Adobe Reader

Freeware

Current Version: 7.1.0 (May 12, 2008) / 8.1.3 (November 5, 2008) / 9.1.2 (June 10, 2009)

Adobe Reader (formerly Acrobat Reader) is the industry standard tool for reading and interacting with PDF (Portable Document Format) files (although Mac OS X's built-in "Preview" application handles the vast majority of PDFs with aplomb).

The version 8.1.3 update addresses a number of customer workflow issues and security vulnerabilities while providing more stability. These issues are described in detail in the online release notes.

While version 9.1.2 - the latest release for Mac OS X 10.4.11 and later - addresses a critical security vulnerability, version 9.0 added/changed the following:

• Improved launch speeds - Looking for faster launch speeds? Adobe has enhanced general performance and, in particular, has reduced launch times with Adobe Reader 9. Try it: You'll notice the difference.
• PDF Portfolios - Packages, introduced in Adobe Reader 8, have been greatly enhanced and renamed. Portfolios provide easy navigation when you work with multiple PDF documents and other document types. They also enable you to work with a collection of materials such as drawings, e-mail messages, spreadsheets, and videos as a single file, which makes distribution, storage, retrieval, and collaboration easy for end users.
• Native Adobe Flash support - Adobe Reader 9 can natively display rich media content, which you'll notice immediately with Portfolios. Interested in viewing SWF and FLV files? Adobe Reader 9 is the answer.
• Acrobat.com (beta) - Included with Adobe Reader 9 is Acrobat.com (beta), an exciting new set of online services from Adobe. With Acrobat.com, you can create PDF files online; create and coauthor documents with others; host live web meetings; upload and share PDF files and other types of documents and control who has access to them; and even embed a rich, interactive preview of your document in a web page. All of these services and more are provided online, so you can access them from anywhere. And you'll find easy access points from within Reader 9. As an added convenience, Acrobat.com leverages Adobe AIR, so you can interact with Acrobat.com from your desktop. Acrobat.com on Adobe AIR is a small application that is included with your download of Adobe Reader 9. Available in select languages. Learn more
• Improved CAD and geospatial functionality - CAD and geospatial functionality have been greatly enhanced in Adobe Reader 9. For instance, CAD designs or geospatial maps that have been converted to PDF offer Adobe Reader users access to CAD features, such as dimensions, or map features, such as longitude and latitude, for powerful collaboration and interaction.
• PDF Standards Pane - When a PDF/A or PDF/X standard compliant file is opened, a Standards Pane appears and provides important file details.
• Security enhancements - Adobe Reader 9 provides new digital signature functionality for an improved user experience. The new version also adds support for 256-bit AES encryption.
• Accessibility enhancements - Adobe Reader 9 significantly improves the viewing of XFA forms for accessibility, while providing greater screen reader support.
• Adobe Reader 9 MUI - Adobe Reader 9 MUI is Adobe's Multilingual User Interface version. This product is capable of installing any combination of supported languages. So, for example, you can install French, German, and Spanish simultaneously and then have the capability to switch among those languages within Adobe Reader. The user interface changes to the appropriate language on the fly.

Version 9 is for Mac OS X 10.4.11 and higher; version 8 is for Mac OS X 10.4.3 and higher; version 7 is for Mac OS X 10.2.2 and higher. Version 4.05 is available for OS 7.5.3 - 8.5; version 5.05 is available for OS 8.6 - 9.0; and version 5.1 is available for OS 9.1 - 10.2.1. All of these downloads are available at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

Decoder

Shareware; $20

Current Version: 4.0.4 (March 31, 2008)

Decoder is a favorite UU- / Base64 / yEnc decoder for many people, which includes such niceties as built-in picture previewing. Version 4.0 was a major overhaul, adding and improving the following:

• Adds support for ZIP, TAR, GZ, and Tarball formats.
• Improves decoding of corrupted MIME messages.
• Fixes some bugs on Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger."
• Improves the registration code.
• Improves installers.

Version 4.0.4 adds the following:

• There is a minor bug fix for handling corrupt Mac OS X Zip archives.

DivX

See text.

