the common world. Now it is difficult to imagine our world without multimedia in various subjects of everyday importance.
Multimedia software is used in various fields, including creative industries, entertainment, medicine, business, and more.
The creative industries have the most demand for professionals skilled in multimedia. An individual with special skills in multimedia can cater to a wide range of industries’ needs. The commercial use of multimedia ranges from advertising to graphic designing, as it helps the presenter capture his client’s attention. Using multimedia to convey a message is an effective way to ensure that it is well-received and understood. Let’s not forget the funny or the really moving advertisement that we saw on the T.V. or the great sci-fi movie you saw; all of it is multimedia at its best. Again, the video games we played in childhood are nothing but great graphic designers at work.
Other than the entertainment industry, multimedia has also found its way into the education industry by offering computer-based training programs. In this kind of training, the learner has to go through the textbooks on a particular topic and refer to the fun way of learning through various presentations and illustrations. The use of multimedia in the education sector has helped teachers and academicians improve students’ learning. It has helped them make the class more interactive and provide the students with theoretical knowledge and practical skills. And the best part about the use of multimedia in the education sector is that the teacher does not necessarily have to be there. The teacher can create an environment for the student’s better learning and make the session interactive by sitting someplace else other than the classroom. Isn’t it great!
Limiting the scope of multimedia to just a few sectors would mean missing out on this technology’s unlimited benefits. Multimedia technology can also revolutionize journalism by replacing traditional news reporting methods. This new media has opened several new venues and opportunities for journalists to share their stories. The professionals and the common people can now share their stories across various platforms and make their voices heard. And due to this, a new kind of journalism has emerged: freelance journalism. This has just opened a new gateway of opportunities for various people around the globe.
Everyone has found multimedia, from engineers to mathematicians, industrialists to scientists, making their life fairly simple. Now it has become much easier for them to communicate their ideas and goals to the stakeholders, to develop comprehensive training programs for the trainees, to help in the solving of the most difficult of problems, and also to help formulate new chemical reactions and their effects and help them in curing various diseases which were incurable before. What more could we have asked for?
6 Best Free Multimedia Software
There is a variety of free multimedia software for the use of the public in general and professionals as well. While some of this multimedia software can be used in your phones and apps, others are limited to your laptops. Nonetheless, the software is the best that you can have for your needs.
Mentioned below are the free multimedia software:
1. Picasa
Picasa is excellent multimedia-related software for the viewing, organizing, and editing of pictures on your laptop.
In addition to these services, the software allows you to create an album of your digital pictures and easily share them with your loved ones. Originally developed by Lifescape Company for Windows XP, Vista, 7, and Mac OS X, Picasa was later acquired by Google and made available as free software.
But later on, Google teamed up with Wine to make the software available for Linux. However, the Linux versions of the software of so out of date that they might not include many of the multimedia software’s special features.
Steps to download Picasa on your system:
- Step 1: Log on to Picasa’s webpage to download the latest version of the multimedia software. The webpage will automatically judge your system’s operating system and suggest the performance accordingly.
- Step 2: To begin using the software, you must download the latest version and then open the .exe file on your laptop if you are using the Windows operating system. But if you have Mac OS X’s operating system, you will have to double-click the Picasa disc image that appears on your desktop once the download is complete.
- Step 3: When you open the .exe file, a window will pop up showing the terms and conditions of the agreement, and click on the option of I agree, in the case of the Windows operating system. In the Mac operating system case, drag the Picasa icon to the application folder to continue downloading Picasa on your laptop.
- Step 4: After agreeing to the terms and conditions of the software license, the installation dialogue box will appear, and you can choose where you want to store the multimedia software dump. And after selecting the location, you can finally click on the install button to finally set the ball rolling. In the case of Mac, you need to transfer the mounted drive and “picasamac.dmg” disc image to the trash so as to be able .to download the software entirely.
- Step 5: In the Windows operating system, when the installation is complete, click on the finish button, and the icon of Picasa will appear on your desktop. And hence you are ready to scan all your pictures and store them in one place for easy access. You must open Picasa from the applications folder in the Mac operating system case. This will launch the Picasa. Hence, you can use the multimedia software to your liking, edit images, and share them with whomever you want.
And not only this but while you can manage your images on a laptop and have easy access to them, your Android phone cannot be devoid of this excellent software. Hence, you can also download a Picasa app for your Android, Windows, and iPhone. This makes the software even more likable and even a bigger hit among the masses.
2. VLC Media Player
The VLC media player, as the name suggests, is the platform where you can play your videos and audio for free. The VideoLAN project developed VLC software, which is free not only on laptops, desktops, and MacBooks but also on Android phones, Windows phones, iPads, iPhones, and iPods. You can download it easily from the app store of your respective device. That is not about the much talked about media player; the media player can support all kinds of audio and video formats. So you don’t have to worry if your video is not in a particular format because you can, in any case, play it in the VLC media player without much of a hassle.
And the best part about this VLC multimedia software is that it is free. That means you can download it for free without having to get into all the complications of the trial version of it. The latest version of this software boasts some amazing features. The software also allows for the easy addition of subtitles to videos. Users can add an SRT file to the folder where the video is saved, and the software will display the subtitles the next time the video is played, even if it was stopped in the middle.
Apart from these features, you can easily convert your video format to a VLC player. And also, there are various shortcuts available for the VLC player, which makes your video viewing experience on VLC much easier.
