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Best Mac Program For ...

milesdavis

milesdavis

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2007
104
0
More switcher prep questions. Curious of Mac equivalent of the following:


Best Program For :

Burning/Recording DVD's + CD's -> I'm currently using the Nero family on my PC, is there a Mac Nero? Otherwise -- what would you recommend?

Burning LightScribe DVD Labels --> Currently using SureThing on the PC

BitTorrent -> Currently using BitComet on the PC

Basic FTp -> Currently using SmartFTP on PC


Thats it so far...still thinking.

Thanks again! MD
 
milesdavis said:
More switcher prep questions. Curious of Mac equivalent of the following:


Best Program For :

Burning/Recording DVD's + CD's -> I'm currently using the Nero family on my PC, is there a Mac Nero? Otherwise -- what would you recommend?

Burning LightScribe DVD Labels --> Currently using SureThing on the PC

BitTorrent -> Currently using BitComet on the PC

Basic FTp -> Currently using SmartFTP on PC


Thats it so far...still thinking.

Thanks again! MD
Click to expand...

1. iDvd, Toast

2. Not Sure

3. XTorrent

4. Transmit
 
milesdavis said:
More switcher prep questions. Curious of Mac equivalent of the following:


Best Program For :

Burning/Recording DVD's + CD's -> I'm currently using the Nero family on my PC, is there a Mac Nero? Otherwise -- what would you recommend?

Burning LightScribe DVD Labels --> Currently using SureThing on the PC

BitTorrent -> Currently using BitComet on the PC

Basic FTp -> Currently using SmartFTP on PC


Thats it so far...still thinking.

Thanks again! MD
Click to expand...


Burning/Recording DVD's + CD's -> Toast

Burning LightScribe DVD Labels --> Not sure, toast may be able

BitTorrent -> Transmission, or Azureus (though usually a resource hog)

Basic FTp -> Cyberduck
 
Thanks Everyone. I appreciate it!

How about this stuff:

Best Program For:

Converting video file types / Converting DVDs to IPod Video? I've used a program by Xilisoft that does the whole process within itself. I know Handbrake encodes, but will not let you back-up your copy protected discs [right?].

Protecting files/folders -- is there a program or is something inherent in OSX to allows you to hide/password protect/keep private files or folders, or is there a software solution?

File de-compression: What about zipping/unzipping/raring, etc?

ISO tools for disc images?


Thanks again, I know I will keep thinking of stuff. Trying to prepare myself before my mac arrives. MD
 
Maybe you are looking for more, but I am also a recent PC switcher and used both Winzip and winrar but so far I've been very satisfied with the basic Mac zip/unzip capability included with the OS--I haven't bothered to get anything else.

To add a bit more about ftp...
I did have a few issues with Coda--the html program I am using--it would always upload text files with a windows line break. No big deal in most cases but a very big deal with script files. Maybe I missed something but no matter how I looked at the options, the same result would occur.

Now I use Cyberduck as my main ftp program and really love it. It is simple, easy to configure and does everything I need to manage my web sites--and always gets the line breaks correct!
 
milesdavis said:
Thanks Everyone. I appreciate it!

How about this stuff:

Best Program For:

Converting video file types / Converting DVDs to IPod Video? I've used a program by Xilisoft that does the whole process within itself. I know Handbrake encodes, but will not let you back-up your copy protected discs [right?].

Protecting files/folders -- is there a program or is something inherent in OSX to allows you to hide/password protect/keep private files or folders, or is there a software solution?

File de-compression: What about zipping/unzipping/raring, etc?

ISO tools for disc images?


Thanks again, I know I will keep thinking of stuff. Trying to prepare myself before my mac arrives. MD
Click to expand...

One way to make Handbrake work with copy protected discs is by using Mac The Ripper first.

For file de-compression, look at MacPAR Deluxe, UnRAR X, Better Zip, and Split & Concat.
 
milesdavis said:
Thanks Everyone. I appreciate it!

How about this stuff:

Best Program For:

Converting video file types / Converting DVDs to IPod Video? I've used a program by Xilisoft that does the whole process within itself. I know Handbrake encodes, but will not let you back-up your copy protected discs [right?].

Protecting files/folders -- is there a program or is something inherent in OSX to allows you to hide/password protect/keep private files or folders, or is there a software solution?

File de-compression: What about zipping/unzipping/raring, etc?

ISO tools for disc images?


Thanks again, I know I will keep thinking of stuff. Trying to prepare myself before my mac arrives. MD
Click to expand...

Stuffit Expander will work fine for zipping, etc.

You can use the built in Disc Utility to mount disc images.

You can make password protected .dmg's through disc utility with 256 bit password protection. You can store folders, files, etc. in these images.
 