Current Version: Player 5.1.1 (February 2, 2004) / Player 5.2.1 (October 26, 2004) / Complete Package 7.0 (July 21, 2008: Decoder 6.8 / Encoder 6.8 / Player 7.0 / Converter 1.3)

The basic DivX package consists of a free decoder plugin for QuickTime that runs on Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X (Carbon), allowing Mac users to create, distribute and watch full-screen, DVD quality video, offering a very high level of compression with advanced encoding tools and interlaced video support. DivX Video is available in free and "Pro" ($19.95) editions, the latter including a more recent version of the encoder/decoder - providing more advanced features and better performance - and includes support for MP3 encoding.

Version 7.0 - the latest release of the combo QuickTime Decoder / Encoder / Player / Web Player for Mac OS X - adds/changes the following:

• Lets you create and play full HD H.264 (MKV) videos.

Flash Player

Freeware

Current Version: 7.0.73.0 (December 18, 2007) / 10.0.22.87 (February 25, 2009)

Adobe's Flash Player is perhaps the most ubiquitous Web browser plug-in of all, allowing you to view all kinds of nice interactive animations many people have produced for their Web sites.

Version 7 is the final version of Flash Player that will be produced for "Classic" Mac OS. Starting with the release of the December 18, 2007 security bulletin, APSB07-20, Adobe is discontinuing support of Adobe Flash Player 7 and will no longer provide security updates. Adobe recommends that all Flash Player users on supported systems update to the most recent version of the player through the Flash Player Download Center. Adobe's support policy for Flash Player is to support the current and previous major release. Flash Player 7 was updated with security fixes as a courtesy to customers on Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft NT, and Macintosh Classic operating systems, and for Linux and Solaris customers prior to the availability of Flash Player 9.

Version 10.0.22.87 (the latest release for Mac OS X) includes the following new features:

• Adobe Flash Player 10.0.22.87 provides the ability to grant or deny access to AV device equipment from the Flash player based on 'deny all,' except for a specified whitelist of domains, via the MMS.cfg file. Flash Player 10.0.22.87 includes security enhancements described in Security Bulletin APSB09-01 The following issues have been fixed in Flash Player 10.0.22.87:
• Flash Player 10 crashes in IE7 due to the use of a dynamic TextField as a mask on another display object when the field set to anti-alias for readability.
• Fix: A sound stream error #2032 will cause the playback of a separate stream to stop playback.
• Fix: Japanese text mojibake (garbled) at Input Text in Flash 5 swf.
• Fix: Ming created file does not play in Flash Player 10 in any browser.
• Fix: FileReference.save() can save invalid Windows filename like "sticky." so users are never able to delete.
• Fix: Setting bitmap width/height before super() crashes player.
• Fix: Audio is scratchy with static/streamed with sample rate greater than 44kHz.
• Fix: Seeking H264 video on the first few frames causes IE to crash.
• Fix: Fullscreen in Flash Player 10 hangs with Flex 3 horizontal slider.
• Fix: Matrix3D AS3 class implementation is difficult to use for general math.
• Fix: The Origin header should be put on the banned headers list.
• Fix: Using drawingAPI2 in certain conditions when the Shape is not yet on the displayList can crash.
• Fix: Adding 2 vectors with float4 input and output produces incorrect result.
• Fix: Attempting to install to a non-C:\ drive results in 'lack of disk space' error.
• Fix: AS APIs' inconsistent handling of NaN parameters on different platforms.
• Fix: SampleDataEvent playback in IE7 window crashes browser when new Flash window displayed.
• Fix: When receiving multiple speex audio streams, audio may be garbled.
• Fix: When the end of a video is reached at certain websites, IE crashes instead of showing the next frame.
• Fix: UIA mistakenly over-enforced in previous release.
• Fix: Japanese characters are mojibake when they are entered into an input text filed on the Mac Player.

