The Mega Box: The Ultimate Guide to the Best Free Resources on the Internet
By Chris Mason
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About this ebook
Do you like free? Of course you do. Well here is a riddle for you. What is over 500 pages in length and has hundreds of links and thousands of free resources in free information just waiting to be useful to someone who may have trouble making ends meet. The answer is The Mega Box: The Ultimate Guide to Free Resources on the Internet. The book is a Box set of the 8 books in the “In the Box series of Books. Each Book covers the best free resources on the internet in a particular area. The Books in this set include:
App Store in a Box: The Guide to Best Free Applications for Mobile Devices.
Book Store in a Box the Guide to reading and Listening to the Best Free Books on the Internet.
Entrepreneur in a Box: The Guide to the best ways to make money on the Internet.
Production Studio in a Box: A Guide to the Best Production Tools on the Internet.
Record Store in a Box: A Guide to the Best Free Music on the Internet.
Tutor in a Box: A Guide to the Best Free Educational Resources on the Internet
Video Store in a Box: A Guide to the Best Free Television and Movies on the Internet.
As always the author’s contact information is included in case there are any questions are problems. So buy your copy today.
Chris Mason
Chris Mason is a software engineer who would rather have been a writer, but he is addicted to coding and couldn't figure out how to support himself writing obscure novels. He worked as a programmer and programming manager for 18 years -- including 10 years at Microsoft, where he was involved with Word and Office for Macintosh. He has three software patents stashed in the back of his closet. After leaving Microsoft for good he founded GrowlyBird Software, which develops free Macintosh applications. He has written ten novels, four of which are available here. Three of his other novels are for sale on Amazon (as ebooks and paperbacks, at the link shown below), and another will be available there soon. Because he's a workaholic curmudgeon with hermit tendencies, he doesn't engage in social media. But you can contact him at chris@growlybird.com.
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Reviews for The Mega Box
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Book preview
The Mega Box - Chris Mason
APP STORE IN A BOX
A Guide to the Best Free Applications for Mobile Devices on the Internet
By Chris Mason
~~~
Copyright © 2015 by Chris Mason; All rights reserved
Although this is containing original work by the author, this publication makes extensive use of public domain information, such as tables, web links, and other database related material which is not included in the declaration of copyright.
We interpret public domain to mean that this work is in the Public Domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address.
Contact me at digitalattic95@gmail.com
A Digital Attic Publication
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my wife Maxine who has been so supportive of my writing. I love you, sweetheart, you keep on trucking and I’ll do the same.
What’s in this Book
The book features the best in completely free apps. Sometimes two applications will have the same name. The author will always choose the one which is free and has less features as opposed to the one that the reader would have to pay for. I will always be referring to the free app in this book. I hate filler so I only put the very best apps in this book.
Free and Legal
As a writer, the author understands how hard it is to create a creative work so I am against piracy. For this reason, all app were either downloaded from Google Play or iTunes to ensure they were legal and just with all the books in the in a Box
series of books free means free all resources have a free component.
What’s in a Name
Since several mobile applications have the exact same or very similar names under App Name
The author put the exact name of the application (app) and if two or more apps had the same name such as Deal or No Deal the author included the name of the developer as well.
How the Apps got rated
First off I did not count the number of ads or if an app has some annoying bug or even the occasional crash. I rated the app on the following
No mobile application received this low rating.
There is a good app in here somewhere but Howard Carter was unable to help me find it.
Applications that received this rating were average. The application did its desired goal but was no unique or special and lacked polish.
Applications that received this rating were special in some way. The application in question either had something unique to offer, was put together well or was just plain fun to use.
The applications that received this rating had it all. They all were well put together and were the complete package when it came to having both style and substance.
Not Rated
The author did not think he spent enough time with the application for one reason or another to be able to rate it objectively.
The Wonderful Wide World of the Disclaimer
The author/publisher will not be held liable for any damage to any hardware software including loss of sanity that arises from using this book. The author is not affiliated with any designers, developers or makers of the applications featured in this book.
