Name the first online auction site that comes to your mind. Can you
even think of any besides eBay? For most of us it’s the only online
auction site that matters, but if you’re browsing through eBay to find
great deals on computers, you may be better off using an alternative
auction platform.
Why look somewhere other than eBay?
If
you need a very specific item and price isn’t a top concern, by all
means keep using eBay. The site is so massively international that you
won’t find a better selection of items anywhere else. However, if you’re
curious to see what’s out there besides eBay, you won’t regret checking
out these sites.
Dell is a popular brand if you don’t care about building your own computers.
Purchasing their computers at retail price can drain your wallet pretty
fast, especially if you customize your order, but you can save a lot of
money by going through Dell Auction instead.
With Dell Auction,
you can bid on refurbished Dell laptops and desktops that have been
restored to fit Dell’s quality specifications. It doesn’t cost anything
to place bids and each purchase comes with a 30-day satisfaction return
policy.
As you might expect, the selection here is somewhat small
since they only serve up Dell products. However, I’ve seen a number of
great laptops and desktop systems priced under $200 so there’s a lot of
money to be saved here. Listed prices do not include shipping. Regional Availability: United States.
Though
uBid has expanded to include many different auction item categories,
they’ve always had a strong root in computers and computer-related
products. Here you’ll find plenty of affordable equipment from top-name
brands like Dell, Lenovo, HP, and even Apple.
Like eBay, uBid has
two types of product listings: Auction and Buy Now. At the time of
writing, I see dozens of awesome computer auctions that are about to end
between $100 and $200. The Buy Now products are just as affordable but
typically limited to 1 stock.
If you’re looking to buy a computer
at auction, you really can’t pass up uBid. The combination of price and
variety is unmatched by any other site. Regional Availability: United States.
Public
Surplus is a place where public agencies can put up surplus merchandise
(otherwise known as overstock) for sale at super cheap prices. All
sellers on Public Surplus are required to register and pay regular fees,
meaning this site isn’t an open auction where anyone can sell anything
they want.
You’ll find a lot of variety in items but each item
won’t have too many stocked, so if you lose an auction you likely won’t
have another chance. The good thing is that not many people know about
Public Surplus, making it easier to grab that particular item that
caught your eye. Regional Availability: United States and Canada.
Like
Public Surplus, Liquidation is a place where overstock is auctioned off
at incredibly cheap prices, except Liquidation’s range stretches all
over the globe. There are dozens of computer systems on sale at any
given time, sourced mostly from the United States but able to be shipped
to most countries.
Liquidation has a clean website layout that
makes it easy to find what you want at a price within your budget. Items
are graded on conditions like New, Used, Refurbished, Returned, or even
Salvaged. The selection is somewhat small but it’s the perfect place to
find those once-in-a-blue-moon deals. Regional Availability: International.
Conclusion
The
next time you need to buy a cheap computer, consider buying from an
online auction site that isn’t eBay. You’ll run into fewer auction
snipers, the products tend to be more reliable, and you’ll be distancing
yourself from those common eBay scams.
If you really don’t like eBay and want to know what else is out there, check out these awesome eBay alternatives.
Know of any other computer auction sites? It’d be great to hear about them. Please share with us in the comments!
When you want to sell your excess junk online, where do you go? For
most people, the one and only answer is eBay. With millions of daily
users, it only seems logical to use the number one popular online
auction site when you have online selling needs. But what about all of
the alternatives that are arguably better? “Why fix something that isn’t broken, Joel?” you might ask. Or more poignantly, “Why use a different site when eBay suits me just fine?”
Well, if you enjoy using eBay, then I suppose there’s no reason to
switch. However, over the years, many users have grown fed up with
eBay’s services. If you’re one of those users, then have no fear. The
eBay alternative are pretty good.
If you have stuff you need to sell and you need it done online, check out the following sites. Some of them may surprise you.
Here’s
an alternative that may seem like common sense: Craigslist. Founded in
1995, Craigslist acts as an online community where users can post
classified ads. In the last 17 years, Craigslist has become so popular
that it now serves over 700 localized versions of its site in over 70
countries. If you need a broad audience, here you go.