Flip4Mac WMV

Freeware

Current Version: 2.2.3.7 (June 10, 2009)

Flip4Mac WMV (also described by Microsoft as "Windows Media Components for QuickTime by Flip4Mac"), enables you to play Windows Media files (.asf, .asx, .wma, and .wmv) directly in QuickTime Player and view Windows Media content using your Web browser. Flip4Mac WMV has been highly optimized for Power Mac G4 and G5 computers and supports playback of high-definition Windows Media video files. The components work quite a bit more smoothly than the dedicated Windows Media Player software - offering not just smoother playback, but much greater levels of customization and control - and are highly recommended.

Note:In January 12, 2006, Microsoft officialy stopped development of Windows Media Player software for the Mac. Versions 2.0 and later of Flip4Mac are now provided free of charge, and the software is distributed (and essentially endorsed) by Microsoft as well. Therefore, the future of Windows Media on the Mac lies in these Flip4Mac components. Luckily, they are very good indeed.

By purchasing an upgrade for Flip4Mac, you can import Windows Media files for editing and create Windows Media files for distribution.

Flip4Mac WMV supports the following audio and video codecs:

• Windows Media Audio 9
• Windows Media Audio 9 Professional
• Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless
• ISO MPEG Layer 3 (MP3)
• Microsoft G.726
• Microsoft IMA ADPCM
• Microsoft G.711 aLaw
• Microsoft G.711 uLaw
• Microsoft ADPCM
• Windows Media Video 9 Advanced Profile
• Windows Media Video 9
• Windows Media Video 8
• Windows Media Video 7
• ISO MPEG-4, versions 1.0 and 1.1
• Microsoft MPEG-4, versions 2 and 3
• Microsoft Motion JPEG

Version 2.2.3.7 adds/changes the following:

• Fixed hang when exporting files with a high Quality setting
• Added warning when attempting to open a DRM protected file
• Improvements to wording and tool tips in Preference Pane
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

Flip4Mac WMV requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, as well as QuickTime 7.1.6 or later.

GraphicConverter

Shareware; $30

Current Version: 6.4.2 (May 29, 2009)

GraphicConverter allows you to open, edit and convert almost any graphic format that exists. It's amazing, powerful (a poor man's Photoshop--really), and very, very fast.

Version 6.4.2 adds the following new features:

• GPS tagging supports NMEA data files as input (in addition to GPX) (UB)
• GPS tagging supports multiple log files from a folder (UB)
• Combine folder into one PDF added to convert & modify (UB)
• Import of Photostudio added (UB)

Version 6.4.2 updates the following features:

• Curve support to batch conversion added (UB)
• Line drawing supports now arrows at both ends
• Concat supported now multiple files (UB)
• E-mail image function supports batch actions for manpulation before e-mail (UB)
• Levels support change of all frames (UB)
• Find and replace supports change of all frames (UB)
• JPEG save as options dialog improved
• Back and forward in slideshow remembers the last file for random slideshow (UB)
• Lsm import improved (UB)
• Detail window supports now 50% and 25% (UB)
• Support for a special bmp variant added (UB)

Version 6.4.2 makes the following bug fixes:

• Bug in display iPhoto folder with & symbol fixed (UB)
• Bug in JPEG2000 preview with option max filesize fixed (UB)
• Bug in get zoomed property by AppleScript fixed (UB)
• Not appearing IPTC data fixed (UB)
• Not looping slideshow fixed (UB)
• Bug in ruler display with inch fixed (UB)
• Invert command sets the changed files (UB)
• Bug in export of PSD files with ICC profile fixed
• Bug in get IPTC caption... command with unicode fixed (UB)
• Cut command replaces the empty area now with the background color (UB)
• MrSID import crash with grayscale files fixed (UB)
• Levels bug with 8 bit palette images fixed (UB)
• Exif/iptc display bug fixed in the browser (UB)
• Possible threading cras in browser during slideshow fixed (UB)
• Copy/paste issues fixed (UB)
• UTF8 bug in iptc export fixed (UB)
• Bug in texttool with delete background fixed (UB)
• Find/replace bug with 16 bit images fixed (UB)
• Possible crash during opening some FITS fixed (UB)

MacGhostView

Shareware; $20

Current Version: 3.2 (January 27, 2005) / 4.5 (February 18, 2008)

MacGhostView is a general purpose Postscript and PDF previewer for the Macintosh and is based on ghostscript 7.05. If a Postscript document conforms to Adobe's Document Structuring Conventions, the pages of the document can be displayed in any order. The program includes installation and registration instructions.

