zamzar posts

Filed under: Audio, Web

Zamzar converts uploaded text docs to MP3 audio files

by Brad Linder Apr 16th 2009

While the author's guild may have problems with software that can convert eBooks to poorly pronounced audiobooks, there are a lot of good reasons you might want to convert text to speech. It can make written documents accessible for visually impaired people. Or you can listen to the morning paper while riding the subway or driving your car to work.

Online conversion service Zamzar recently added text to speech conversion to its massive list of file conversion capabilities. Here's how it works. Just upload a Word, PDF, TXT, Wordperfect, Works, or OpenDocument Text doc to Zamzar and select MP3 as the output format. Enter your email address and after a few moments Zamzar will send you a link to an MP3 file with a digitized voice doing a passable but somewhat awkward reading of the text you uploaded.

Of course, there are plenty of desktop applications that will do the same thing. But Zamzar comes in handy if you're away from your home computer or if you're looking for a single service that lets you convert a whole slew of documents. You can also convert documents from DOC to PDF, PDF to HTML, JPG to BMP, and so on.

Tags: conversion, text-to-speech, zamzar

Filed under: Business, Windows, Macintosh, Office, Productivity, Web services, Freeware

Converting .docx documents to .doc

by Jason Clarke Sep 24th 2008

Thanks Microsoft. No seriously, thanks. As far as I can tell, the new .docx default document format in MS Word 2007 and 2008 (for Mac) does nothing to make my life easier, but has certainly made it more of a pain. Although my office predominantly uses Office 2003, our users are starting to receive documents saved in the newer .docx format, and are unable to open or edit them. Since I happen to be running Office 2007 and 2008 on my machine (it's a Mac with VMWare Fusion for running Windows), I get to play the role of "mister file converter".

Well, no longer.

Thanks to our pals over at TUAW, I can now redirect my office mates to Zamzar's free online file converter. We've written about Zamzar before, but this is the first I had heard that it supports Office file formats.

Tags: doc, document-conversion, docx, docx-to-doc, excel, tuaw, word, zamzar

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Convert PDFs to Word documents with PDF to Word Converter

by Simon Kerbel Feb 14th 2008

For those looking to convert a Word document to a PDF file, there are a large number of solutions out there. But how about vice versa? There haven't been many programs brave enough to try and convert a PDF to a Word document.

One program that has stepped up to the plate is PDF to Word Converter 1.1, a free tool that converts a PDF back to a Word document for editing, removing and adding elements, and more.

The program is a small download (about 1 MB), and installation is straightforward. The user interface is straightforward as well: you select the PDF you wish to convert, choose where you want the Word document to be saved, and you're ready to go. Options include the number of pages to convert (you can select all or portions of the document), choice of a default font, and the option to retain shapes and images.

In our test, PDF to Word converter worked flawlessly, quickly and neatly converting a 5 page PDF file in about five seconds.

PDF to Word converter is a nice desktop solution, though it is limited to one conversion type. If you can get online, you might be better served with Zamzar, the online file conversion tool with support for a huge amount of conversion types.

[via Confessions of a Freeware Junkie]

Tags: converter, pdf, word, zamzar

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Web services

Zamzar online file converter adds premium services

by Brad Linder Jan 22nd 2008

There's nothing we love better than a good file conversion application. Well, maybe not nothing, but if you've got a PDF that you need to turn into a DOC or a WMA that you desperately want to be a MP3, the last thing you want to do is spend your time searching the web for the appropriate file converter. That's why we're big fans of tools that let you convert multiple file types like Mediacoder and Super.

And then there's online do-it-all file conversion service Zamzar. Zamzar lets you convert media files, documents, images, pretty much anything. Zamzar is a web based service, so it might take a little longer to convert some files since you need to upload them to a server, wait for the conversion to complete, and then check your email inbox for a download link. But as a web based application, Zamzar is useful for Windows, Mac, and Linux users whether they're at home, work, or using a library computer.

When we first reviewed Zamzar over a year ago, one of the free service's limitations was that you could only upload files up to 100MB at a time. Now Zamzar is offering premium accounts that allow users to convert files up to 1GB (which could come in handy if you want to convert video files).

Tags: file-conversion, zamzar

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Web services

Convert pretty much anything with youconvertIt

by Brad Linder Sep 20th 2007

Anything you can do offline, you can do online these days. Whether you can do it better is another story.

YouconvertIt is a new web-based file conversion service. Like Zamzar, YouconvertIt lets you upload audio, video, image, or document files and convert from one format to another. Just select the file from your computer to upload, select your target format, and the web service will send you an e-mail when your new file is ready to download.

Unlike Zamzar, YouconvertIt doesn't appear to have a file size limit (although that may change), and currently has no advertising (which will definitely change). Oh yeah, and you can convert units like miles, kilometers, inches, and feet.

The service is definitely fast and convenient. But you get a lot more control over your file conversions if you're using desktop software. If you're converting a document from HTML to text, this might not matter so much. But if you're converting a WAV to MP3 or MPEG-2 to MP4, there's no telling what kind of file size/quality you're going to get with these web-based services. If you need to convert a file and you don't happen to have a good desktop program handy, YouconvertIt will do in a pinch. But we wouldn't recomment it if you regularly need to convert/compress multimedia files.

