cutter

Edit your music files with Free MP3 Cutter

No matter what the reason, there are times when listening to an entire song is just too much. Free MP3 Cutter helps you slice off any unnecessary parts of an MP3 track you don't want. The program has no extras but does what it is supposed to do well.

This program's outdated layout isn't going to win it any awards. That does, however, mean it's easy to find the exact feature you're looking for. It's hard to say if that's a testament to how simple the layout is or how lacking the program … Read more

The half-cut cord: What's bugging me about cable

I cut the cord years ago. My wife sat across from me on the sofa and finally convinced me that paying well over $100 a month for the privilege of a bunch of random cable channels wasn't worth it. We could save money, learn to live lower to the ground, read more, and watch TV shows and movies on demand. Netflix, Hulu Plus, and iTunes. I agreed. With apprehension.

It worked. We relaxed, we used an over-the-air antenna, we caught our TV shows on broadcast networks and just sat through commercials. I even borrowed an old DTV Pal DVR … Read more

More Americans opting to cut cord on traditional TV

While the vast majority of U.S. residents own televisions and watch them regularly, more and more people are opting to toss their cable plans and use other devices for entertainment.

A new report by Nielsen finds that those people who have elected to go "Zero TV" have more than doubled since 2007. Currently, more than 5 million people don't have broadcast television in their home, while in 2007 just 2 million didn't.

Despite these numbers sounding big, cord-cutters are still just 5 percent of the U.S. population. And, as Nielsen wrote in a blog … Read more

Cut and edit your videos with Xilisoft's Video Cutter 2

Xilisoft's Video Cutter 2 is an easy-to-use shareware video-editing tool. It's designed to make quick work of cutting and saving excerpts from videos. You simply drag arrows to set the beginning and end points of the clips you want to extract, and Video Cutter does the rest. Video Cutter works with most video file types, including Flash video, so you won't need to convert your clips to post them on sites like YouTube. But Video Cutter can also convert your files on output, if you tell it to. Video Cutter is free to try, but the trial … Read more

Optimize video viewing experience

The Power Video Cutter is a tool for converting videos from one format to another and to perform simple editing to cut out part of a file and create a new file. While novice users might need to spend some time with the Help file before cutting files, the app proved easy to use.

The program's compact interface looks professional and clean, with large buttons to locate the source file and output directory. Nearly 20 file types are supported, including FLV, DVD, MP4, and AVI. The download process for acquiring videos off of YouTube is quick and they have … Read more

New site calls for cable-free HBO Go option, but it's an uphill battle

With "Game of Thrones" now the most pirated show on the Internet, a site has sprung up calling for HBO Go to become available without a cable membership, but unfortunately it's unlikely to work.

The site, started by Web programmer Jake Caputo and called Take My Money, HBO!, is designed to convince HBO to sell individual memberships to HBO Go to reduce piracy.

In response, several sites have pointed out why this strategy is doomed to fail. Even the company itself seems happy with its current domestic situation: in response to my request for comment, a HBO spokesperson instead pointed me to this tweet, which links to a TechCrunch article detailing why "HBO doesn't want your money."… Read more

Preordering the iPhone 5; cutting the cable TV cord (Ask Maggie)

The countdown to the new iPhone 5 has begun, and antsy Apple fans want to make sure they are among the first to get the phone.

Today, Apple e-mailed invitations to reporters asking them to join the company on October 4 at 10 a.m. PT for a special event at Apple's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. Apple didn't specifically mention the iPhone 5 by name, but many speculate the company will unveil one or perhaps two iPhones at the event. Last week, All Things Digital cited unnamed sources who said Apple was planning an October 4 event hosted by CEO Tim Cook.… Read more

Cable, satellite see quarterly loss of TV subscribers

That loud snipping sound is a greater number of Americans cutting the cord and ditching their cable and satellite TV subscriptions. That's the verdict today in an analysis done by the Associated Press of the pay TV companies' quarterly earnings reports.

The AP tallied lost subscribers from eight of the top nine providers, including Comcast and Time Warner cable, Verizon, AT&T, DirecTV, and Dish Network. Cox Communications was not included because it is a private company and does not disclose subscriber numbers, but AP said it has captured 70 percent of households in its survey and found … Read more

My summer of HBO Go: What HBO's app can teach Netflix (and vice versa)

I woke up at 8 a.m., bleary-eyed. I realized something was wrong. It hit me: I forgot to watch "Curb Your Enthusiasm" last night. New episodes tend to post instantaneously, or at least a half hour after the start of broadcast. How could I have missed it? I started to plan when I'd watch.

Suddenly, I realized, I'd become TV Man again.

I've spent a summer trying out HBO Go, the iPad/Android/iOS/browser streaming-video app HBO launched at the end of April. While I bemoaned its limited availability for most people, I was able to get a trial code to look at the service--something I couldn't have done otherwise in NY, even if I still subscribed to cable (which I don't). Meanwhile, I'm still watching Netflix as my go-to general streaming service, although I'm considering a drop in my plan from two DVDs and streaming down to no discs at all.

Both HBO Go and Netflix represent two ends of a new world of streaming-video content that's simultaneously exciting and repelling customers. They tackle the issue from two different angles: Netflix is a standalone subscription service, an alternative to standard TV. HBO Go is a service that requires being part of an HBO-inclusive cable package in order to use; it's supplemental to standard cable as we know it.

At this point, neither one is perfect, but each can learn from the other. And I hope they do, because The New Television, as I like to call it, is something I love. I just don't want it to get muddied along the way.… Read more