Starting with Mac OS X 10.3, Apple's Preview application can "display" Postscript files. Each time you try to view a Postscript with Preview it is converted to PDF and the PDF file is displayed, not the original Postscript file. Since conversion can be quite slow, MacGhostView is much faster at displaying Postscript files.

Included with MacGhostView is macps2pdf, an interface to Unix ghostscript which can be used to convert Postscript files to other formats. Beginning with version 6.0, ghostscript is capable of embedding Type1 fonts in a PDF document, making it a viable alternative to Adobe's Distiller. Prior to 6.0 ghostscript could only convert Type1 fonts to bitmaps, resulting in PDF documents which displayed poorly in Acrobat Reader. MacGhostView includes a complete installation of Unix ghostscript 8.50, which is used by macps2pdf. Any version of ghostscript later than 6.0 can be used with macps2pdf.

Version 4.5 makes the following changes:

• A few minor bugs were fixed in MacGhostView.
• MacGhostView is available as either a PPC or an Intel program.

Miro

Open source; $0

Current Version: 2.0.4 (April 1, 2009)

Miro is a fantastic new free, cross-platform media player, BitTorrent client, and media organizer based upon VLC Media Player, but with a refined user interface and many, many more features, including the following:

• Miro can play MPEG, Quicktime, AVI, H.264, Divx, Windows Media, Flash Video, and almost every other major video format.
• Set your Miro preferences to either play videos one after another (in the order they appear) or to play a video then stop.
• Keyboard shortcuts for all the key playback commands makes it easy to configure a remote control.
• Bring together your favorite videos into a playlist. You can drag them one by one or select a few and right-click to add to a playlist or odd create a new playlist that they will be added to.
• Miro will create a thumbnail for any video that doesn't have one.
• Group your channels by topic by creating folders. Do the same for playlists.
• Videos can come in from lots of places -- a web browser, email, a p2p application, or Miro. Miro can watch any folder on your computer and include those videos in your collection. So when you save something to your desktop, for instance, it will show up in Miro without needing to be added manually.
• Miro can move your video collection to any location on your system, such as an external hard drive.
• When you install Miro, you can search you computer to find all your video files and list them in your Miro Library.
• Miro can download individual BitTorrent files and torrents that are in feeds. When a video torrent is downloaded it will be in your channel and library ready to watch, just like any other video download.
• A menu item lets you paste in individual video URLs to start downloads.
• After you watch a video on a channel, it will stick around for a few days and then delete itself. You can choose to keep it permanently if you like and you can set the channel to save every video permanently.
• Simple tell Miro to reserve a certain amount of space on your hard drive and it will stop downloading new videos when it reaches that limit.
• Easily pause and resume any individual download, all downloads in one channel, or all Miro downloads.
• Video RSS feeds provide a simple system that any publisher can use to distribute their content. Viewers can bring feeds from anywhere together into one place.
• Set any channel to download new videos as soon as they are published. You can also tell channels to stop downloading new stuff if unwatched videos are piling up.
• Miro works beautifully on all three major operating systems. We make this effort because a new model for internet television has to be accessible to everyone.
• Miro is free, open-source software (licensed under the GPL). Anyone is free to change the source code, contribute bug fixes and features, and make new versions.
• Miro can search and download from the biggest video sites including YouTube, Yahoo!, Google Video, Blip, and more.
• Save any search to get new videos as they are published.
• Save any search within a video feed as its own channel.

While version 2.0.4 is primarily a bugfix release, version 2.0 added/changed the following:

• A beautiful, all-new widget based interface (see it in action here)
• Browse while you watch - pop out any video to an external window (our number one requested feature)
• Miro is now faster, more responsive, and uses less memory
• You can add streaming sites like Hulu to your sidebar (note: streaming with Flash only works in Windows and OS X)
• You can add download sites like Archive.org or legaltorrents.com to your sidebar and download to Miro with a single click
• Improved playlists
• New compact, sortable list view
• Better audio support

Miro requires Mac OS X 10.3 or later and QuickTime 7, although some video formats require 10.4 or later.

