Editors: a quick list to get started

[kareila]

Here's a list of a few well-known options in each "editors" category I've listed so far (not including the behemoth Microsoft or Adobe apps that everyone knows but probably can't afford). If you have more programs to add, please comment! If you want to review a particular program or compare similar programs, please do so in a new post!

Editors: Audio

• Fission ($32)
• Audacity (Free)
• QuickTime Player (included with Mac OS X)

Editors: Code

• BBEdit ($125/$49 edu)
• TextWrangler (Free)
• TextMate (€39)

Editors: PDF

• PDFpen ($50)
• Skim (Free)
• Preview (included with Mac OS X)

Editors: Pictures

• GraphicConverter ($35)
• Acorn ($50)
• Preview (included with Mac OS X)

Editors: Word Processing

• Nisus Writer Express ($45)
• Bean (Free)
• TextEdit (included with Mac OS X)

Comments

[vanessagalore]

While you can't beat the price of Audacity, and it does have the ability to multi-track, I think Sound Studio is the best recording software under $100 for the Mac. ($79.99) Intuitive and stable, with a lot of bang for the buck; effects processing, loops, etc. Also check out Transcribe, a program that can change speed or pitch, add karaoke effects, various other enhancements, for $50.

[kareila]

How do they compare to Garageband? I don't do audio recording myself, but my husband does.

(This might be a good subject for a new post, since my list here focused more on programs for editing sound files.)

[vanessagalore]

I haven't explored Garageband too much, but it seems geared toward the amateur rather than pro musicians. Both these programs have full-featured free demo periods (approx one month); he should just try them and see how they work for him. Both have been around for at least 10 years, so they are very stable programs.