Writing about digital applications is not what it used to be.
With work-from-home becoming the norm, even the technologically challenged users have had to adapt. There’s been a democratization of online applications and tools, especially the ones pertaining to communication and collaboration. Zoom is a perfect example.
Creativity tools and applications have not been far behind.
With new bloggers, Instagrammers, YouTubers, and podcasters cropping up every day, professional and DYI content creators are on the lookout for useful digital media tools that are free or cost very little.
As companies try to monetize their freeware, you may find yourself looking for alternatives that do the job for you. So, here are five useful digital applications worth checking out.
Bitwarden
Bitwarden is a free password management system that helps you manage access to your tools and applications. If you currently use a paid password service such as LastPass, you can save some money by moving to Bitwarden.
Bitwarden is a relatively new player in the password management business but has been rated as the Best Password Manager of 2021 by US News & World Report. LastPass’s free tier is no longer available globally across your devices. I used the instructions available at this link to move off LastPass to Bitwarden.
Bitwarden’s free version is robust enough to meet the needs of most users.
In case you are not familiar, a password management service has many benefits. A single master password is all you need to remember to log in to all the applications you use. Multiple user logins and passwords can be a nightmare to manage when you use various applications and tools that require secure logins. Bitwarden’s password generator and password breach lookup are additional features that come in handy on a day-to-day basis.
So far, Bitwarden has worked well for me.
Wise
TransferWise, which was recently renamed Wise, is a London-based fintech company that has been around since 2011. It may be familiar to many of you. At the basic level, Wise is a multi-currency global money transfer service.
While Wise promotes itself as a fintech service that provides more than money transfer, it’s the low exchange rate and multi-currency transfer feature that caught my eye. If you occasionally transfer money internationally, you are probably familiar with all the major service providers such as banks, Western Union, and PayPal. While most people compare the service fee from such providers, they view the currency exchange rate as something beyond their control.
Wise compares well in the area of exchange rates by using a peer-to-peer money transfer method which allows them to minimize the exchange rate spread (the difference between the buy rate and the sell rate) that other providers charge customers. The included graphic shows the comparison of a Euro-Polish złoty transfer through traditional systems versus Wise.
Providing banking information and other sensitive information to a service provider may not be for everyone. However, it’s worth noting that over ten million users avail of their service as per the Wise website.
You may want to check it out.
Audacity
If you have been considering adding your own audio files to your blog or exploring podcasting options, Audacity deserves your attention. It is a free, open-source audio recording and editing tool that helps you create and mix audio.
Audacity is supported on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux
The thing I like about Audacity is its simplicity. Once you have figured out the basic controls, recording and editing your audio files, become a breeze. While recording-quality and playback through inbuilt microphones and speakers may be acceptable for many applications, a headset can improve the audio experience.
While audio aficionados may find Audacity lacking in high-end features, it is well-suited for casual musicians, podcasters, and bloggers.
Seriously Simple Podcasting
Seriously Simple Podcasting offers the perfect next step for folks who have already tried their hand at blogging using the WordPress platform. It is an intuitive tool by Castos to add podcast pages to your WordPress site.
You don’t have to have a WordPress blog to use this product. Seriously Simple Podcasting is also available as a paid hosted podcast application through Castos.
Both the plugin and the hosted version allow you to create and publish podcasts to popular audio-sharing sites such as Spotify, iTunes, etc. Used in conjunction with a recording tool such as Audacity, you may quickly find out that the process of developing and publishing podcasts is not as complex a process as you had imagined.
Amazon Prime for unlimited photo storage
Typically, you would not look at Amazon Prime as a digital application. However, if you do have a Prime account, you can leverage it for more than speedy delivery.
With online purchases becoming mainstream for many people, the opportunity to save shipping costs through a subscription service such as Amazon is worth considering. Perhaps less known is that Amazon Prime membership includes unlimited photo storage and access to Amazon Prime Music. At the time of writing, an Amazon Prime subscription in Canada sets you back $7.99/month.
With Google Photos making changes to their free service, you may need to find an alternative storage option for your images. Switching to Prime Photos will help you save a few dollars in the long run. If you cancel your Prime membership, you have six months to move your images elsewhere or stay within Amazon’s free tier limit of 5GB.
Similarly, if you currently pay for a streaming music service such as Spotify or YouTube Music, Prime Music’s collection of free songs and playlists may be an opportunity to cut some costs. Though, you will quickly find out that with just over a million songs, Prime Music’s selection of songs is somewhat limited. For the entire library of seventy million songs, you will need Amazon Music Unlimited, which will cost you.
Digital applications are key to your content. Leveraging free tools makes sense.
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