MPlayer

Donationware

Current Version: 1.0rc1 (December 12, 2006)

MPlayer is an incredibly useful video player that enables you to view files that are otherwise unviewable on your Mac. MPlayer plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, OGG/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, FLI, RM, NuppelVideo, YUV4MPEG, FILM, RoQ, PVA files, supported by many native, XAnim, and Win32 DLL codecs. You can watch VideoCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx, DivX 3/4/5 and even WMV movies, too (without the avifile library).

The latest release is the third release available as a Universal Binary, running natively on Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. This release also makes a positively huge number of improvements, which are fully detailed in the online release notes.

PDF Browser Plugin

See text.

Current Version: 2.3.1 (March 31, 2009)

PDF Browser Plugin is a free (for home, nonprofit and educational use), alternative PDF viewer plugin for Mac OS X browsers that provides most of the needed functionality to view almost any PDF directly in your Web browser, unlike Adobe Acrobat's plugin. But what makes this a particularly winning piece of software is that PDFs render incredibly quickly, eliminating the agonizing wait that so often occurs when you unwittingly click on a PDF link.

Version 2.3.1 supports Firefox 3, Safari, iCab, and OmniWeb on both PowerPC and Intel Macs, and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. This version restores nearly all of the functionality of previous releases. The only downside is that it doesn't appear to support mouse wheel scrolling within Firefox. The free Firefox PDF Plugin for Mac OS X is still able to do this in the meantime. Here's hoping that, soon, there won't be any need for this extension!

A site license for commercial use on all computers in a single organization within a 5 mile perimeter is available for $69.

Perian

Open source; Donationware

Current Version: 1.1.3 (December 16, 2008)

Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component (provided as a Preference Pane) that adds native support for many popular video formats, including:

• AVI, FLV, and MKV file formats
• MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivX, H.264, FLV1, FSV1, VP6, H263I, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), MPEG Layer II Audio, TrueAudio, MP1, DTS audio
• AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3
• Subtitle support for SSA and SRT

Perian provides a great, free way to convert all of the above formats to other video formats using the QuickTime Player itself, including the iPod video format.

Version 1.1.3 adds/changes the following:

• Enabled Indeo 2/3 decodecs
• Added external idx/sub (VobSub) support
• Added support for H.264 and H.263 in FLV containers
• Apple's decoder now handles Baseline/Main Profile H.264
• Fix inconsistent importing for multi-channel audio
• Reduced memory usage for packed streams
• Added sanity checks on all preferences
• Enabled hack to show subtitles in Front Row
• Fixed negative values in SSA \frz tag
• Fixed VSFilter bug-compatibility for \an

QuickTime

Freeware

Current Version: 4.0.3 (January 24, 2002) / 6.0.3 (January 29, 2005) / 6.5.3 (October 12, 2005) / 7.5 (June 9, 2008) / 7.6.2 (June 2, 2009)

QuickTime 7 (for Mac OS X only) is the standard method for playing QuickTime movies and MIDI music files on your Macintosh. QuickTime 7 brought integration of support for H.264 video; elimination of required setup; introduction of new playback controls; and support for 24-channel audio.

QuickTime 7.6.2 adds/changes the following:

• Video - Improves compatibility with Apple ProRes media
• Application Support - Improves support for iTunes 8.2
• Security - For information on the security content of this update, please visit http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Version 6.0.3 is the latest release for Mac OS 8.x - 9.x. This download includes the system extensions, the Movie Player, MPEG Extension, and the Netscape plug-in (with QuickTimeVR support built-in). Version 6.5.3 is the latest release for Mac OS X "Jaguar," providing "enhanced support for iTunes and other QuickTime-based applications" specifically for Mac OS X v.10.2.8 users. Version 7.5 is the latest release for Mac OS X 10.3.9 "Panther."

Version 4.0.3 is still available for 680x0-based Macs.

RAR

Shareware; $29

Current Version: 3.8.0 (October 6, 2008)

RAR is the official RAR archive utility for Mac OS X (offered as a command line utility), especially useful while reading all those alt.binaries newsgroups.

