HOW WE ROLL posted by O.W.

People sometimes write to ask what I use to help put together Soul Sides and I thought I should give ample credit to the various software programs that I heavily depend on. Keep in mind: I'm a Mac guy so some of these won't apply to PC folk (too bad for you):

For Sound Editing: Sound Studio 3.

Not only does it do basic recording and sound editing, but it has a nice array of useful filters (I use the "Fade In/Fade Out" ones all the time) and the new version now comes equipped with multi-tracking capabilities for people who want to get really fancy or even just do basic podcasting. I know Garage Band can do many of the same things as well but frankly, for ease of use (as well as lower demands on your CPU), Sound Studio 3 will do you just as well, if not better.

For Batch MP3 Conversions: iTunes-LAME

Sound Studio will let you save files as MP3s but if you want to do conversions in batches (which I frequently do), then this program combines the relative ease of iTunes with the superior MP3 encoding of the LAME standard (though they really need a better name).

For Blogging: Ecto

I'm sure there are many desktop interfaces that work with different blogging hosts but so far, I've found Ecto to be ace. I didn't think it'd make that much of a difference but being able to edit and post new blogs from my desktop (as opposed to having to log into a website) makes a huge difference in speed and convenience. The most powerful feature for folks like me is that it allows me to manage multiple blogs at once (I have about six or seven that I update at least once a month). Try it once and you'll never want to go back.

For FTP: Transmit 3

Simple, intuitive yet with many powerful features. I used to be an avid user of Fetch and Transmit was strong enough to make me switch over.

Anything I miss? Ask in the comments section.