Essential to any media creator's toolbox is a feature-packed, intuitive audio editor, and Audacity is an A-grade fit; allowing for precise, robust waveform-based audio capture and editing. The program is indispensable for tasks such as cleaning up aged or deteriorated recordings, and recording analog audio from LPs or cassettes for digital renewal.
Audacity
Audio
Video
Paint.net
Some open-source photo editors were originally created for the Linux community and eventually put out a Windows version. Paint.net was design specifically for Windows and has been compared to such commercial software as Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop.
If you really want to replace Photoshop Elements, Picasa is a must-have download. When you first launch it, it asks if you want it to scan your PC for photos. This process happens quickly, and you can start viewing the results immediately as the scan continues in the background. Picasa doesn't save your changes automatically, however, nor does it prompt you to save when you navigate away from an edited photo, so be aware of that quirk.
Picasa
Photo
Multimedia
XBMC
Gimp
GIMP is an open-source, multi-platform image-editing tool originally released by a pair of college students. It's now a robust editing and drawing program featuring advanced commands such as layers, paths, and painting tools. Once you take the time to get to know its sometimes quirky interface and take advantage of available plug-ins, GIMP can be as flexible and powerful as any professional-level image editor.
XMBC is a media front end perfect for a Home Theater PC or any other PC (or network) with music, photos and videos. It supports an almost endless number of remote controls and supports skins so you can customize its look. It can also handle streaming video from the internet. There are versions for Windows, Linux and OSX.
Exact Audio Copy
EAC rips exact, lossless copies of your music CDs. It has built-in error detection along with a butt-load of other features. It also has a small sound editor included. If you have stacks of music CDs laying around, rip them onto your hard drive and toss the platters.
There's an old proverb in the video encoding world: "Speed, size, quality: pick two." It means that you always have to make a trade-off between the time it takes to encode a video, the amount of compression used, and the picture quality. Well, this release of HandBrake refuses to compromise. It picks all three.
HandBrake
DVDFab
DVDFab HD Decrypter can remove all of the DVD protections (and part of BD protections) allowing you to copy it to your hard drive. You can copy either the full disc or just the main movie (sans disc "extras"). System requirements are low so, almost anyone can use it.
RipBot264
Asimple and easy to use All-In-One Converter. Convert from DVD, Blu-ray or any video to iPod, iPad, PSP, PS3, XBOX360, PC, MAC, MP4, MKV, Blu-ray or AVCHD. The site has a lot of "How To's" to help guide you through your conversions.