Craigslist
is completely free. You do not pay any service fees or charges for
posting your listings. Payment and transactions are dealt with
face-to-face between parties, so there is no mediator escrow-type
service; be careful that you aren’t scammed. The interface is somewhat
outdated and as far as I know there isn’t a way to judge a user’s
trustworthiness (like with eBay’s rating system).
But everything
considered, you keep 100% of the revenue when you finalize a transaction
using Craigslist and its popularity guarantees that you won’t run out
of buyers anytime soon.
Ealtbay.
Just take a look at this service’s name and you’ll see that its primary
purpose is to be an alternative to eBay. But is it better than eBay?
Check out their five reasons for existence and decide for yourself.
Ealtbay does not place bans on items that are perfectly legal to be sold.
Ealtbay lets you list items for free. Final fees on sold items are much lower than eBay.
Ealtbay
does not force electronic payment methods (e.g., Paypal) on users.
Whatever method the seller is comfortable with can be used.
Ealtbay allows feedback for both buyers and sellers, not just sellers.
Ealtbay does not force top-rated sellers to appear at the top of search results, allowing smaller-volume sellers more exposure.
The
downside to Ealtbay is that their audience is nowhere near the size of
eBay (which is understandable) and they have a primitive-looking
interface that isn’t exactly beautiful (which is a definite negative).
However, those five features above more than make up for any of
Ealtbay’s shortcomings.
eBid
is a promising alternative to eBay, boasting over 6 million item
listings in nearly 13,000 categories. There are no listing fees here and
the final fees are much lower than the fees over at eBay. Payment
methods include Paypal, PPPay, Google Checkout, and Skrill. If you’re
worried about eBid’s reliability as a service, be placated in knowing
that eBid is a Google Shopping Marketplace Partner.
eBid’s selling
features are that they provide a number of merchant programs (auctions,
fixed-price transactions, and storefronts) as well as the ability to
“ninja list” items, where you can bulk upload for low fees.
Unlike
eBay and clones of eBay, there are other online marketplaces that cater
to a more niche audience. Marketplaces like Etsy, where the focus rests
on hand-made or vintage items. It was established in 2005, which means
it only had 7 years to become as big as it is now. Impressive, if you
ask me.
Etsy boasts over 39 million unique visitors every month
who browse the 800,000 available shops. As niche as Etsy might be, the
audience size is nothing to sneeze at. In order to list on Etsy, each
item will cost you $0.20 per stock and you’ll pay 3.5% of the final
selling price in fees. Payment options include Paypal, Etsy’s direct
checkout, or cheque.
For one-time junk selling, eBay is still the
better option. But if you have hand-made crafts that you’d like to sell
for profit, Etsy may be the place for you.
If
you have items that you just want to get rid of (i.e., you don’t care
about making a profit), you ought to check out Freecycle. It’s a
worldwide community that aims to reduce global waste by connecting
people who want to throw away goods to people who need those goods. In
essence, people with excess give stuff to people in need for free. Free
recycling. Get it? (Admittedly, it took me a while.)
Listings are
completely free and there are no payment options because everything is
free. Though Freecycle is a worldwide site, item exchanges are conducted
locally so buyers can come pick up the items from the sellers without
postage fees. If you need more room in your attic or garage, Freecycle
can help you. If you want to make a profit, look elsewhere.
Ruby
Lane is a niche online marketplace where people can buy and sell
high-end antiques, art, and vintage collectibles. Here you’ll find
thousands of independent shops, each run by individual sellers, from all
over the world. Ever since their establishment in 1998, Ruby Lane has
guaranteed quality, security, and excellence to their members.
Their
shop format only allows selling items either at a certain price point
or through the make-and-offer feature; there are no auctions. For
sellers, Ruby Lane uses a unique pricing structure that includes a $0.30
listing fee per item, a once-per-month Advertising Fee of $20, and a
once-per-month Maintenance Fee that depends on how many items you sell
that month. Check out their massive list of reasons why you should sell on Ruby Lane.
