Okay folks the idea with this thread is to consolidate a list of all software. You can reply and add you own, and I will then integrate those programs into this first post. If it works for you, try to following my posting format (particularly with what platform(s) the software runs on, and the license).

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Audio Editing

Audacity [Open Source - Windows/Mac OS X/Linux]
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Adobe Audition [Feature-Limited Demo - PC]
www.adobe.com/products/audition/
This is my fave, both for single- and multi-track editing. Though changes are destructive (permanently change the file), you can simulate non-destructive edits in multitrack by breaking your files into as many clips as you like, and grouping these clips for easy manipulation. In single-track, you may make use of editing markers, or cues, which allow not only to label sections of your file, but also to export those sections as individual files. This is really handy when you're working a big project with a lot of voices, and material to sort through.
Audition, particulary version 2.0, is also very stable and has many _layer_s of undo (in case you need to undo changes you've made). In addition, it comes with a plethora of effects, filters, and noise reduction plugins. You can speed things up as well by creating favorites of effects (or sequences of effects) you use frequently and assigning them keyboard shortcuts.

Mp3DirectCut [Free - Windows]
http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html
Unlike most editing programs, you can edit mp3s without recompressing -- i.e. no loss in quality. The best method otherwise involves upsampling to an uncompressed format such as .wav, editing, then saving down to .mp3 again (which requires a second generation of compression).

Soundforge [Feature-Limited Demo - Windows]


Automation

Zara Radio [Free - Windows (no Vista support]
www.zararadio.com
Myron writes:
The software has time, temperature and humidity announcements which would be good for weather updates. You can even use your own time/temperature/humidity files in your own voice. It can obtain the temperature/humidity for your area from the internet automatically.
It can schedule programming to start at a particular time, switch to internet streams and/or satellite feeds. It has DTMF tone decoding for switching if your program source uses it. There is a silence detector to prevent dead air. It has 9 virtual cart machine slots for PSAs, jingles, etc. and you can select from 10 banks of "slots". This will be great for live-assist programming. There is also a logging system although I didn't get a chance to try it out.


Other Software Lists