All names, logos, characters, and all copyrights are the properties of their respective creators and companies. The internet is a fluid entity the websites and their content can change with little or no notice. All apps and websites were up and working as of 2/26/15. I have tried all apps either on a smartphone with an Android operating system or one with an Apple operating system.
The Two Flavors Apps Come In
In this ever shrinking world where everyone has gone mobile people are starving for more and more; applications (apps) developers are churning out thousands of apps a day for mobile devices. Whether the reader has smartphone or tablet, the apps will come in two main flavors either IOS (Apple) or Android (Google). Is one better than the other? Yes and no; The author likes the Google Play store better (The user signs in once and stays signed in yeah).However, Apple has iTunes U as well as the fact that even though Google charges less to put an app in their($25 to Apple’s $99).Many apps on iTunes are not on Google Play. I tried to only review apps available in both markets.
The In the Box Series of Books Goes Mobile
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Chris Mason and I write the In the Box
series of books. These books showcase the best completely free websites.Each one of the books in the series focuses on a specific type of media. So featured in this book is the best free apps for phones are tablets in each category. I tried to make these mobile lite versions of my books look and feel similar to their full-size counterparts (when applicable if the reader likes a section why not look into buying the full-size versions at iTunes Barnes and Noble, Smashwords or Kobo.
The Sad Truth about Apps
There are two very sad but very true truths about most Applications.
A. Most apps suck. There is a big app boom going on now where anyone and everyone is trying to make money making applications for cellular phones and tablets. Similar to what caused the great video game crash of 1984; in where thousands of subpar and inferior games were being made for the then giant Atari 2600 Video computer system (VCS).Every designer and company from Purina (Makers of dog food) to 20th Century Fox (the film company) wanted to milk this cash cow and therefore far superior game developers such as Activision got lost. The author will illustrate using the following scenario. A dad walks into a Toys R Us Christmas of 1983 with $25 in his pocket. He sees Pitfall by Activision for $20(the game his son wants) and then sees that he can for the same amount of money pick up two games at $10 dollars apiece in the bargain bin. This dad not knowing that there is a difference in video games and thinking it’s a better deal and that he will be a hero in his son's eyes buys the two inferior games at the 2 for $10.This same dad is then shocked and dismayed by the fact that his son on Christmas day is sad, upset, and grumbling to his self and at the Atari about not getting Pitfall as he asked and how these games suck. The dad feeling like a fool and not wanting to admit he screwed up blames Atari and the rest they say is history. For this reason, I will not put every clone app on the list and the list of apps may be small but I as the author thinks they are cream of the crop and worth a look.
B. Not every great free website has a corresponding app so this book by its very nature will miss a huge number of awesome free websites.
Record Store in a Box Mobile Edition
There are many different music services and apps and just like their big brother websites. These applications come in three flavors. Straight radio stations, Discovery music services, and direct select music services.
Radio Apps
This category is exactly what it sounds like these apps give you access to radio stations up and down your dial and across the United States.
I Heart Radio
This is an awesome app giving you access to most of the radio stations in the United States The app’s easy layout, great selection of stations and having an app that allows the user to play I Heart Radio through the car radio via USB gets the App 5 stars.
Live 365
There’s nothing special here. The app seems a watered down version of the awesome website. Nice layout and user interface.
Check out the Live 365 website for one of the largest selections of genre-specific radio stations (Such as Irish Heavy Metal).
Tune In
Similar to I Heart Radio this covers most of the radio stations in the United States and features one of the author’s favorite radio stations Martini 105.3. A station I heart radio does not seem to carry.
NPR One
A great app to listen to National Public Radio.
Discovery Radio apps
These applications don’t let the user pick the station more like the genre (love songs, 60’s music, Broadway) the point is to let you discover good music.
Accuradio
This awesome app has a great interface, great genre selection, and unlimited skips; as well as a good song rating system and the ability to ban songs, artists and finally mix stations,
Calm Radio
Good app for listening to relaxing music. Good selection of music. The downside may be the long and numerous ads.
Jazz Radio
As the name implies a good collection of channels playing the various types of Jazz can be found here.
