----------- 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'. ------------------------- burner and 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.