Hardware and Software

Note: I personally know Mac tools, not Windows.

Software for Audio and Images

Mac only

iPhoto’s slide show function can support a soundtrack

iMovie – works for still images as well as video

MemoryMiner  designed to be very easy to use, for personal/family memory.  Allows the viewer to navigate through the materials in a variety of ways.

Mac or Win

Soundslides  easy, cheap, not very powerful but pretty good

Final Cut Pro X  NOT backward-compatible with earlier versions of Final Cut Pro.  Designed to be much easier to use than earlier versions. Reviews are mixed. Earlier Final Cute Pro is no longer available.

Adobe Premiere Pro   Powerful. Steep learning curve.

iPhone or iPad only

Blurb Mobile  A mobile app from Blurb.

 

Books and e-Books

Blurb is a popular and well-respected system for publishing photos books and e-books.  Blurb Mobile and support for making, sharing, and carrying with you e-books for the iPhone and iPad.  They also support Instagram books and Facebook books.  Blurb is a popular and well-respected system for publishing photos books. Recently they’ve added a mobile app and support for making, sharing, and carrying with you e-books for the iPhone and iPad.  They also support Instagram books and Facebook books.  The iPad ebooks are a terrific way to carry and present your work.

 

Audio

transom.org: Overall excellent source for info on audio, including reviews of tools: “channels new work and voices to public radio and public media. We offer tools, advice, and community. We focus on the power of story and the ways public media can be useful in a changing media environment.”

Audio Recording Software

From Air-L list — this is now a couple of years old.

Subject: Re: [Air-L] How to record online video interviews (audio andvideo)?Dear all I want to thank you all for sharing your experiences about using different
technologies for recording online synchronous interviews. Some of you asked me to summarise and share the collective knowledge concerning the usage of different technologies. Below you find a list with mentioned tools:

– Supertintin

– Audio Hijack Pro.

– Call Recorder

– Power Gramo

– Audacity

– Snapz Pro.

– ScreenFlow

– Adobe Connect (built in technology for recording)

– Vodburner

– Callburner

Montathar Faraon shared a link to a list where 16 applications are listed (9 for PC, 4 for Mac and 3 for iPhones and iPads):
http://www.voip-sol.com/15-apps-for-recording-skype-conversations/

Audio Recording Hardware and Software

Livescribe Smartpen  I use it. It works.

Hindenburg has a recording app for iPhone. Android?

 

 

Audio Editing Software

Mac Garage Band: some pros I know swear by it.

I prefer Audacity – free download for Mac and Windows.

Hindenburg  the one I use — powerful and easy.   30-day trial version.   For Mac and PC.  The manual isn’t detailed, but there are excellent tutorials on YouTube.

 

Transcribing

The only foolproof tool that I know of is Nuance’s voice recognition software: Dragon Naturally Speaking (for Windows) and Dragon Dictate (for Mac).  Neither can take raw input from interviews.  You have to (later) repeat entire interview into the software.  But it works.

Photography

Organizing and Editing Software

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.  Mac and Win. Leaves everything else in the dust.  Both amateurs and pros use it. Free trial. Academic discount.  Campus bookstore usually has it.  Make sure you get version 4!

Video Editing

Unclassifiable

Popcorn:   “Popcorn makes video work like the web. We create tools and programs to help developers and authors create interactive pages that supplement video and audio with rich web content, allowing your creations to live and grow online.”  (I haven’t tried.)

Editing software

iMovie – simple and not very powerful. Easy to learn, but gets annoying fast if you have much to do.

Windows Live Movie Maker

Final Cut Pro – the generally preferred editor.  No longer available. For a while it was available if you PHONED for it — not ordered online. Don’t know if it still is.

Final Cut X- professionals, in particular, are outraged over the new Final Cut X which has eliminated some of the features of Final Cut Pro and is not backwards compatible.

Adobe Premiere Pro – the other (hard to learn, powerful) favorite, along with Final Cut Pro. Available free via campus agreement with Adobe 2011-12.  Some Final Cut Pro users are switching to Adobe Premiere Pro rather than Final Cut X.

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