[via AppScout]

Tags: compression, conversion, file-conversion, youconvertit, zamzar

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software

Convert files and store them online with Zamzar and MyDataBus

by Brad Linder Aug 6th 2007

Zamzar is an online service for converting images, videos, and documents from one format to another. MyDataBus is a service that lets you store up to 5GB of files online for sharing via MySpace, Facebook, or other social networking sites.

The two sites have announced a new partnership that lets you easily perform file conversions of media uploaded to MyDataBus. The collaboration makes a lot of sense. If you've uploaded a bunch of PNG, GIF, and BMP files that you'd rather store as JPEGs, you can click the options tab and use Zamzar to convert the files without uploading them to Zamzar first.

The integration's not quite complete. When you're converted file is ready for download, Zamzar shoots you an email with a link to a page where you can download the file. There's no way to automatically save the file to MyDataBus. But there is a note on the page suggesting that you could store your files online if you sign up for a MyDataBus account.

It would be nice if you could upload your files to one site, convert them, and save them to the same site all without having to open a new web page. But we doubt we'll see that any time soon unless MyDataBus buys Zamzar or vice versa.

[via Mashable]

Tags: file conversion, FileConversion, mydatabus, online storage, OnlineStorage, zamzar

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, E-mail

KoolWIRE: Yet another way to convert docs to PDF

by Brad Linder Jun 26th 2007

Need to convert a document or picture to a PDF and don't have time to download and install software? Just send an email to pdf@koolwire.com and include your file as an attachment. In a few moments, you'll get an email response from KoolWIRE with a new attachment containing your file in PDF format.

The service is free, and KoolWire can convert Word (.doc), Powerpoint (.ppt), Excel (.xls), Jpeg, GIF, Rich Text Format (.rtf), and text (.txt) files to PDF. It does a pretty good job with files that don't make heavy use of graphics. But when we took a quick screenshot of Download Squad, added it to a Word Document and uploaded it, the result came back a bit truncated.

You can do the same thing by uploading files to free file conversion service Zamzar, or for some documents, you can use the free Google Docs & Spreadsheets. Still, it's nice to have options.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Tags: convert files, ConvertFiles, file conversion, FileConversion, koolwire, pdf, zamzar

Filed under: Utilities, Video, Web services

Easiest YouTube downloads ever

by Brad Linder Mar 15th 2007

There are roughly 157,213 web sites out there that provide you with one method or another for downloading videos from YouTube. But we've never seen one that's easier to use than KissYouTube.

Why's that? Because here's all you have to do to save a YouTube video as an .flv file:

Find a video you want to download on YouTube.
Enter "kiss" in the URL before "youtube.com."
Hit enter.

That's pretty much it. A screen will pop up asking if you want to download the file or send it to a friend. No need to install any browser plugins or to enter an email address. You don't even need even to bookmark a URL. Just remember to type kiss after www. (KISS, if you haven't figured it out stands for "keep it simple stupid.")

Of course, what you'll wind up with is an .flv file, so you might be better off with a service that converts the file for you.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Tags: flv, kissyoutube, online video, OnlineVideo, youtube, zamzar, zuneit

Filed under: Utilities, Web services, Freeware

Zamzar online file converter adds browser plugin

by Brad Linder Feb 25th 2007

We wrote about Zamzar a few months ago. It's a free online service that will convert video, audio, and documents. You upload the file, enter your email address, and Zamzar will send you a note when your new file is ready for download.

Well now it looks like Zamzar's got the online video bug, adding support for converting videos from YouTube and a number of other services. You can either enter the URL of the video, or use a new browser plugin to automatically find videos to convert on the page you're visiting.

Zamzar will allow you to convert files from YouTube, Google Video, Myspace, Revver, putFile, Break.com, Apple Trailers, Dailymotion, Metacafe, iFilm, Grouper, and Blip.tv. You can convert files to a variety of formats, including 3GP, FLAC, MP4, and AVI.

Tags: file conversion, FileConversion, online video, OnlineVideo, zamzar

Filed under: Utilities, Web services, Freeware

Zamzar: Free online file conversion

by Jordan Running Nov 2nd 2006

Awhile back I linked to Media-Convert, a web service that will convert files while you wait. I was duly impressed by Media-Convert, and I'm even more impressed by Zamzar, a very similar free service with a Web 2.0 touch. It can convert between five image formats, 14 document formats, 11 audio formats, and nine video formats, and unlike Media-Convert you can convert many files at once, up to 100MB (though you can only do one kind of conversion at once). After you've selected a file or files to convert, Zamzar will tell you which formats are available to convert to. Then you supply your e-mail address and click "convert" and Zamzar will e-mail you a link to the converted file. Not only was I impressed with Zamzar's ease of use, I was very impressed by its speed. After clicking on "Convert," I received the e-mail instantaneously. Also, the conversion is pretty faithful--though converting a complex Excel file to HTML didn't result in a perfect facimile, it didn't look bad at all. Zamzar is definitely a tool I'll be keeping on hand for when I need to do a quick conversion.

Tags: convert, web 2.0, Web2.0, web20, zamzar

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Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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