Some more programs to consider:

For rar files: RarExpander

For those pesky newsgroup files posted as wmv.001, wmv.002 etc use MacHacha to recombine the files after downloading (just drag file .001 to the icon and away you go--put the MacHacha or any other rar program icon in your sidebar for easy access.)

I use and love Cyberduck for ftp.

I use Toast 5 and love it (I have not found a need to update to Toast 8 or any version newer. 5 does all I need)

For torrents I have tried them all but so far I have found Macs tricky to get the same download speeds as a PC. There are lots of web sites with tricks to speed it up and I got it to work at one time but I don't download torrents much anymore because I found our Comcast speed vastly slowing down when I did so. I think uTorrent was working on a Mac version last I looked. Maybe it is done.

For setting up a DVD movie for an iPod, the EASIEST way is to use "Handbrake Lite." (NOT Handbrake) With this program you simply load the DVD, open the program, select the "dvd" button, then browse to where you want your movie saved (or if you don't it will create a "movie.mp4" on your desktop.) Then hit "rip" and voila! after a period of time you have a perfectly ripped movie in iPod size. It has worked for almost all my DVDs with the exception being a few pesky Sony/Columbia DVDs which have evil copy protection on them.
 
aaronw1986 said:
Stuffit Expander will work fine for zipping, etc.

You can use the built in Disc Utility to mount disc images.

You can make password protected .dmg's through disc utility with 256 bit password protection. You can store folders, files, etc. in these images.
Click to expand...

Ya, ive been trying to use disk utility but, it keeps saying the resource is busy. do you know any way to fix this?
 
Thanks again everyone. This thread should help alot of switchers.

I'm wondering, as far as torrents go -- what would the speed impact be of say, using vmware fusion to run windows for torrents in the background? Not sure what kind of impact running windows in Vmware has in general. I'm going to avoid using bootcamp and do this instead if at all possible.

Also -- what is a disc image? I've heard that mentioned a few times, use Disk Utility to create a disc image -- is it like a partition?

Thanks - MD
 
milesdavis said:
Thanks again everyone. This thread should help alot of switchers.

I'm wondering, as far as torrents go -- what would the speed impact be of say, using vmware fusion to run windows for torrents in the background? Not sure what kind of impact running windows in Vmware has in general. I'm going to avoid using bootcamp and do this instead if at all possible.

Also -- what is a disc image? I've heard that mentioned a few times, use Disk Utility to create a disc image -- is it like a partition?

Thanks - MD
Click to expand...

A disk image (.dmg) is just Mac's version of an ISO for Windows.
 
milesdavis said:
Converting video file types / Converting DVDs to IPod Video? I've used a program by Xilisoft that does the whole process within itself. I know Handbrake encodes, but will not let you back-up your copy protected discs [right?].
Click to expand...

iSquint/FFMPEGX/MacTheRipper


milesdavis said:
Protecting files/folders -- is there a program or is something inherent in OSX to allows you to hide/password protect/keep private files or folders, or is there a software solution?
Click to expand...

Encrypted disk images/file vault

milesdavis said:
File de-compression: What about zipping/unzipping/raring, etc?
Click to expand...

Built in/the Unarchiver.

milesdavis said:
ISO tools for disc images?
Click to expand...

Built in.
 
"I'm wondering, as far as torrents go -- what would the speed impact be of say, using vmware fusion to run windows for torrents in the background? Not sure what kind of impact running windows in Vmware has in general. I'm going to avoid using bootcamp and do this instead if at all possible."

Why on earth would you want to do this when Transmission works as well or better than uTorrent or anything else on windows. I download torrents every day with my Mac using transmission. There's no need to run windows just for that.

"Also -- what is a disc image? I've heard that mentioned a few times, use Disk Utility to create a disc image -- is it like a partition?"

On the Macintosh, these files are treated like a real disk. They can be created with Disk Copy, burnt to CD or mounted as a normal volume. If you have a .DMG file on a Windows PC it's likely you have a Macintosh file and you won't be able to use what is in it. Some sites distribute for the PC in an .EXE file and for the Mac in a .DMG file; make certain you have the version designed for your system. On a Windows PC the dmg2iso program will convert a .DMG file to an .ISO file which can then be burned to a CD or read using an .ISO file reader.
 
Thanks Agentphish and everyone. I'm keeping track of everyones answers here. I'm doing me pre-education as I await my MBP.

Here is another one. Anyone have an opinion of how Mail compares to say Mozilla Thunderbird? I'm currently using Thunderbird on my PC, and I'm wondering if can move my mail into Mac Mail, or just d/l Thunderbird for Mac and do it that way.

This thread has been great and very helpful. Thanks a bunch - MD
 
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