The use of Multimedia today has expanded all the boundaries. The things that were impossible to do yesterday are very much possible today. Today it is difficult to imagine our life without the use of multimedia in you day to day. For example, a simple communication of idea that would have been cumbersome in the yesteryears and would require a lot of text and drawings can now be done quite simply by the preparation of a slideshow or a video. But what exactly does anyone really mean when they use the word multimedia?

Multimedia as the name suggest is the form of media which uses various different types of media to express the content such as text, animation, video etc. as opposed to the traditional form voicing opinion such as text only way of expressing. But to access the multimedia content of expression, you would want a specific kind of multimedia device such as an mp3 player, or a video player.  But now you don’t have to carry all those big hefty devices where ever you go if you have got just Software on your laptop or an app on your phone.

Characteristics of Multimedia

The basic invention of the technology has made our lives much simpler than it was before. And it has also made the previously boring experiences quite fun and engaging now.

Multimedia can be used in the presentations to make the presentations more fun and interesting. The multimedia presentation has various viewing options such as the projector or a media player and the like. You can also download the multimedia presentation or can play it live or on demand, according to your needs. The multimedia can also be used in games by making the gaming experience all the more effective and fun. The multimedia games make use of various special effects to create a whole new experience for the gamers.

The technology of multimedia can also be used to make the information be conveyed more easily to the users without much of hassle. And it will also help the users to make the information understand better.  But not only that, the multimedia technology can also make the experience of art more surreal by the use of various special effects. Just like the laser light show seen in various events. The show is not just mesmerizing and beautiful but also takes the use of technology to whole another level.

The multimedia technology has improved the learning experience by combining various different forms of media together. Imagine a boring monotonous college lecture where you are finding it really hard to concentrate your attention on the topic. And you wish that the lecture could be made more interesting by some or the other way. But unfortunately there is not such way. And this really hampers your learning capacity. But on the other hand imagine a lecture where you are taught the same topic with the help of various slideshows and videos of the real life situations. Will that not be more interesting and make you understand the topic much better, hence using multimedia to make the learning process much more fun and effective.  Who knew multimedia could make our life so much easier, and fun too.  And the multimedia technology cannot only be limited to the feature of seeing and learning but the invention of haptic technology makes the viewer even touch and feel and taste and smell the virtual objects making the multimedia experience even better.

Importance of Multimedia

The characteristics of multimedia have found its way in various fields of professional lines and hence have made its importance felt in the common world. Now it is difficult to imagine our world without the use of multimedia in various subjects of everyday importance.

The Multimedia Software can be found in the various fields of creative industries, entertainment, medicine, business and the list goes on.

The creative industries have the most demand for the professionals skilled in multimedia. An individual with special skills in multimedia can cater to a wide range of industries’ needs. The commercial use of the multimedia ranges from advertising to graphic designing as it helps the presenter in capturing the attention of his client. The use of multimedia to point across one’s point really helps in making sure that the message in well received and understood. Let’s not forget the really funny or the really moving advertisement that we saw on the T.V. or the really great sci-fi movie that you saw, all of it is multimedia at its best. The videogames that we have all played in the childhood are again, nothing but a great graphic designer at work.

Other than the entertainment industry, the multimedia has also found it way into the education industry by offering computer bas training programs. In this kind of training the learner not only has to go through the text books on the particular topic but can refer to the fun way of learning through various presentation and illustrations. The use of multimedia in the education sector has helped the teachers and the academicians to improve upon the learning of the students and has helped them in making the class more interactive and providing the students not only with the theoretical knowledge but also practical skills. And the best part about the use of multimedia in the education sector is that the teacher does not necessarily have to be there. The teacher can create the environment for the students’ better learning and make the session interactive by sitting someplace else other than the classroom. Isn’t it great!

But why limit the scope of the multimedia to just these sectors when you can tap more into it and get unlimited benefits from the new technology discovered. The multimedia technology can also be found in journalism where as opposed to the traditional methods of news reporting, this new media has opened several new venues and opportunities for the journalist to put across their stories. And not just the professionals but also the common people can now share their stories across various platforms and make their voice heard. And due to this, there has been advent of a new kind of journalism called the freelance journalism. This has just opened a new gateway of opportunities for various people around the globe.

From engineers to the mathematician, the industrialist to the scientist, everyone has found a use of multimedia and this has made their life fairly simple. Now it has become much easier for them to communicate their ideas and goals to the stakeholders, to develop comprehensive training programs to the trainees, to help in the solving of the most difficult of the problems and also to help formulate news chemical reactions and their effects and help them in curing various diseases which were incurable before. What more could we have asked for!

Free Multimedia Software

There is a variety of multimedia software available for free for the use of the public in general and the professionals as well. While some of these multimedia  software that can be used in your phones as well in the form of apps, whereas some other software are only limited to your laptops. But nonetheless, the software is the best that you can have for your needs. Few of the software that is available are as follows:

Picasa

Picasa is excellent multimedia software for the viewing, organizing, and editing of the pictures in your laptop. While providing all these services, one other service given provided by this software is that you can create an album of your own digital pictures and share them with your loved ones as well. Originally created by the Lifescape Company, it was later on bought by google and hence was provided for free. The software of Picasa was originally devised for windows XP, vista, 7 and Mac OS X only. But later on google teamed up with Wine to make the software available for Linux as well. However the Linux versions of the software of so out of date that it might not include many of the special features of the multimedia software.

Steps to download Picasa on your system:

• Step 1: log on to the webpage of Picasa in order to be able to download the latest version of the multimedia software. The webpage will automatically judge the operating system used by your system and hence suggest the version accordingly.
• Step 2: once you have downloaded the latest version of the software then open the .exe file downloaded by your laptop in case you are using windows operating system. But if you have the operating system of Mac OS X then you will have to double click the Picasa disc image that appears on your desktop once the download is complete.
• Step 3: when you open the .exe file then a window will pop up showing the terms and condition of the agreement and click on the option of I agree, in case of windows operating system. In case of the Mac operating system, drag the Picasa icon to the application folder to continue the process of downloading of Picasa on your laptop.
• Step 4: after agreeing to the terms and conditions of the software license, the installation dialogue box will appear and you can choose where you want to store the multimedia software dump. And after choosing the location, you can finally click on the install button to finally set the ball rolling. In case of Mac, you need to transfer the mounted drive and “picasamac.dmg” disc image to the trash so as to be able to completely download the software
• Step 5: in the windows operating system, when the installation is complete, then click on the finish button and the icon of Picasa will appear on your desktop. And hence you are ready to scan all your pictures and store them in one place for easy access. In case of Mac operating system, you need to open Picasa from the applications folder, this will launch the Picasa and hence you can use the multimedia software to your liking and edit images and share them with whomever you want to.

And not only this, while you can manage your images on the laptop and have easy access to them, your android phone cannot be devoid of this excellent software and hence you can also download a Picasa app for your android phone, windows phone and your iPhone. This makes the software even more likeable and even a bigger hit among the masses.

VLC media player

VLC media player as the name suggests is the platform where you can play your videos and audios for free. This was developed by a company named videoLAN project.  The VLC is not only limited to your laptops and desktops and MacBook but can also be used in you android phone, windows phone, iPad, iPhone and iPod for free and can be downloaded easily from the app store of your respective device. And that is not it about the much talked about media player, the media player can support all kinds of formats of the audio and the video. So you don’t have to worry if your video is not a particular format because you can in any case play it in the VLC media player without much of a hassle.

And the best part about this multimedia software is that it is absolutely free. That means you can download it for free without having to get into all the complications of the trial version of it. And the latest version of this software has got some amazing features such as it can auto rotate the video that had been shot at weird angle or if you happen to stop a video in the middle, then the next time you play, you won’t have to start from the beginning and it can just resume your video from where you left. You can also very easily add subtitles to your video, all you have to do is add an SRT file to the folder where your video is saved and the next time you play the video, you will also have subtitles along with it.

Apart from these features, you can also very easily convert your video format in the VLC player. And also there are various shortcuts available for the VLC player which makes your video viewing experience on VLC much easier.

You can download the software from the following link for free with any hassle:

VLC Player

Windows movie maker

Windows movie maker is the software for the people who love to edit their videos. This was developed by the Microsoft Company under the name of Sundance. Being a part of the windows essential multimedia software, this software not only helps in making and editing the video but also allows you to publish those videos on OneDrive, Facebook, and YouTube etc.

The editing of the video in the software is fairly easy. You can place the video to be edited anywhere on the timeline and then split it, duplicate or reposition it as per your liking. Also there are some pre-defined editing styles included in the software which helps you to make your video all the more attractive and interesting. But if you worry that the multimedia software will modify your original video then there is no need to worry. The video editing software will only create a duplicate of the original video along with the changes that you put in, keeping the original video unharmed and unchanged. This not only saves your video from being damaged but also helps you create various different versions of the same video as per your liking.

The earlier versions of the software did not give you the liberty of saving the file in the profile of your desire and you could only export the video in some pre-defines format. But now that problem has also been solved and now you can save the video in whatever format as you wish.

