Here are the downloads you will need for the class.
Get a GMail account
This is very important because it’s free and it allows you to send much larger files than you can send with your UMass student account. Each email has a 20 megabyte limit.
Picasa photo editing and storage with Google:
This is a terrific way to organize, edit, crop and tone your photos. There’s also a neat little button that allows you to export stuff to YouTube.
Sound recording and editing with Audacity:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Great way to record, edit and export sound files. For the purposes of this class, make sure you export all sound files as mp3 files. To do this easily, you PC users must carefully download LAME and install it to your programs folder. Watch your prompts carefully when you do this!
Basic storytelling with Windows Movie Maker and iMovie
https://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx
If you have a PC and you’re running Windows, you almost certainly already have this sitting on your hard drive. Sometimes, it’s tucked away in the “accessories” folder of your software lineup.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/
Here’s some information about iMovie. It’s a terrific, tastefully designed platform that only those lucky Apple owners can have. No, you cannot get a version for the PC.
Storytelling with Soundslides:
“Ridiculously simple storytelling” is their claim and they aren’t kidding. This is the standard software package used throughout the news industry when it comes to combining photos with sound. The free trial download is only good for 30 days, so please do NOT download this program until I ask you to do so near the end of the semester.