Version 3.8.0 adds the following new features:

• Added support for ZIP archives containing Unicode file names in UTF-8 format. When creating ZIP archive, WinRAR stores names in Unicode only if they cannot be stored correctly using the current single byte character set.
• Added decompression support for WinZip AES encrypted ZIP archives.
• Improved Unicode support for RAR and ZIP archive names.
• "Ask before overwrite" and "Skip existing files" update modes are now available in archiving dialog. They allow to specify WinRAR behavior when updating already existing files in archive. Unlike already available "Fresh existing files only" and "Add and update files", these new modes ignore file date and compare only file names.
• New "Add to context menu" option in "Profile parameters" dialog. If this option is on, the profile name will be displayed in Explorer context menus allowing to activate a profile from context menu.
• New -cp switch allows to select a compression profile in command line mode. It is supported only by GUI WinRAR.exe, not by rar.exe.
• New "Options" page of archiving dialog contains the group of settings modifying the behavior of "Delete files after archiving" option from "General" page.
• WinRAR "Extraction path and options" dialog is now resizable. You can use the mouse to drag its border to the desired size and provide more space for folder tree pane. WinRAR will store new dimensions of this dialog.
• New "Update" SFX script command and "Update mode" group of options in "Update" page of "Advanced SFX options" dialog. These command and options allow to check time and implement file time based updating.
• SFX script "Shortcut" command and "Add shortcut..." command in "Advanced SFX options" dialog now allow to specify an icon file containing an icon associated with shortcut.
• New "Wipe temporary files" option in "Settings/Security" dialog provides more secure, though slower, way to delete temporary WinRAR files.
• WinRAR and RAR display the total progress bar when unpacking a multivolume RAR archive if all volumes are present in the same folder.
• WinRAR and RAR automatically expand names of environment variables in list files.
• Added support of TAR archives with non-zero "extra field" data.
• Added support of TAR archives, which does not contain the end of archive entry consisting of 512 zero bytes.
• Improved Unicode support when dragging files from WinRAR window.
• Shift+Tab key combination can be used in main WinRAR window t switch the input focus between interface elements (files, comment, tree, address) in reverse order. In previous versions Shift+Tab used the same order as Tab.
• Corrected a possible WinRAR crash when opening truncated UDF ISO files.

To use the RAR command line application, place the files in any folder on your hard drive, and call the utility by typing in the full path to the application (e.g., to run from the current directory, type "./rar" or "./unrar" followed by the appropriate parameters). Typing the application name (rar or unrar) without any parameters will produce a helpful guide to each program's usage.

RCDefaultApp

Freeware

Current Version: 2.0.1 (November 28, 2006)

From the RCDefaultApp home page: "RCDefaultApp is a Mac OS X 10.2 or higher preference pane that allows a user to set the default application used for various URL schemes, file extensions, file types, and MIME types. Mac OS X uses the extension and file type settings to choose the application when opening a file in Finder, while Safari and other applications use the URL and MIME type settings at other times for content not related to a file (such as an unknown URL protocol, or a media stream). Finder's Get Info panel can be used to set the default application for file extensions and file types, but it's not intuitive. Apple's Internet preference pane in Mac OS X 10.0 through 10.2 (Jaguar) allowed you to set the Web and Email applications, but no other URL handlers. In Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther), these settings have moved to Safari's and Mail's preferences -- meaning you have to run those applications if you want to choose to not use them. RCDefaultApp allows the setting of all of this information, and ties everything together in one preference pane."

Version 2.0.1 adds/changes the following:

• Added Dutch localization.
• Updated Japanese localization.
• Updated French README.
• Sort application names in the popup menu.

RealPlayer

Freeware

Current Version: 8.0 / 11.0.1 Build 949 (November 3, 2008)

RealPlayer 8 (for "Classic" Mac OS) and RealPlayer 10 (for Mac OS X) deliver audio and video over the Net without the wait, with surprisingly good quality. The links below will take you to the RealPlayer download page, where you'll be able to select the player and version you wish to download.

Version 8 - the latest version for Mac OS 8 & 9 - adds a few new features, including better quality audio and video, but is otherwise not a radical departure from version 7.

