Save a little time by fast-tracking through podcast intro chatter and cutting off movie credits in iTunes by using the custom Start and Stop times on your songs and videos. Macworld explains that you can right-click on the item in question, and choose Get Info. In the Options tab, check off Start Time or Stop Time to set it. (Use this same technique to create a perfectly timed interval training iTunes playlist for your next trip to the gym or the track.) If you convert the item to another file format, only the snippet will go into the new file.

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Cross-platform media player VLC is often referred to as the "Swiss Army knife of media applications" for good reason: Not only does VLC play nearly any file you throw at it (you even voted it the best desktop media player), but it can do so much more. From ripping DVDs to converting files to iPod-friendly formats, let's take a look at the four coolest things you can do with VLC and start you on your way to becoming a VLC ninja. Photo by R'eyes.

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You've collected hundreds of thousands of megabytes (and maybe even gigabytes) of digital music and video in the past 10 years, and as your media library has grown, so has the necessity for finding the perfect desktop media player. Not only must the perfect player be capable of playing back your media, but it also needs to be able to help you search through and find any song or movie you're looking for at a moment's notice. Hit the jump for a glimpse at the five best desktop media players according to Lifehacker readers.

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You don't have to mod your classic Xbox to run the best free media centre application around anymore: Dedicated developers have ported the Xbox Media Centre (XBMC) software to the Mac, and its killer features will convince you to abandon Front Row forever. The latest XBMC on OS X beta dropped last week, and it's as stable and useful as ever. Dubbed the "throw out your Xbox" release, XBMC for Mac 0.5 beta 1 adds the key feature that finally puts your media centre Mac under the TV where it belongs: remote control support. Let's take a look at how you can (and why you want to) replace Front Row with XBMC on your Mac.

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Windows only: Measure photos, graphics and other digital media directly on your monitor with freeware app JR Screen Ruler. JR Screen Ruler comes as a stand-alone executable that can be used to measure inches, centimeters, pixels or picas (a unit of measurement corresponding to 1/6 of an inch). You certainly won't need to use the ruler everyday, but it's nice to have in your pocket when the occasional screen measurement is called for. I would recommend dropping a shortcut to JR Screen Ruler in the same folder that houses GIMP and/or Photoshop so you don't forget about it. JR Screen Ruler is a free download for Windows XP and Vista.

If you've got gigabytes of music you want to play from a central server in your living room—without keeping a big ugly PC there—the Squeezebox network music player's for you. A Squeezebox is a shiny black box that plays the digital music saved in virtually any format on your computer over your home wireless network, plus thousands of internet radio stations.

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