Great Free Software for Writers, Photographers, Musicians, etc.

Because I need to do certain things online and I have no money, I have discovered a world of really excellent free software. People spend large amounts of money to get programs that are not one bit better than these are.  I thought I would share some of my new favorites with you.

Audacity Music Editing Software

http://www.cdearth.com/audacity-music-editor.htm

Record, analyze, apply effects, mix, do all sorts of things with sound. I got this one while taking the Certified Paranormal Investigator Training; we use to to analyze EVP's (electronic voice phenomena,) but obviously, a musician could put it to much more use than I've explored so far.

Infranview Picture Manager

http://2008-official.com/irfanview/

View, edit, and convert files, play videos, etc.  I got this one during the CPI training, too. We use it for analyzing possibly paranormal images, but it can do many amazing things, adding photo effects, resizing, and much more that, again, I've not yet explored.

PDF 995

http://www.pdf995.com/download.html

Create .pdfs of any document for free. I use this for my books. This is an absolutely fabulous free program that has saved me so much money. I can convert my Word docs to .pdf files and send them to Lulu or CreateSpace, or to reviewers or friends, and it doesn't cost me a penny.

PagePlus Desktop Publishing

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/PagePlus/default.asp

I just got this one yesterday; Doug Kelley, co-founder of ParaNexus,  recommended it as a great program for Desktop Publishing.  We use it to design pages for the ParaNexus journal (headers, etc.,) but you can use it for creating brochures, posters, postcards, business cards, calendars, and more.

Skype

http://www.skype.com

Skype is an amazingly useful program that allows you to call from computer to computer for free, as long as the other person also has Skype. With a webcam and a microphone, you can talk to and see each other, too, or there's a chat feature. Doug and I use this to talk from Florida to Georgia and work on the magazine. We can send files back and forth in a matter of seconds, too. And it's all completely free!

And, finally,

Microsoft Office Live

http://www.officelive.com

I have not set up a website for myself in Office Live yet, but I do have a domain name there and I intend to, soon. I have set up two business sites for friends in Office Live, and this absolutely free program makes it extremely easy to create very professional-looking websites with no knowledge of HTML whatsoever.

So there you are: I hope some of these will be of help to some of you.