RealPlayer 10 for Mac OS X is also available, supporting RealVideo 9 & 10 and TurboPlay and sporting a clean, attractive interface and excellent performance. Version 10 also - at long last - integrates web browser functionality like the Windows version has for so long (thanks to Safari).

Version 11.0.1 Build 949 adds/changes the following:

• Addressed an issue with connectivity on some wireless networks.
• On setup, a shortcut to the RealPlayer Downloader is added to the same folder as the RealPlayer application.
• Dragging multiple files onto the RealPlayer adds the files to the playlist window instead of opening multiple players.
• Added a preference to the Downloader to enable/disable Advanced Video Detection.
• Fixed an issue with the Downloader list on systems with multiple user accounts.
• Fixed an issue with streaming UDP transport through a transparent RTSP proxy.
• Fixed an issue with streaming reconnect when tunneling RTSP through an HTTP proxy.
• Fixed an issue where an unescaped colon results in a truncated url.
• Addressed a networking issue that prevented the player from automatically switching from Multicast to UDP transport for live webcasts.

Older versions are available as well.

Shockwave Player

Freeware

Current Version: 10.1.1.016 (March 15, 2006) / 11.5.0.600 (June 17, 2009)

Adobe's Shockwave Player is one of the most ubiquitous Web browser plug-ins, allowing you to view all kinds of nice interactive animations many people have produced for their Web sites. While not quite essential, this will make your Web browsing experience much more enjoyable.

Version 10.1.1.016 - the latest version for Mac OS 9 - addresses a security vulnerability.

Version 11.5.0.600 - the latest version for Mac OS X - adds support for Director 11.5, including new 5.1 surround sound, three new video formats, and import and dynamic translation of Google's popular SketchUp (skp) 3D format.

StuffIt Deluxe

Commercial; $79.99

Current Version: 7.0.3 (April 9, 2003) / 8.0.2 (December 11, 2003) / 10.0.2 (March 10, 2006) / 13.0.3 (January 7, 2009)

Smith Micro Software, Inc. produces the ubiquitous StuffIt line of file compression products, including StuffIt Deluxe, which enables you to create StuffIt .SIT archives to reduce file sizes for quicker transmission over the Internet.

While version 13.0.3 is a maintenance release, version 13 - the latest release for Mac OS X 10.4 and later - added/changed the following:

• Duplicate Folding = smaller archives
• Expand 7-Zip archives
• Expand segmented Zip archives
• Preview archives within TimeMachine
• Peer in archives with Quick Look plugin
• Browse archives in the Finder like disks

StuffIt Expander

Freeware

Current Version: 5.5 / 7.0.3 (April 2, 2003) / 8.0.2 (October 31, 2003) / 10.0.2 (March 10, 2006) / 13.0.3 (January 7, 2009)

StuffIt Expander is the essential utility for de-BinHexing and decompressing all of those .BIN, .SIT, .HQX, .ZIP, .GZ, .TAR, .RAR and .UU files out there.

Version 13.0.3 - the latest version for Mac OS X 10.4 or later - ostensibly brings compatibility with the new StuffIt Deluxe, along with a refreshed look and feel, but not much more.

If you don't already have a copy of StuffIt Expander, it may be difficult for you to perform this download successfully; visit the StuffIt page that allows you to have a copy emailed to you.

VLC media player

Open source; $0

Current Version: 0.9.9a (April 6, 2009)

VLC media player, like MPlayer, is an incredibly useful video player that enables you to view files that are otherwise unviewable on your Mac. VLC plays most MPEG, AVI, OGG/OGM, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, FLV, RM, and many other formats. You can watch VideoCD, SVCD, and DVD as well.

