Audacity is a cross platform open source audio application which is very popular for podcasting because of it’s simple use and of course the free price tag but it is also an incredibly robust tool for audio development.

With Audacity you can record new audio files or import and edit existing audio files with ease and post them to your favorite podcasting or blogging platform with just a few clicks. Audacity works with a number of industry standard features such as built in ID3 support for meta tag keywords and a variety of formats such as FLAC, WAV and MP3 with the inclusion of the Lame MP3 encoder.

Audacity is great for merging multiple audio files so you can add jingles and advertisements to existing audio files or create shortened clips or jingles for online promotion purposes in just a few easy steps. Audacity is a robust tool that does a lot more than record simple audio files so there is a bit of a learning curve to understanding the audio timeline and user interface features but in a few short minutes the average PC users should be able to figure it out and use it for the basic features.

More advanced users will appreciate all that it does for music development and sound recording but thats probably another article. For the average podcaster you’ll want to hit record, then save and then upload it to your desired application and that’s about it. What’s nice about Audacity is that when you do need more serious audio editing features you have them right there. Make changes to sound, pitch, bass and treble and repair damaged audio files or try out many of the other features which I can barely understand myself if you are a true audiophile and improve on your sound recordings to become a better blogger or podcaster with Audacity.

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I have been using the Windows Operating System since Windows 95 was introduced to the market and never really used another OS until Ubuntu which I installed from a LiveCD onto a laptop and played with for the first time in about 2007 I think it was. I was impressed with what I saw and was very hopeful that it would mature into a replacement for Windows which, although incredibly powerful, always seemed limited in many ways.

The security issues and constant attacks on Windows systems plus a few nasty Windows virus infections has made me want a new operating system for a very long time but my intense usage of so many Windows specific programs made it a seemingly impossible task. Now I realize I may have been facing an AOL style issue or portal syndrome as it may be called. What is portal syndrome you ask? Remember the old AOL portal and how limited it’s interaction with the real Internet was? With AOL you rarely had raw Internet access and most if not all of the content you saw was provided by the AOL portal. It presented a very distorted view of the Internet and what was actually available out there.

I think being on a Windows platform and assuming you can’t do that with Linux or other open source applications is the same portal syndrome. Unless you start using Ubuntu or some other Linux flavor you are unaware of just how powerful and superior Unix is over Windows operating system. Ubuntu is so much easier to use. It is far more intuitive, responsive and simplistic to use even for a novice user. The Ubuntu Software Center is a step above the old Synaptics Package manager which is still present and adding new software or tweaks to your Ubuntu operating system is a much easier process with full integration directly in the OS which is so much easier and better than the discombobulated and dysfunctional Windows updates, patches and software delivery process.

Installing Ubuntu on my laptop was simple and straightforward and everything seems to function just fine with just a few tweaks of the Nvidia drivers using the Restricted Hardware Drivers service built into Ubuntu so I can get full usage of my graphics card including 3D support.The integrated software installation and ease of updating Ubuntu has made my decision to make a full transition to Ubuntu an easier choice. I will still have access to Windows systems including the new laptop we have with Windows 7 on it plus I’ll still use my experience on the Windows platform including my Microsoft certifications for clients business when necessary but personally I will stop using proprietary software including Windows and any other applications whenever possible.

Obviously there are limitations to this with Flash being a perfect example of the type of proprietary software i will have to use but I will no longer buy and pay for software such as Microsoft Office or Windows or any other program which has an open source solution. I’m not against software vendors and developers making a living from software but I am or against paying for something that is available for free and I think open software development is good for everyone not just the developers. The open and free sharing of ideas and information leads to new ideas and information and with a world full of developers working together we are bound to find more solutions.

There are some things I will miss right away like the Vista Speech tools and maybe some marketing specific tools like link builders and submitters I have used in the past but I’ll have so many new things to work with that I think I’ll find myself doing more than I have been recently. Ubuntu has a number of features that can be easily added including great tools for Ham Radio, Satellite Tracking and Media Broadcasting like that are beyond existing for me. I’m very interested in turning this laptop and a satellite receiver I have here into a global communications device capable of two way information exchange from anywhere on the planet.

in the process of installing Ubuntu on the laptop I corrupted the MBR of my Windows Vista installation and I can only boot into Ubuntu for now. It’s probably an easy fix but I think I’ll leave it jacked for now so I’m forced into using Ubuntu even when it might be easier for me just to revert back to Windows for some task I’m more familiar with on that platform. I’m going to start blogging more about open source applications and Windowless solutions to my transition. the first big change will come when I chose a new photo management tool over Google Picasa which I am going to replace for no other reason than I want to see what is available to me in Ubuntu. I have a date with F-Spot Photo Manager and Fotowall this afternoon as I pool my media collection and prepare to post some more content online.

I have a few gigabytes of video to upload and and a brand new 9MB digital cable connection with a blazing fast 758K upload speed that I’m just dying to take for a test ride

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