MakeItOne MP3 Album Maker is a free app that can merge multiple MP3s while maintaining full reversibility (the ability to unpack/split the file into its original constituents at any later point). Merged files can be played on any player and MakeItOne and can preserve and edit the audio file tags and add album art as well. It can also unpack audio files packed by the Albumwrap shareware app which are commonly found on the net.

Possible uses are up to your imagination, and include merging disparate chapters or parts of an audiobook into a single file, archiving and organizing albums, and creating a single file for easier publishing or sharing on the net.

Auto Mute is a free little program that simply mutes your PC whenever it is turning on or waking up from sleep or suspend modes. It is useful in cases where you might want to ensure that your computer will be completely silent unless you actively un-mute it, such as working late at night or around sleeping children, or in public places such as buses, cafes, or conferences, etc.

MP3 Diags is a free program that can scan your audio library for problems (including issues with invalid streams, low quality issues, incomplete tags, audio normalization, and others) and provides the ability to fix these. It includes an audio tag editor that can pull track data from MusicBrainz and Discogs, and can use MP3Gain from within the MP3Diags interface to perform audio normalization. Note, however, that this program is not geared for users looking for a 1-click fix, but rather for users with some technical background. MP3 Diags is multiplatform (Windows/Linux)

Songr is a free desktop app that can find downloadable MP3s from multiple sources on the internet. In addition, it allows for a “lyrics search” option that can identify and download songs  based on parts of lyrics that a you might remember. It also can download YouTube videos or alternately only the audio part of a YouTube video as MP3.

Jaangle (previously Teen Spirit) is a free media/music player that provides an excellent user experience. It offers online integration (automatically downloads and displays artist information and artwork from the net) as well as full-fledged, integrated audio tag editing for every imaginable audio format.

MetatOgger is a free, powerful program for tagging and renaming MP3s and other audio files. It offers the functions you would expect from a tag editor (e.g. mass renaming, tags from filenames or path, scripts to perform editing functions) as well as a few that are not so common, such as “acoustic fingerprinting” of unknown songs using the MusicBrainz database, built in album art search, importing lyrics from lyricwiki.org into your audio tags, and the ability to download a massive audio tag database that it can use as a tagging resource.

Songbird is a an open source, multiplatform music player intened to rival players such as iTunes; but does it have much more beyond the basics?

[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. 

BB Flashback Express is a free screen recording program that can capture your PC’s screen, sound, and webcam video and supports capturing graphics/animations, including 3D graphics. It offers a high degree of control over your video (output resolution, quality, file size, recording modes, mouse autoscroll, and cursor highlighting effects). Saves resulting files as either FLV’s, AVI’s or SWF’s, and offers the ability to easily upload videos to YouTube or embed them inside a webpage.

LMMS is a free, open source music production software inspired by commercial apps such as FL Studio (FruityLoops) . It enables you to create melodies and beats and to create, mix, and arrange sounds and samples, and will even import Fruityloops project files. It allows access to LADSPA effects and is compatible with many standards such as SoundFont2, VST(i), and GUS Patches, and offers full MIDI/MIDI project files support. LMMS is multiplatform (Windows, Linux).

Random Mixtape Maker is a free program that can create “intelligent” playlists based on user-defined guidelines. For example you can tell Random Mixtape Maker to look for music inside certain folders but to avoid a certain subset of folders and certain songs you specify; to create a playlist that plays for x minutes; to limit each artist to 3 songs max; to include the tracks in your “must have” list, and to always follow some tracks with others, and so on.

Freezer is a free, portable program that can download mp3s from some song sharing sites that such as Imeem, Deezer or jiwa.fm that use anti-leeching protection to prevent song downloading.