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Media and creative
What HN commenters recommend, ranked by distinct recommenders. Under each: what people praise most and the most common caveat, or the strongest quote where there is no summary yet.
- 1.Loved for LLM-friendly, Code as design · Caveat Fillets and complexity
- 2.Loved for Python scripting, Industry standing · Caveat Learning curve
- 3.Loved for Free Photoshop alternative, Long-term reliability · Caveat Confusing UI
- 4.Loved for Long-term favorite, Photoshop replacement · Caveat Intrusive ads
- 5.Loved for Screen recording, Ease of use · Caveat Difficult UX
- 6.Loved for Music discovery, Works well · Caveat Declining reliability
- 7.Loved for Photoshop replacement, Free and open · Caveat Heavy for basics
- 8.Loved for Reliable daily use, Free and open source · Caveat Feed discovery
- 9.Loved for Python and LLMs, Open-source capability · Caveat Clunky UI
- 10.Loved for No ads, YouTube Music included · Caveat Sponsor segments
- 11.Loved for Ad-free YouTube, Better than official · Caveat Bugs
- 12.Loved for Team design systems, Collaboration and planning · Caveat Replaced by AI/code
- 13.Loved for Redesigned interface, Loved and robust · Caveat Not a DAW
- 14.Loved for Versatile drawing, Adobe replacement · Caveat SVG reformatting
- 15.Loved for Music discovery, Listening history · Caveat Stripped redesign
- 16.Loved for Scriptable and hackable, Pairs with yt-dlp · Caveat macOS packaging
- 17.Loved for General playback, Mobile music · Caveat Clunky interface
- 18.Loved for Apple TV experience, Many media sources · Caveat Limited search
- 19.Loved for Editing control, Linux support · Caveat Learning curve
- 20.Loved for Many client devices, Low latency · Caveat Needs wired host
- 21.Loved for Python-based syntax, Generally recommended · Caveat build123d preferred
- 22.Loved for Linux support, Video editing · Caveat Linux codecs
- 23.Loved for Beats Spotify, Discovery and curation · Caveat Unwanted auto-launch
- 24.Loved for Beats stock firmware, Device support · Caveat Sunlight fading
- 25.Loved for Local generation, Modest hardware · Caveat Learning curve
- 26.Loved for Extensions, Cross-platform · Caveat Wine on Linux
- 27.Loved for Jellyfin client, Appliance builds · Caveat TV navigation
- 28.Loved for DAW latency, Reliability · Caveat Live recording latency
- 29.Loved for Curatable feed, Learning content · Caveat Recommendations and Shorts
- 30.Loved for Scriptable, Hobby PCB design · Caveat AI automation limits
- 31.Loved for Self-hosting, Full-text fetching
- 32.Loved for Great podcatcher, Android staple · Caveat Missing audio features
- 33.Loved for Ad-free YouTube, Patches other apps · Caveat Android only
- 34.Loved for Simple interface, Simple parts · Caveat Barebones
- 35.Loved for Ad-free viewing, Deep customization · Caveat Requires sideloading
- 36.Loved for Buying music, Artist-friendly · Caveat Upload size limit
- 37.Loved for Creator catalog, Exclusives, early access · Caveat Habit formation
- 38.Loved for Spotify alternative, Artist payouts · Caveat Recommendations
- 39.Loved for Overall quality, Daily use · Caveat Linux audio latency
- 40.Loved for E-reader syncing, Library management · Caveat Clunky UI
- 41.Loved for Focus on game, Visual quality · Caveat Game performance
- 42.Loved for Linux support, Main DAW · Caveat Overdub workflow
- 43.Loved for SponsorBlock, no ads, Features · Caveat Auto-skip
- 44.Loved for Lightroom alternative, Output quality · Caveat Library performance
- 45.Loved for Lightweight, Still works · Caveat Development status
- 46.Loved for Ease of use, Browser-based · Caveat High polygon counts
- 47.Loved for Offline access, Travel use · Caveat Download size
- 48.Loved for Intuitive interface, Photoshop alternative · Caveat Mac-only
- 49.Loved for Simple and light, Polish · Caveat No Linux version
- 50.Loved for Artist discovery, Musician-friendly · Caveat Upload limits
- 51.Loved for Catalog breadth, Premium bundle · Caveat Bugs and glitches
- 52.Loved for Industry standard, Familiar workflow · Caveat Subscription cost
- 53.I recently switched from Shotcut to Kdenlive. Kdenlive's UX is much more intuitive.
- 54.I learned to CAD on Fusion 360 with no formal education and it just worked.
- 55.using easy effects made them plenty "fine". Without, it sounded like absolute trash.
- 56.bitwig, renoise and reaper all support linux for those who want or need commercial audio applications on linux
- 57.Tidal is basically completely satisfying as a Spotify replacement for me
- 58.Rhino is unusually suitable for AI agentic generation
- 59.I use Wholfin (https://github.com/damontecres/Wholphin) on my TV and it's really nice
- 60.I started with Ableton Live six years or so ago and it's been a wonderful hobby.
- 61.I love using Palmier, specially the multi-cam feature! It saves me A TON of time on editing my YouTube videos
- 62.I moved to IINA to finally get back to a video Swiss Army knife that just plays video
- 63.I use Pandora to this day as my primary streaming source, as it has my vibes down perfectly
- 64.I love squoosh! It’s been one of the few PWAs I have installed and actually use regularly.
- 65.has been the most intuitive music livecoding experience I've come across
- 66.go with OpenGL, it's cross-platform, old (which is good and bad at the same time) and is the easiest of them all.
- 67.Affinity is a great alternative to Photoshop that is free
- 68.I love ImageMagick. I've used it a few times to make a PDF look scanned.
- 69.Because with iTunes, I could and did have regular playlists and smart playlists using conditions like ratings, last played, play count
- 70.I couldn't get off Google Photos, it's just too useful
- 71.Lightroom isn’t perfect. But it is fast, it is intuitive
- 72.Interestingly this one with its Winamp mode is what I was looking for.
- 73.I use Picard to organise my music into a sensible directory structure
- 74.I use Freetube instead of YouTube exactly because no login, no algorithm, no ads, no sponsored content.
- 75.by leaning on KiCadRoutingTools, it looks like there’s actually very little token usage at the routing stage
- 76.
- 77.That's exactly how I use Solidworks (and similar parametric CAD software) all the time.
- 78.I use this on devices that I haven't signed in with Google.
- 79.I've been a pretty happy Aseprite user for years - practically a decade at this point.
- 80.You just need a reader which has features to filter out certain users and words (like Newsblur what I use)
- 81.Strawberry has great collection support as I own thousands of ripped CDs.
- 82.the best solution (performance/features wise) I found is Photomator
- 83.YouTube Kids already has a whitelist mode. We use it all the time for our 8 year old.
- 84.an open source alternative to Last.fm that I can confirm works with Navidrome
- 85.Plexamp is not perfect and not open source unfortunately, but it's a really good non-enshitified product.
- 86.I have a self-hosted streaming setup, so I've personally found Symfonium (1) to be my go-to.
- 87.I vibe coded a wgpu version for the grid, but then switched to Metal.
- 88.I use Apple's top-notch editing for all sorts of stuff