So
if you’re sick of eBay, then you owe it to yourself to check out one of
these eBay alternative. Many are free. Some are great for one-time
throwaways while others offer you the chance to build up a lucrative
business. If you’ve used any of these services in the past, let us know
what you thought of them in the comments!
foobar2000 is
the world’s most favorite audio player for Windows. Apart from
playlists and other standard player functionality, it also packs-in a
whole range of audio features and functions. Majority of Windows users
who once used the native Windows Media Player and the popular WinAmp
music player are now migrating to foobar2000.
The
current version of foobar2000 supports all popular audio formats,
including MP3, MP4, AAC, WMA, WAV, FLAC and more. Customizable keyboard
shortcuts, gapless playback support, highly customizable user interface,
and full unicode support are the main attractions of this free audio
player.
The default UI of the player is very
simple. Users who don’t like the default look of the player and would
like to skin the best MP3 player in the World, can try out some pretty
skins designed for foobar2000. As there are thousands of free skins
available for foobar2000, it’s really a difficult job to find out the
best available skins. To help you skin your foobar2000, we have compiled
a list of better skins for foobar2000. Visit the download page to know
about the installation instructions.
MP3tag makes light work of tagging all your music files
If you just want to play a few MP3s, create a playlist or two, then Windows Media Player will help you get started.
Otherwise,
though, the program is probably the worst of all worlds - not
particularly powerful, or easy to use - and most people will be better
off with something else.
What,
exactly? That all depends on your needs. There are programs to help
automatically tag your music, download album art and more.
Others
will clean up even the messiest MP3 collection, quickly organising
files into sensibly-named folders. And of course you'll need a great
player, to ensure your music sounds its best.
This doesn't have to
be complicated, though, because there are plenty of free tools around
which can do all of this (and a whole lot more). Just keep reading for
our pick of the best free MP3 software to download.
1. iTunes
ITunes
is a player; a media browser and organiser, and a tool to help set up
your iPod, iPhone and iPad. The iTunes Store helps you to discover new
content, and of course you're able to buy some of it, too.
The
latest version is more stripped down, too, with a simpler, cleaner
interface. Most of the key playback options can be controlled from the
Mini Player, creating and managing playlists is easier, and the store
works more like it does with iPhones and iPads. ITunes
is all about Apple devices, of course, and it does its best to get you
into the store (you can't get album art until you're logged in, for
instance). But if you don't mind that, this is an excellent player and
organiser, and now easier to use than ever.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. MusicZen
If
your Music folder is a real mess, with MP3s scattered everywhere, then
getting them properly organised can seem like a real challenge - until
you run MusicZen.
Point
the program at your folder and it can scan all your MP3s, reading their
tags, then copying (or moving) them to new folders based on the artist,
album, song title and more. The
files will be consistently renamed, too, so those odd mixes of upper
and lower cases, the dash and underscore separators will disappear.
And the program is incredibly simple, with no complex settings to master - you'll have your MP3s reordered in seconds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. MP3jam
There are plenty of YouTube search tools around, but MP3jam is a little different: instead of accessing videos, it's all about music.
Just
enter a search term - an artist, a song or album title - and it'll
quickly return any results (complete with album art, in some cases). Each
song title has a "play" button, allowing you to stream it from the web.
You can alternatively download individual songs or entire albums, and
the program automatically organises these into folders for you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Winamp
After 16 years of development, it's no surprise that Winamp is one of the most capable music players and managers around.
The
program supports 60+ audio and video formats. It can quickly scan your
PC for audio files (or import your iTunes library), then organise your
music in many different ways, you can create playlists, update and edit
your MP3 tags, read more about your favourite artists and access
thousands of free audio and video channels. If you need more, there are thousands of plug-ins to explore, and even an Android app.
All
these features do make for an occasionally complex interface, and it'll
take a while to figure out how everything works. But if you need a
powerful player then Winamp remains a good choice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. MediaMonkey
ITunes
is great, if you want to work with iOS devices. If you also have an
Android phone or tablet, though - or you're just looking for a better
organiser - then it could be time to give MediaMonkey a try.
