Best Free Stuff

[pEZ]

I'm sure this thread must have been covered some time in the past, but I have to ask the question:

In your opinion, what is the best (or coolest) piece of freeware/shareware that you've found for Mac OS X?

For me, I'd have to say Cocktail, even though it's just a GUI interface for Unix tasks - it keeps me away from the terminal, and best of all, it's free.

In a close second is FuzzyClock. I can't really explain it, you just have to try it. If you speak l33t, jive, or any other language under the sun, this is the clock for you.

As for shareware, I'd highly recommend iBank to replace Quicken, if all you do is follow simple finances like me. Great UI.

Make sure you link the stuff you recommend, so others can partake in your findings!

 

[irmongoose]

The all-time best shareware is definitely LaunchBar. It truly changes the way you navigate apps, files, websites, and even email addresses.

Speed Download is also a fairly useful piece of shareware. It actually does speed up downloads quite a bit... downloading the same file directly in Safari and in Speed Download, there was about a 100~150k/sec difference. Not bad in my opinion.

VLC, or Video LAN Client is the best media player for non-Mac files, such as AVIs. It also does a great job playing Video CDs, which the Apple DVD Player fails to do. And best of all, it's freeware.

DVD Cache, a relatively new DVD database app, is the first OS X freeware app that looks up information at IMDB.com so you don't have to fill out all the details yourself. It even downloads a picture of the cover for you. All you have to do is type in the name of the DVD and click Search, and it downloads all the info for you. By far the easiest way to catalog your DVDs.




irmongoose

 

[sparkleytone]

Cocktail and uControl.
oh and adium2

 

[jimthorn]

Audio Hijack Pro (shareware) - "hijacks" the outgoing audio stream from any app and can perform real-time effects to it (filters, boost levels, etc) and can record to a file (mp3 or aiff) if you want. Great for enhancing and ripping streaming audio like RealOne, and I use it for boosting the volume level on DVD Player on my iBook sometimes too.

Budget (shareware) - Intuitive and very Mac-like personal finance program. If you like the iTunes/iPhoto interface, you'll feel right at home with this app. I've been using this for almost a year now on a daily basis and it's just what I need for this task. And the customer service is excellent -- they've added several functions to the program just because I asked for them!

 

[MacBandit]

GraphicConverter is the all time best shareware program of any type I have ever come across. It is a graphics conversion program and so much more.

PDF Browser Plugin by schubertit has got to be one of the handiest things I have come across in a long long time. Being able to view the PDF in the browser prior to downloading is priceless and saves me a lot of time because I don't have to track down the downloaded file and delete it especially when I click on a link and didn't realize it was a PDF until after it downloaded. Then you normally have to open it. With this plugin it just loads in the browser and you can view it like you're using a PDF program.

 

[Billicus]

I think that Carbon Copy Cloner is a great piece of donationware. It allows you to create bootable Os X backups to other external, internal, or networked drives. It even allows scheduling of backups for when your not at the computer or otherwise.