Hey everyone, what are your must have apps? Media players, productivity, image editors and so on. Thanks!
I'm not sure that you "must have" anything, other than what you might require for your specific needs.
That said, there is a lot of stuff that is either free, or is very inexpensive, that is very much worth having, or at least checking out. Here are a few programs that I find really useful:
EasyEnvelopes ($10)
ambrosiasw/utilities/easyenvelopes-mac/ (bad link removed)
(The easiest, quickest and most fun way to address and print an envelope.)
Growly Notes (free)
http://growlybird.com/GrowlyBird/Notes.html
(A really nice program for keeping notes, snippets from Web sites, etc. If you work on big projects and need to keep all of your research/thoughts/citations in one place, this is it. It has a garish default interface, but in Prefs there is an option to change to a very Mac-like interface. Some prefer Evernote, but this program isn't Web-based, so it's more private. In very recent versions of the MacOS, Apple's Notes has evolved to do much of the same things.)
WordService (free)
http://www.devontechnologies.com/download/products.html
(Allows you to instantly do a number of text clean up chores without having to switch applications. Reformat text paragraphs, clean up tabs, quotes, line endings, change case. etc. Also allows you to highlight a Web address in a text document and instantly go to it in your browser.)
VLC (free)
Official download of VLC media player, the best Open Source player - VideoLAN
(Allows you to play just about any video format, including those that QuickTime Player can't handle.)
Spotify (free/pay)
Listening is everything
(Find just about any music and play it on your Mac, legally. Doesn't download songs; it's more like a radio by-request. The free version has ads that are easily ignored.)
Libre Office (free)
Home | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft
(A Microsoft Office clone. Compatible with Office files and file formats. Also can open and edit WordPerfect files.)
GrowlyWrite (free)
Growly Write
(If you want a word processor that is more advanced than TextEdit, but less complex than Word or LibreOffice, this one might be what you are looking for.)
KoalaCalc (free)
Macropod Software - ODLog
(A really nice calculator. Much more advanced than the one that comes with your Mac. Includes tape and lots of conversions.)
FormulatePro (free)
Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.
(Allows you to fill in PDF forms on-screen and print them. Even locked ones! The latest version of Preview can do most of what Formulate can do, and more, but Formulate is really good at what it does, and makes it easier. )
PaintBrush (free)
Paintbrush | Home
(Basic painting program. Reminiscent of MacPaint or Microsoft Paint. There are free painting programs for the Mac that are more sophisticated. But this one won't overwhelm anyone. Recent versions of Preview have similar functionality, though it is well hidden.)
Gimp (free)
GIMP - Downloads
GIMP
(An advanced photo retouching, image composition and image authoring program, similar to Photoshop.)
DrawBerry (free)
DrawBerry
(Vector drawing program. Includes layers and other really nice features.)
EasyFind (free)
http://www.devontechnologies.com/products/freeware.html
(Spotlight doesn't look everywhere on your hard drive for things. It's designed for speed, and to keep you away from things that might get you in trouble. EasyFind looks *everywhere* on your Mac. It can even look for invisible files.)
MalwareBytes (free)
Mac Antivirus | Malwarebytes Antivirus for Mac | Malwarebytes
(Looks for and eliminates all known adware. Will also remove some malware, but this isn’t a comprehensive solution for dealing with malware.)
Crypt3 (free)
Crypt3
http://dekorte.com/projects/shareware/Crypt
(Instantly encrypt and password protect your files. Open them with a double-click. Not even the FBI can break this encryption. Much of the same functionality is in Apple’s Disk Utility...this is easier to use.)
YASU (free)
yasuformac (bad link removed)
(Most of the routine maintenance that you need to do on your Macintosh, all in one place. Unlike other similar utilities, this one is easy to use and it doesn’t include a bunch of confusing and possibly dangerous options that you don't need.)
BlueGriffon (free, some extended features are only available if you pay for them, but none of them are terribly important)
http://bluegriffon.org/
WYSIWYG Web site creation program (there is also a built-in text editor if you choose to work with the raw HTML, and it helps you by allowing you to add HTML commands with one click), easy to use (if you know how to use a word processor you will take to this program quickly), and full featured. It's great for beginners and experienced Web designers alike.
Free video tutorial series to learn to use BlueGriffon:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC06B5890CFFF491C
Desktop Icon Manager - DIM (free)
www.parker9.com- Desktop Icon Manager
(A one trick pony, but a valuable one. It’s way too easy to accidently set the “View” for your desktop to something that re-arranges everything with no way to get back. With one click, DIM puts your desktop icons right back where they were when you last saved their arrangment.)
VideoLAN Client - VLC (free)
Official Download of VLC media player for Mac OS X - VideoLAN
(A Swiss Army Knife for playing any and every video format file.)
SuperDuper! (free/$28)
SuperDuper!
(This program creates a backup of your main hard drive onto another hard drive; a perfect, bootable clone. SuperDuper is dead reliable and super-easy to use. And it's fast too! Some folks prefer Carbon Copy Cloner, but I've had problems with CCC. SuperDuper, combined with an inexpensive external hard drive, can, and probably will, save your bacon when your hard drive fails.)
SpamSieve ($30)
SpamSieve: Easy-to-use Mac spam filter for Apple Mail, Outlook, Airmail, MailMate, and more
(The built-in anti-spam filtering in most e-mail programs doesn't work very well. You can waste an awful lot of time dealing with spam each day. SpamSieve does an almost magical job of sorting spam into its own folder to be looked at and erased at your leisure.)