The program quickly imports even the largest music libraries, and can
then automatically rename your MP3s, moving them into a logical folder
structure, automatically fixing tags and alerting you to any duplicates.
There
are lots of playlist options, while the core player offers lots of
features and can be extended with a huge range of effects.
If you
want to share your music, it's easy to sync with Apple or Android (and
other) devices, or UPnP/ DNLA devices (TVs, Blu-ray players and more).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Advanced Renamer
Advanced Renamer
is an amazingly powerful tool for renaming, copying or moving files. If
your MP3 library is a mess, then it can give your files new names from
their audio tags, change the case of a file name, add or remove text,
change a file's attributes or timestamps, maybe copy or move MP3's to
new locations based on their tags (specific folders for that artist or
album, say). All
this power comes at a price, though - Advanced Renamer has a steep
learning curve. Experts will love its configurability, and the program
isn't only for MP3s. It works just as well with images, videos and other
file types.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Foorbar2000
If other MP3 organisers and players seem too bulky and complicated, you might prefer Foorbar2000.
Just
like the competition, the program helps you build and organise your
music library, create playlists, sort out your tags, and more. The
interface is very configurable, while a strong core player supports
lots of formats, gapless playback, and Replaygain to level out volume
across tracks, and more.
Yet despite all this, foorbar2000
requires only 7MB of hard drive space (Winamp needs about 10x more), and
can even be installed in "portable" mode, so it won't touch your
Registry or install any other components at all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Freemake Audio Converter
Just as its name suggests, Freemake Audio Converter is an excellent tool for converting audio files into a more useful format.
There's
support for writing MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, AAC, M4A and OGG files.
Various audio settings (bitrate, sample rate, channels) help you get the
best compromise between image quality and file size. The
program can join audio files together, or export its conversions
directly to iTunes, and it's even possible to extract and convert the
soundtrack of most video files.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. MP3tag
Changing
the tags of one MP3 file is easy (right-click, Properties >
Details). When it's hundreds, maybe thousands of tracks, though, you'll
need a tool like MP3tag.
The
program can automatically import data from various web resources
(Amazon, discogs, freedb, MusicBrainz, more), replacing tags in multiple
files without you typing anything. Or
you can apply your own rules to tweak tags however you like. Tags can
then be used to rename files; there's support for downloading cover art,
too, and all this works with a range of tag formats (ID3v1.1, ID3v2.3,
ID3v2.4, MP4, WMA, APEv2 Tags and Vorbis Comments).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Audacity
Audacity is a capable and feature-packed audio editor, yet is still relatively straightforward to use.
Import
an MP3 and you'll see the usual waveform-type display; it's easy to
zoom in and select the area you need, and then you can cut or delete it,
perhaps copy or paste it elsewhere.
If you need more power,
clicking the Effects menu reveals 40 options (Change Pitch, Compressor,
Equalization, Normalize and more). There are useful tools to strip off (some) vocals, or clean up recorded audio by removing clicks and other noises.
If
this isn't enough then support for LADSPA, Nyquist, VST and Audio Unit
plug-ins allows you to extend the program even further.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. VLC Media Player
If you're looking for a player which is simple, easy to use, but also has some power when you need it, then grab a copy of VLC Media Player.
You
can use the program as a very simple, on-demand player. Select one MP3
or an entire album and it'll begin playing, and the interface can be
reduced to a single toolbar, maybe some album art. The
program works with just about every media type, though (music, video,
CDs, discs, devices, streams). There's simple media library management,
playlist creation and tag editing.
A graphic equalizer,
compressor and spatializer help deliver great sound, the interface is
extremely configurable, and plug-ins add more power when you need it.
The internet allows for a huge increase in connection and community as
well as media – more specifically, music. With such a demand, a wave of
new file sharing was born that is now called called BitTorrent. This
allows users to share files easily by storing separate files, not on one
person’s computer, but multiple computers with certain pieces of files
on them to allow downloading from multiple locations and thus speeding
up downloading. (More information on BitTorrent here.)Unfortunately
today, BitTorrent has become the mainstream way for sharing copyrighted
content. There are a few sites though (like LegalTorrents), that do offer torrents that are free and legal.
Today
we will be looking, more specifically, at some of the sites that offer
live concert recordings available for download. In order to download
these files to your computer you will need a torrent client, like utorrent (Windows) or Transmission (Mac, Linux). Here they are, in no particular order:
Etree is a site dedicated to providing numerous free and open-source
related material and media with torrents being one of the best sections
of the site. More specifically located at bt.etree.org,
Etree hosts an incredible amount of free, legal, concert recordings
available for download and distribution. With a fairly large amount of
leechers and seeders, Etree continually has a growing archive of
torrents and live concert recordings from artists like Grateful Dead,
Phish, Widespread Panic, etc.Etree is definitely one of the best resources for accessing the best free, legal concert recordings on the web.
Sugarmegs is one of the most famous archives of free, legal, concert
recordings ever created. While currently hosting over 19,000 live
concert recordings and approximately 4,000 bands, you will surely find
what you are looking for. Bands range from the Allman Brothers to ZZ
Top. Concerts can be streamed through their website, or on your computer
with a .asx file. They also offer full concerts in WMA format.
Sugarmegs is definitely has one of the largest archives of free, legal
torrents on the web.
The Internet Archive (conveniently placed at archive.org) is one of the
most incredible websites that has ever existed. The main intention of
the site is to archive all available media and information available to
mankind (e.g. books, movies, websites, etc.) and, yes, that does mean
audio. With an archive of over 54,000 live concert recordings, you are
sure to find just about any genre and any type of music that is
currently available to mankind.
COTapers, while hosting a much smaller series of torrents then Etree,
Sugarmegs, or The Internet Archive, has quite a large archive or
torrents that are, of course free. COTapers, actually, does not host all
of its BitTorrents, but only the most recent recordings. Still, the
collection is more then enough to listen to for quite a while.Do you know of any other cool sites to download free music from? Tell us in the comments!
Say
you have a movie on DVD, but you want to watch it on your phone,
tablet, somewhere else. You can "rip" that DVD—or turn it into a movie
file on your computer—to play it wherever you want. Here's how to do it.
Blast from the past
is a new weekly feature at Lifehacker, in which we revive old, but
still relevant, posts for your reading and hacking pleasure. This week,
we're updating our video guide to ripping DVDs.
Ripping
a movie to your hard drive can seem like a complicated task, but it's
actually pretty simple. There are a lot of ways to do it and a lot of
different programs out there, but our favorite method uses a program
called Handbrake. It's easy to use, it's available for Windows, Mac, and
Linux, and it'll convert your file into compatible formats for any
device, like an iPad or Android phone. The video above should walk you
through the process, but you can follow along with these instructions.
Head to Handbrake's homepage and download the program. Install it to your computer as directed.
By
default, Handbrake can rip unprotected DVDs, but most DVDs you buy from
the store have copy protection. To get around this, you'll need to
install libdvdcss. On Windows, you can download this file separately (here for 32-bit systems and here for 64-bit systems), rename it to libdvdcss.dll, and put it in your Handbrake program folder (C:\Program Files\Handbrake). If you're on a Mac, download this file and double-click to install it.
Insert the DVD you want to rip, and open Handbrake.
Click
the Source button in the upper left-hand corner and choose your DVD
drive from the list. It will start scanning your DVD, which could take a
few minutes.
When
it's done, head to the "Title" drop-down menu in the upper left hand
corner of the window. This is where you'll select which part of the DVD
you want to rip. In the case of movies, it's usually the longest title,
so just pick that one. If you're ripping episodes of a TV show, it's
usually the 22 or 44 minute ones, and you'll have to rip them each
separately.
Click
the Browse button on the right side of the window. Navigate to where
you want to save your movie file, and type in a file name in the box.
Click OK.
Next,
head to the bar on the right labeled "Presets". This is where you'll
choose what format the resulting file will be in. If you just want to
watch it on your computer, the "Normal" or "High Profile" preset is
fine. If you want to watch it on something like your iPod or iPhone,
though, pick the correct preset from the list.