You can download the software from the following link for free without any hassle:
3. Windows Movie Maker
Windows movie maker is software for people who love to edit their videos. The Microsoft Company developed this under the name of Sundance. As part of Windows’ essential multimedia software, this software helps make and edit the video and allows you to publish those videos on OneDrive, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
The editing of the video in the software is pretty easy. You can position the video to be edited anywhere on the timeline and customize it according to your preference by splitting, duplicating, or repositioning it. The software also includes pre-defined editing styles that can help you enhance the attractiveness and interest of your video. But if you worry that the multimedia software Windows will modify your original video, then there is no need to worry. The video editing software will only duplicate the original video and the changes you put in, keeping the original video unharmed and unchanged. This feature prevents damage to your video and enables you to create multiple versions of the same video according to your preferences.
In earlier versions of the software, users did not have the liberty to save files in their desired profile and could only export videos in pre-defined formats. However, this issue has been resolved, and users can now save videos in any desired format.
You can download the movie maker from the official Microsoft website:
In this, you will have to download the whole Windows essential folder, which will include not only the movie maker software but also various other software for your use, such as the OneDrive software, etc., and the versions of the Windows media player are divided according to the windows version that you are operating. But unfortunately, this multimedia software is only limited to your desktop and cannot be operated on your Android phones.
For Mac OS users, they can download movie maker from the following link:
4. Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Systems developed Adobe Photoshop for the raster graphics editing designed for Windows and Mac OS. The software has created a niche for itself in the editing world. People frequently use the verb “Photoshop” in everyday language to mean image manipulation. It is one of its kind software that can edit raster images using multiple layers. The multimedia software supports various graphics file formats and has its own format under the names of PSB and PSD, and supports all the features mentioned above.
Although Photoshop supports many features besides the raster graphics, such as vector graphics, 3D graphics, and video, if the editor wants, he can expand the purview of the software’s features by installing Photoshop plug-ins. Independent developers have created these features as separate software tools, which can function effectively within the leading Photoshop software and provide a wide range of new features for both the software and the editor.
Previously, the naming convention for versions of Photoshop was based on numbers. However, with the introduction of the Creative Suite in October 2002, the system changed. TAdobe assigned the newer versions of Photoshop an abbreviation of CS, followed by a numerical value. Examples include Photoshop CS, Photoshop CS1, Photoshop CS2, etc. Other than that, the versions from CS3 to CS6 also had different editions, namely standard and extended editions.
But to download Adobe Photoshop, you must buy it online from the developer’s official website. But fret, not editors, there is a free trial version for you to download to be able to use it first and see if it suits your needs, and then buy the full version of the software. According to their skill level for the free trial version, the editors will have to register themselves on the Adobe website according to their skill level. They will provide the trial version of the software suitable to your needs. It’s worth noting that Adobe Photoshop is only available for computer-based systems and cannot be used on mobile phones.
5. Media Monkey
Ventis Media Inc. developed this software for organizing and playing audio on the Windows operating system. Various plug-ins are available to enhance the capabilities of MediaMonkey software, enabling it to manage and view a wide range of media formats, including videos.
Although the essential multimedia software is available for free and commonly referred to as freeware, a premium gold license is required for an additional cost to access different features, such as the ability to handle multiple media and automatic file organization. However, both the basic and premium editions of the software share many similarities, such as skin options and the availability of third-party plug-ins for expanded functionality.
Editing the audio files helps the user change the audio file format into the most accepted format. It also helps in burning the files on the CD, and if the need is, then the user can also lower the volume level of the audio according to his wish. And the software also supports various music formats such as MP3, AAC, OGG, WMA, MPC, WAV, FLAC, and APE. You can easily adjust the audio volume level by using plug-ins called ReplayGain and MP3Gain.
The multimedia software can also sync the music files with the various portable music devices available in the market, such as the Apple iPod, iPhone, and Android-based devices. The software also helps the user by categorizing the music collected by the user. By scanning the user’s hard drive, the software can add the user’s music files to the media player’s library and keep the library updated on any changes. Media Monkey can also support podcasts through Podcatcher, allowing users to subscribe and download it on media monkey.
You can download the software from the following link:
6. Inkscape
Inkscape is software to be able to create as well as edit vector images, including illustrations, logos, complex paintings, diagrams, etc. one unique feature about Inkscape is that while it can support pictures of various formats but the work of editing images occur under the graphics format od Scalable Vector Graphics or better known as SVG.
Under this software, you can create your images and shapes in the SVG format. Furthermore, the designed shapes, with rotation, scaling, and movement options, can be edited and transformed to suit specific needs. The software also supports image tracing, enabling the editor to create vector graphics from various sources, such as photos. It is often argued that Inkscape is better or adobe illustrator. Hence, to clear that point, the Inkscape software can do almost everything an editor can do in an illustrator.
Inkscape software has all the tools found in Adobe Illustrator, albeit under different names and headings. Although the illustrator can do a certain list of things, such as multiple strokes and fills for one object, it natively works with graphs based on data, which Inkscape cannot perform. But there are certain functions that Inkscape can perform but Illustrator cannot, like editing the SVG source directly, editing notes with a keyboard, etc.
You can install the Inkscape software on your Android phone to make your life easier and improve your editing accessibility, in addition to using it on your laptop or MacBook.
To download the Inkscape for your windows, you follow the following link:
And for the Mac OS:
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This has been a guide to Free Multimedia Software. Here we discussed basic concepts, importance, and characteristics, along with 6 free multimedia software in detail. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –
