Like a lot of switchers, the first thing I did after purchasing my Mac was look around for good software. Here’s a list of my freeware picks that could save you from having to purchase expensive apps like DreamWeaver, Word and Final Cut Express.

KompoZer
KompoZer is an open source, cross platform WYSIWYG HTML and CSS editor built on NVU’s architecture. The developers call it NVU’s unofficial bug fix release, but it also has some added features. Worth noting is the site manager that syncs your offline files with the server’s copy, the included tools to clean up your source code and a syntax validator.

If you don’t want to pay for something like Dreamweaver, but would still like to code a site without HTML knowledge, KompoZer is a free option that’ll do the job. You can download it here.

Bean
Bean is a new word processor for the Mac that is still in beta. It joins the ranks of several other apps trying to steal the crown from Apple Pages or Microsoft Word. Bean’s power lies in that it’s a simple word processor that’s not overcomplicated, but is a tad more useful than TextEdit. It uses the same text engine as TextEdit, but has more features like word count, page breaks, autosaving, a mode for page layout, etc.

Bean’s developers say they don’t compare themselves to full-featured word processors like Microsoft Word, NeoOffice or AbiWord; instead, they aim to be the right tool for the job. I’ve downloaded just about every word processor for the Mac, and in my opinion, they were simply too clunky, too bloated, or had more features than I needed.

In my search for something lite that didn’t eat up precious resources, I ended up finding Bean, the word processor that has served me well. To read more about Bean or download it, visit the Bean website.

HyperEngine AV
Perhaps you’ve got a PowerPC Mac without sufficient horsepower to run Final Cut Pro or Express. Or the price tag could be miles away from your reach. You can of course use iMovie, but if you want another option to edit your video, try the free HyperEngine AV. It’s a non-linear video editor, and while the UI may not drop any jaws like a Dave Watanabe app, usability is HyperEngine’s strong point.

It has a simple drag and drop timeline interface with layers to add multiple videos, photos and audio. You can also import within the app or capture from a firewire camera. So you like that fancy crossfade effect, huh? Well, just overlap two videos on the timeline and they crossfade automatically. You can choose from over a dozen other transitions.

In addition to video, HyperEngine can also be used to create presentations and slideshows. Download HyperEngine AV at sourceforge.net.

TV Shows
Perhaps you’re not part of the Tivo generation yet, or you just don’t own a DVR. If you’ve got a Mac, a decent internet connection and don’t want to miss out on your favorite TV episodes, I’ve got your solution. TV Shows works with your torrent client to let you subscribe to various programs. When you launch TV Shows for the first time, you set which programs you want to subscribe to and select the video quality you desire.

The app runs a background process that checks for the latest shows, so there’s no need to launch it. When new episodes are available, TV Shows communicates with your torrent client and lets you automatically download and start watching Hasslehoff and Regis on America’s Got Talent in the comfort of your office chair.

We won’t discuss the legalities of “TiVo”-ing or bittorrent here. MacApper does not encourage copyright infringement; you do so at your own risk. Download it here.

Those are my picks. What are yours?

In the digital world, Sound Byte from Black Cat Software will emulate a cart machine right on your Mac. The cross-platform virtual cart machine is available in three flavors: Sound Byte Lite, Sound Byte and Sound Byte Pro. The difference between the three, besides price, is the amount of racks you can have. Each rack contains 75 carts that you can load up with any audio. The Lite version comes with one rack, regular comes with five and pro comes with 50 for up to 3,750 carts.

One of my favorite things about Sound Byte is it’s simplicity. It’s as simple as dragging and dropping your audio file on a cart in your rack and when you click on it, it plays. Click on it again and it stops. You can even overlap audio by starting one when another is already playing.

But overall, my favorite feature of Sound Byte is assigning carts to a key. As a podcaster producing a weekly show, I have begun using Sound Byte to cue up different audio elements including show intros and outros, promos, sweepers and any clips extracted from the web or radio. I assign each cart to a number on my keyboard in order of when it will be played on my show, so I can cue up the show intro by pressing the number one and so on.

I have tried several other applications for cueing up music including DJ-1800, separate Quicktime windows and even iTunes and none do quite the job that Sound Byte does.

Below is a list of other uses for Sound Byte:

¢ Radio Stations – jingles, advertisements, PSAs, songs, announcements, and more.
¢ Plays and radio/TV productions – perfect for playing sound effects.
¢ Sports events – play sound effects when a team scores, etc.
¢ Music collections – organize and easily play your songs.
¢ Ham radio – use for generating CQ calls, for contesting etc.

Sound Byte supports aiff, wav, au, mp3, aac and m4a audio formats and starts at $24 for the lite version. You can download a trial copy of Sound Byte to test out for yourself at Black Cat Systems

I've always been a fan of the old school console games, especially the NES. Before I made the switch to using a Mac about a year and a half ago, I used to enjoy playing different console emulators on my PC and reliving my youth through games like Super Mario Brothers, Contra, Tecmo Bowl and others.

So after my first couple of months as a Mac user, I went on the search for an emulator for the mac and found Nestopia. Nestopia is an open source cross-platform NES emulator, that was ported to OS X. I was using an older Mac and luckily, Nestopia only requires a minimum of 600mhz to run emulation at full speed.

Nestopia can play pretty much any NES roms out there and I downloaded most all of the roms corresponding to the game cartridges I owned and played as a child. Nestopia is great on the road on my Macbook. It’s great to play games on long trips or bus rides to pass the time. As far as gameplay, besides the smaller screen, it seems like I have an NES tucked away somewhere. As soon as you hear some of the sounds of these 8-bit classics, you’ll be glad you downloaded it.

One of the first things you should do after downloading the emulator and roms is to configure your keyboard. This can be accomplished by going to the “Joysticks” tab in preferences. There is also an option to download emulator enhancer to configure USB joysticks and gamepads to really relive the experience

Another feature for classic gamers is that you can enter game genie codes into Nestopia for cheats and hints. If you don't have any codes, you can find a directory by game at gamegenie.com. Best of all Nestopia is completely free, highly-recommended and available here. Game on!