Hit the Start button at the top of the window. This will take awhile, so you'll probably want to grab a cup of tea.
When
it's done, you'll get a popup notification. From there, you can
double-click on your movie file to watch it, or sync it to your device
of choice. Enjoy!
It
seems like a lot of steps at first, but it really isn't very
difficult—especially after your first time through. Once you've
installed the libdvdcss file, for example, you can skip that step in the
future.
It's
just a matter of picking the right chapter from the DVD and ripping it
to the right format. Note that if you're going to be ripping a lot of
DVDs, you can head to Tools > Options (or Handbrake > Preferences,
if you're on a Mac), and hit "Browse" next to "Default Path" to choose a
location for all the other movies you rip in the future. You can also
click "Add to Queue" instead of "Start" and rip multiple files at once,
which is great for ripping TV shows.
Although there a ton of different audio formats out there, many media
devices such as iPods, smartphones and tablets, and desktop music
players like Windows Media Player and iTunes are usually compatible with
only a few specific ones. FLAC is one of the formats that not many
devices and media players support out of the box. It is a lossless audio
format that can carry uncompressed, high quality audio but comes at the
cost of its large file size. Fortunately, there are quite a few
different audio converters that let you convert FLAC to one of the
commonly used audio types such as MP3 or WAV. If you’re looking for an
easy way of converting FLAC to other popular formats in bulk, take Free Convert FLAC To MP3
for a spin. This small yet powerful Windows application is breeze to
use, thanks to its well-designed interface, simple navigation, great
output options and contrary to what its name would suggest, impressive
output format support.
Besides its simple design and ease of use, the application sports a
large number of output files, including MP3, WMA, AAC, M4A, OGG, AIFF,
WAV, AC3, MP2, AU and AMR, which should sum up every major format out
there. Getting started with the application is a piece of cake. When
installed and launched, you can add a batch of files via selecting a
whole directory, or using drag and drop gestures to add any files you
want individually or in groups.
The application then displays the metadata information for the tracks
such as name, duration, sampling rate, bitrate, channels, size etc.
Next, you need to select the output format as well as its quality using
the drop down menus. The application carries a set of predefined profile
parameters for setting audio quality starting from lowest to highest.
That said, you may also specify a custom profile of your choice by
clicking the Edit button and then adjusting audio stream and metadata
information in the resultant pop up window. Once ready, select the
destination directory and click Convert to begin the conversion process.
Another interesting feature of the application is its built-in audio
playback capability that lets you play the selected FLAC files without
using a third party player. The playback section contains all the basic
playback controls for next, preview, play, stop and volume, accompanied
by a seek bar. There’s no playlist, equalizer or media library feature
though, but then again, the app is basically a converter and isn’t
intended to be used primarily as a player.
Although it’s not jam-packed with an umpteen number of features, Free
Converter FLAC To MP3 works great for quickly converting FLAC files to
other popular audio formats. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista,
Windows 7 and Windows 8. Download Free Convert FLAC To MP3
Media Player Classic today received a
brand new update that includes new options and plenty of bug fixes, so
everyone running the app at this time should make sure that they are
getting the fresh version as soon as possible. (07-07-2014)
Media Player Classic 1.7.6 comes with a new option to control subtitle
renderer behavior regarding anamorphic video, while also adding a
setting in the “Save Subtitle” dialog to control the export of the
default style as an external “.style” file.
At the same time, it also changes some parameters concerning the text
subtitles and updates the built-in modules for better stability and
reliability.
It also fixes a number of bugs and issues that were affecting the
dockable bars, full screen playback, auto-zooming, and a number of other
features that are being used on a regular basis.
The application continues to provide support for all Windows versions,
including XP, and it even comes with some improvements specifically
developed for this particular OS edition. XP no longer receives updates
and security patches since April 8, 2014.
Overall, this is clearly an update that comes in handy to everyone looking for a lightweight yet advanced video player, so download Media Player Classic 1.7.6 right now to see what it brings new.
