WavePad Recommended App for Students

Dakinane provides support for schools to integrate information and communications technology into their classes and programs through staff training, facilitation and consultation services. Last week Dakinane featured WavePad on their website, looking specifically at the iOS version, saying that "this app can enable students to take recordings in the field or whilst roving around the school, great for podcasting etc." And since the audio recordings and edited audio are easy to email and share with other applications, the WavePad Audio Editing App can also be a stepping stone for embedding audio in wikis, blogs, websites or other learning management systems.

Watch the short video tour/review from Dakinane of WavePad's simple, but feature-packed interface below, and be sure to visit www.nch.com.au/wavepad for the cross platform Windows and Mac versions of this wonderful audio recording and editing program.

Top Video Converter Software

The editors at CNET recently took the time to review our Prism Video Converter. As they mention, digital videos are great until you run into one that you can't use or watch, which is when video converting software comes to the rescue. And what more could you look for in a converter than "a straightforward, efficient tool for video conversion," as the editors at CNET described Prism in their 5 star review, going on to say:

"Prism Video File Converter has an attractive, intuitive interface that we had no trouble figuring out ... Converting a video -- or batch of videos -- is as simple as navigating to the desired files, adding them to the list of files to convert, and selecting the desired output format."
� CNET

You can read the complete review of Prism Video Converter on download.com, or simply download Prism now so you are armed and ready for any video files that might come your way, no matter what format they are in.

Q is for Quick

NCH Software ABCs Series

If you are looking for a fast solution you have come to the right place. Just like our efforts to provide you with easy-to-use software, we are constantly striving to improve our programs so that they can get you up and running quickly. From speedy downloads, fast installations, quick start guides and wizards a lot of thought goes into getting you as close to the solution you were looking for in three minutes. For example, you can download any of our file converters and go from download to converted in minutes, if not seconds, because who has time to waste learning a program when what you really want is a file in a different format?

If you are not just looking for a fast solution but something that will speed up other day to day tasks we have a few programs that fit that bill as well. Take FastFox Text Expander Software, which allows you to set up your own shortcuts and macros to help you zip through typing or repeated tasks on your computer. Or any transcriptionist can tell you how much time they can save by using Express Scribe Transcription Playback Software when typing from an audio file, and that is just scratching the surface. For more Quick Software solutions be sure to check out the entire NCH Software collection.

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New Business Card Templates for CardWorks

If you are looking for an easy option for creating business cards for yourself or your company, your options just grew. We just added several new free business cards templates that you can download and use with CardWorks Business Card Software, which is also completely free. Combined with the ability to change the color scheme of any template within the CardWorks program, the range of possibilities these templates provide is multiplied, making it easy to find that perfect business card design you've been looking for. Check out all of the additional free business card templates to see what might be right for you.

Music Writing Software Gets MIDI Playback

Calling all musicians and aspiring composers: The newest release of Crescendo Music Notation Software (version 1.06) has a new feature that we are excited to introduce and that will help your musical compositions jump off the page. With the New MIDI Playback Feature, you can flip over to the Playback tab at any time and listen to your score to make sure all the notes are lining up the way you want, which can be a very satisfying feeling when you've been working away at putting down your musical score. You can even choose to Export MIDI to save a music file of your composition to share with others. We hope you will be as excited to take advantage of this new feature as we are, and will download or upgrade Crescendo Music Writing Software today.

5 Star Burning Software for Mac

There are a lot of choices when it comes to burning software these days, which is just one of the reasons that it is wonderful to see strong reviews like this one from BurnWorld.com, calling NCH's Express Burn "a great application, working fast, featuring the most important processes a user would want." Better yet that, while these experts clearly recognize and point out that "the interface is very easy to use," this review was from a previous release, before we made modifications to the interface to make the creation of DVDs and audio or MP3 CDs even easier. Along with other additions, including better DVD authoring with several included menu templates, and the ability to burn not only data to Blu-ray discs, but to burn your high-definition Blu-ray movies too.

You can read the complete review of Express Burn, and we encourage Mac and PC users alike to try all the burning features and see how easy burning software can be.

NCH Software Packages Fully Accessible to the Blind and Visually Impaired

Guest post by Craig Faris, President of Seeds of Promise International Child Welfare

This information does not apply to everyone, but for the blind and/or those using screen-reading software, I can save you a bit of time. I myself am totally blind, live in Canada, use Window-Eyes 7.5 as my screen-reader of choice, and recently tried Express Scribe. Much to my immense surprise and considerable delight, the software package is fully accessible to the blind, as every single option can be selected from ordinary text-based menus! In addition, the software uses ordinary dialogue boxes which can be fully read aloud with a screen-reader, and generally the software is fast and easy to use.

This simple fact is a rarity in today's graphics-based computing environment, where custom dialogue boxes, photo buttons, and other generally inaccessible programming methods are commonly employed to make the screen busy and appealing to sighted folks.

I have since tried some of NCH Software's business point-of-sale software, such as Copper, Inventoria, and Barillo, and these packages are all also easily used by a totally blind individual like myself!

Hats off to NCH Software for, perhaps inadvertently, making their lightning-fast, user-friendly software packages fully accessible to blind computer users.

Now all we need is for the POS software packages to somehow be linked together, or at least use a common database, and I can open my own storefront with 100% accessible software!