While version 0.9.9a is a bugfix releases, version 0.9.2 added/changed the following:

• Interface - A new interface module based on the Qt toolkit has been added to VLC.
• Simplified settings and dialogs
• Media library integration
• Album art displaying and metadata editing
• Live activation of Video and audio filters
• Basic encoding profiles
• Multiple start modes (classic, enhanced and minimalist)
• System tray icon and minimizing
• Fullscreen controller
• Many other improvements and bug-fixes.
• The playlist has been improved in many ways, in addition to the new Media Library (very simple so far, but will be extended in the future)
• Live Searching in the playlist,
• Youtube, Dailymotion, Google Video and similar services URL can be scripted in VLC to play directly those URLs,
• last.fm submission support,
• Album art support,
• Better metadata tagging reading and writing support for audio files.
• Playback
• A lot of new decoders, demuxers, and protocols have been added.
• There are new codecs support, like Flash video variants, camcorder codecs (M2TS ones), Dirac, Atrac3, H.264 PAFF, APE audio, RealVideo, VC-3, Fraps and others, but also better decoding and better performance. Many thanks to the FFmpeg project which can take most of the credit for these improvements.
• There are improvements in the demuxers and new supports (subtitles format rework with many new formats, Tivo2, OMA, MIDI support...).
• Tag supports of audio files have vastly been improved(fix of APE, AAC, OGG tags,...)
• This version also supports DVB windows devices (BDA), iSight Webcams, v4l2 on Linux and many other ones.
• Filters
• Many new audio and video filters have been added:
• New video filters like puzzle game, color extracting, sharpen, logo erasing, blue-screen and more have been added.
• New audio filters have introduced Replay Gain support, Faster/Slower audio playback with pitch correction and a spatializer.
• Most video filters can now be streamed.
• libVLC has been rewritten and split and supports externally built plugins
• VLCKit, a Mac OS X Framework, enables external developers to develop applications around VLC.
• New bindings can be found on the wiki and the forums
• A new update system, more secured, was developed for this release.
• New localizations in Finnish, Persian, Polish, Punjabi, Bulgarian have joined the old ones.

Windows Media Player

Freeware

Current Version: 7.1.2 (January 8, 2002) / 9.0 (October 27, 2003)

Windows Media Player is a player for one of the most increasingly common media groups found on the Web these days: Microsoft Windows Media. This player supports the following video codecs: MPEG4 v2, MPEG4 v3, MPEG4S, and JPG (Illustrated Audio); and audio codecs: WMAudio v1, WMAudio v2, Acelp.net, Voxware MetaSound, and MPEG II Layer 3. Version 9 for OS X supports the embedded playback of media in Web pages, digital rights management (DRM) functionality, and includes support for content in the Windows Media 9 format.

Note: As of January 12, 2006, Microsoft has officialy stopped development of Windows Media Player software for the Mac, and are offering Flip4Mac WMV instead. Versions 2.0 and later of Flip4Mac WMV are now provided free of charge, and the software is distributed (and essentially endorsed) by Microsoft as well. Therefore, the future of Windows Media on the Mac lies in the Flip4Mac components. Luckily, they are very good indeed.

yEnc TZ

Freeware

Current Version: 1.13 (April 10, 2004)

yEnc TZ is a a simple, freeware program that decodes yEnc encoded files, and (for some interesting trivia) it's one of the very few pieces of software that I can think of that is available natively for all Macs, from 680x0-based machines to the lastest Mac OS X boxes. Version 1.13 adds/changes the following:

• CWPro5 doesn't allow // comments when ANSI Strict is set.
• Only quit after timeout if there were no errors.
• Better structure for event loop prevents odd behavior.
• File open write vs. append mode mapping fixed.
• Doesn't overwrite existing files. Uses new name.
• BASE64 and UU handle multipart messages.
• UU doesn't skip last line 2/3 of the time.
• All errors show a message. May still sometimes fail to write all remaining parts?
• yEnc now accepts an escaped SPACE.
• Only removes input file if all parts decoded correctly.

ZipIt

Shareware; $20

Current Version: 1.4 (September 25, 1999) / 2.1 / 2.2.2 (November 12, 2002)

ZipIt is probably the best of the graphical PKZip/PKUnzip utilities for the Mac . . . a must for compressing and uncompressing all those .ZIP files from your PC friends. However, if you have Mac OS X 10.3 or later, much of this functionality is already built-in to the operating system, and you probably won't benefit much from this program. On earlier versions of Mac OS, however, this is indispensable.