You can download the movie maker from the official Microsoft website:

Windows Media Player

in this you will have to download the whole windows essential folder which will not only include the movie maker software but also various other software for your use such the OneDrive software etc. and the versions of the windows media player are divided according to the windows version that you are operating. But unfortunately, this multimedia software in only limited to you desktop and cannot be operated on your android phones.

For the Mac OS users, they can download the movie maker from the following link:

Moviemaker

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop was developed by the adobe systems for the raster graphics editing designed for the windows system and the Mac OS. The software has created a niche for itself in the editing world. The word Photoshop has created a place for itself and is now even used a verb many times. It is one of its kind software and is able to edit raster images using multiple layers. The multimedia software not only supports various graphic file formats but it also has its own file format under the name of PSB and PSD, and also supports all the features mentioned above.  Although the Photoshop itself supports many features besides the raster graphics such as the vector graphics, 3D graphics and video but if the editor wants then he can expand the purview of the features offered by the software by installing the Photoshop plug-ins. These have been developed independently of Photoshop and also distributed independently but can work effectively well in the main Photoshop software and offer a whole new range of features for the software and the editor.

Earlier the naming of the various versions of the software were based on the number but in October 2002, the system changed due to the introduction of creative suit and hence the new versions of Photoshop were assigned the abbreviation of CS along with a numerical number such as Photoshop CS, Photoshop CS1, Photoshop CS2 and so on. Other than that, the versions from CS3 to CS6 also had different editions namely standard and extended edition.

But to download the adobe Photoshop, you will have to buy it online from the official website of the developer. But fret not editors, there is a free trial version for you to download so as to be able to use it first and see if it suits your needs and then buy the full version of the software. For the free trial version the editors will have to register yourself up on the adobe website according to your skill level and they will provide with the trail version of the software suitable to your needs.  Also the adobe Photoshop is only computer based and unfortunately cannot be operated on your mobile phones.

The following is the link from where you can get the free trial version of the Photoshop:

Adobe Photoshop

Media monkey

Developed by Ventis Media Inc., the software was developed for the organization and playing of the audio of the windows operating system. But by adding various plug-in available, the mediamonkey software can also be used to view and handle various videos and other media formats available. Although the basic software is a free multimedia software or as it is generally called, as a freeware but if you want some additional features in the software such as the ability to handle various multiple media and automatic organization of the files then you will have to pay extra for the premium gold license. But other than that, both the editions of the software are strikingly similar such as the skin options offered and the third-party plug-in option available to extend the use of the software.

The editing of the audio files helps the user in changing the format of the audio file in to the format most accepted. It also helps in burning the files on the CD and if the need be then the user can also lower the volume level of the audio according to his wish. And the software also supports various music formats such as the MP3, AAC, OGG, WMA, MPC, WAV, FLAC and APE. The volume level of the audio can also be easily adjusted by the use of plug-ins called ReplayGain and MP3Gain.

The multimedia software also has the option of syncing the music files with the various portable music devices available in the market such as the Apple iPod, iPhone and various android based devices. The software also helps the user by categorizing the music collecting of the user. By scanning the hard drive of the user, the software is able to add the music files of the user into the media player’s library and also keep the library updated of any changes. The mediamonkey is also able to support the podcasts through the podcatcher and hence allow the user to subscribe the podcast and download it on media monkey.

The software can be downloaded from the following link:

Media Monkey

Inkscape

Inkscape is a software so as to be able create as well as edit the vector images including the illustrations, the logos, the complex paintings, the diagrams etc. one unique feature about inkscape is that while it can support the images of various formats but the work of editing the images occur under the graphics format od Scalable Vector Graphics or better known as SVG.

Under this software, you can create your own images and shapes under the SVG format. Also these created shapes can be further subjected to editing and transformation and can also be given various movements such as rotating, scaling, moving etc. it also helps the editor to create vector graphic from various sources such as the photos as it supports the function of image tracing. It is often argued that if inkscape is better or adobe illustrator. Hence to clear that point, the inkscape software can do almost all the things that an editor can do in illustrator. Although under different names and different heads, but the inkscape software is equipped with all the tools that are present in the adobe illustrator. Although there are certain list of things that the illustrator can do such as the multiple strokes and fills for one object, natively work with graphs based on data, which the inkscape cannot perform. But there are certainly some functions that the inkscape can perform but the illustrator cannot perform like editing the SVG source directly, edit notes with keyboard etc.

The inkscape software can not only be used on your laptop or you MacBook but can also be installed on your android phone to make your life easy and you editing better and easily accessible.

To download the inkscape for your windows, you follow the following link:

Inkspace Windows

And for the Mac OS:

Inkspace Mac

The post 6 Best Free Multimedia Software appeared first on eduCBA.