-----------
audio tools
-----------

+ k3b is good for ripping+converting cd audio to mp3 or other formats.

+ for lossless music compression, the flac and shorten (shn) formats are
very nice.  there are some canonical tools for each platform for these.

+ for converting from ogg and such to mp3 and m4a and such, use the
gnome tool called 'soundconverter'.


--------------------------------
music library manager and player
--------------------------------

+ lollypop is our current choice for managing a large music library and
playing back songs in it.

+ banshee used to be our app of choice for managing our music library, but it
seems to no longer be updated.


---------------------------------
dvd burner and dvd player support
---------------------------------

+ k3b is a pretty great and versatile cd and dvd burner.

+ k3b is good for ripping+converting cd audio to mp3 or other formats.

+ for dvd processing, vobcopy is a must.

+ for dvd playing and ripping in general, decss is needed.
it's available in the restricted packages on ubuntu.
lots of articles describe how to set that up.

+ vlc is a good player for dvds.

-------------------------------
ripping music using a turntable 
-------------------------------

audacity is the go-to tool for ripping music from vinyl records
and many other audio toaster processes:
http://www.audacityteam.org/

this article helps a lot to get the music off of vinyl records using a usb turntable:
https://www.linux.com/news/using-usb-turntable-linux


----------------
movie processing
----------------

avidemux:
if you need to manipulate a video, for example to rotate it or transcode it to a different
format, then avidemux works great.

openshot:
if you need to jam a bunch of videos together, crossfade them, and that kind of stuff,
then try openshot.  it also supports simple saving with different quality levels, which
lets you drop a bunch of size at the expense of the picture.  sometimes needed.

---------------------------
music collection management
---------------------------

dupeguru:
found this to be pretty helpful in finding my duplicate songs.  it is able to analyze
when the files are the same, even if their names don't match.
check: did it even compare by metadata?  not remembering currently.

fdupes:
another useful tool for finding duplicate tracks in a music collection, but relies on exact
matches in the names(?).  was not so powerful as dupeguru, but still useful.


-----------------------------
picture collection management
-----------------------------

shotwell:
currently the top picture manipulation and manager tool i use at home.
the imaginations folder is based on the date management in shotwell.