Pandora
I never did like Pandora. They select music based on the music qualities (tone, rhythm, pitch).So if you choose the Beach Boys you may only hear California Girls then go hours without hearing another Beach Boys tune but hear music like the Beach Boys. On a Brightside, Pandora has an excellent Barbershop Quartet channel.
The user is only allowed 36 hours of free music a month and then must either pay or wait till the 1st of the next month.
Slacker Radio
Sorry to say nothing special here; just your average app.
Spotify
With one of the best music websites on the web. Spotify has one of the worst apps with a limited music selection and a horrible user interface the app is a real disappointment.
Music ranges from mainstream to indie to just plain weird (The Dukes of Hazard) The user selects the music with user control being a top perk. A must check out in the author’s opinion.
Songza
Similar to Musicovery thus music service groups its music by the mood you’re in but also has genre and decade selection if you wish to select that way, the app also has a search box for artist search as well as a thumbs up thumbs down rating system. The app also seems to let the user the unlimited skips.
Rdio
Typically app will pick an artist the listener likes and the app sets up a radio station with that artist plus similar artists.
First, the author likes then when the user asks for an artist the user gets to listen to the artists, However, the limited number of skips loses the app a star.
Soundwave
Think of this app as the mobile version of Blip.fm but with fewer songs but a high social media component to it.
Mad Genius
Not Rated
Podcasts
Podcast Republic
A very well organized directory of podcasts can be listened to here.
The author loves the podcast The Stuff You Missed in History Class.
Stitcher
This app features different podcasts than the shows on Podcast Republic.
Book Store in a Box Mobile Edition
E-Books and the Necessary Tools
All Recipes
A great mobile recipe book.
iBooks
This is the iTunes book reader.
To get a large selection of free books to download type
Free books
in the search box.
Lone Wolf
The app gives the reader access to the Lone Wolf series of gamebooks. These books are similar to the Choose Your own Adventure Books.
Not Rated
Mentel Criminal
A Choose your Own Adventure Type of book according to the description.
Could not rate book because it was not in English and I cannot read Spanish but the presentation looked impressive.
Not Rated
Oodles books
This app is similar to the Gutenberg Project; most of the books are classics in the public domain. Unlike the GP. The books look like books (The books have covers and descriptions. The books are also not read in the application but instead or downloaded to your default e-book reader
I did not test this with iTunes but with Play books, the process was as follows: First I selected a book, clicked download. The book was then downloaded and put in my downloads
folder. Then I went to the downloads folder and clicked on the book and it was then put in my library in the Play Books
app.
Overdrive
This app gives you access the millions of e-books, audiobooks and movies free via your device from the thousands of libraries that are part of the Overdrive network around the world.
Play Books
This is the Google book reader
To get a large selection of free books to download type
Free books
in the search box.
The Darwin Awards
A well done application featuring the best of the Darwin Awards.
The Goot E-book Project
This is the app for Gutenberg Project. Good selection of e-books can be read here.
Needs an e-book reader to work.
Wattpad
A place to go to get thousands of books and not just classics free.
Audio Books
Librivox
A great collection of free audiobooks as well as audiobooks for sale.
Old Time Radio
This app lets you listen to many shows from the golden age of radio.
Overdrive
This app is great it gives you access the millions of e-books, audiobooks and movies free via your device from the thousands of libraries that are part of the Overdrive network around the world.
Video Store in a Box Mobile Edition
I am sure you will probably notice the mobile applications for network stations like NBC, CBS and ABC are not listed that is because all of those apps the author tested require the user to have cable to use them and cable is not free so those apps are not here. For those TV junkies when it comes to good free TV and movie mobile applications it’s like a wasteland. I am aware this is self-serving but check out Video Store in Box for a full buffet of free TV and movie options plus so much more.
Independent and Mainstream Movies
The applications listed in the following table feature some of the best in independent and mainstream movies.
Classic B Movies
Good selection of older B movies can be found here.
Crackle
Crackle’s App is as awesome with a good collection of movies and TV show that change often.
Freebox
A bizarrely disorganized collection to put it mildly.
XBMC Cinema
This is hands down best app for those seeking movies. A decent selection of movies can be found here. The app also has a