Two more Mac apps I can’t live without

Continuing my series of Mac apps I can and can’t live without. I present the #3 Mac app I can’t live without: Preview

It is easy to hate on built-in apps, but Preview does what I need it to do.  It opens lots and lots of file types, but my main use case is taking a quick screen shot of something, pasting it into a new file on Preview straight off the clipboard, and then deleting it (or, more accurately, not saving it) when I am done.  It has saved me a ton of scratch paper and separate jottings, and it does what it needs to do.  I know I am only scratching the surface of what Preview can do, but, I don’t care.  I am a fan on things that do one thing well, not a bunch of things adequately, and Preview does this for me.

Next, the #2 Mac app I can’t live without: Handbrake

I use Handbrake to make backups of my DVDs.  “DVDs?!” you say.  Well, yes.  When you “buy” a movie on a service, like Apple iTunes, you are actually buying a license to watch that movie, but that license can be revoked, sometimes with little warning.  So, if you want to maintain access to a movie, buying it on DVD is one good way to do it.  It is not a great way to do it, because DVDs have a limited life span and are subject to degradation and physical damage.  Handbrake, however, creates a file from the DVD and that file can be stored, backed up, and protected, like any other file.  It can also be accessed remotely if you store all your media on a SAN or on a video server.

Up next the last two Mac apps I can live without…