5 Programs for Creating and Recording Music (Open Source / Free)

Here are some free programs for working with digital audio and music:

Audacity - Powerful audio recording tool and editing tool

LMMS - Digital audio work station. Create synthetic music and rhythms.

Ardour - Digital audio work station. Record. Edit. Multiple tracks...

Mixxx - Digital DJing software for mixing music

Spek - Audio file spectrogram viewer, for spotting quality issues.

Music and Song Writing Software (Open Source / Free)

Here are some tools for creating sheet music and composing songs (and working with midi files)

Tux Guitar -

Guitar tablature and sheet music composition tool Muse Score -

Sheet music composition tool

Lily Pond -

Sheet music engraving tool (command line only) Denemo -

Sheet music composition tool

Hydrogen -

Pattern based drum beat creator

Best 2D Animation Programs
(Open Source / Free)

Here are some of the best free 2D animation programs available:
Inkscape - 2D Illistration program similar to Adobe Illistrator
Pencil - Simple 2D frame by frame animation creator
Tupi - More Advanced 2D frame by frame animation creator
Scratch - Simple and fun animation and game creator
Synfig Studio - Very advanced 2D animation creator

Best Digital Photo Editing Software (Open Source / Free)

Here are some free programs that are good for working with digital photography.
Gimp - Bitmap Image Editor Similar to Photoshop
ufRaw - Can view and edit several RAW image formats
digiKam - Photo and Image Managment Program
Photo Rec - Command Line Tool for Recovering Deleted Images
Green Shot - Program that can capture screen shots and windows

Best Video Encoding, Ripping, and Burning Software / Free)

Here are some free programs for working with optical discs:
Handbrake - Capable of ripping and trans-coding CDs and DVDs.
VLC Media Player - Capable of ripping CDs and DVDs.
Media Coder - Audio and Video trans-coding tool.
Infra Recorder - Disc burning tools, including images, audio, video, and data.
WinCDemu - A virtual CD/DVD drive emulator for windows. Can mount ISO images.

Best Free Software (1 of 3)

This is part 1 of a 3 part video. This is a very quick introduction of 120 computer programs that are free to download and use. If you'd like to see any of the programs up close and in action, check out some of my other videos where I do a more detailed review of each, as well as some instructions and tutorials..

Best Free Software (2 of 3)

This is part 2 of a 3 part video... This is a very quick introduction of 120 computer programs that are free to download and use. If you'd like to see any of the programs up close and in action, check out some of my other videos where I do a more detailed review of each, as well as some instructions and tutorials.

Best Free Software (3 of 3)

This is part 3 of a 3 part video. This is a very quick introduction of 120 computer programs that are free to download and use. If you'd like to see any of the programs up close and in action, check out some of my other videos where I do a more detailed review of each, as well as some instructions and tutorials.