Have you ever wanted to do something on a MAC but found out that the best tool is only available for PC.  Well there may be an option for you.

A project that I was involved with required MP3 audio to have the correct metadata that iTunes and MP3 players could read.  There are many MP3 metadata editors for MAC and PC but only one works really well and sadly it is only available on PC.  That software is called MP3TAG (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/).  In order to use this freeware you either have to have an actual PC or a virtual PC operating system.  If you don't use Boot Camp or Parallels like applications then you have an alternate choice which is innovative and free - WineBottler.

Basically WineBottler is a MAC application that wraps a virtual PC operating system around a PC executable (application).  Ironically you do not need any Windows licensing to do it.  No stupid keys or passwords.  It actually works.

What I did is downloaded WineBottler (http://www.kronenberg.org/download.php?download=http://darwine.good-day.net/WineBottlerCombo_1.1.44.dmg&filename=WineBottlerCombo_1.1.44.dmg&project=WineBottler&sponsorName=Good-Day%20Inc.&sponsorURL=www.good-day.co.jp&sponsorBanner=) and installed it on the MAC.  Then I updated Wine (http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/wine/.

I then downloaded the freeware file <mp3tagv249setup.exe> from the mp3tag site.  I started up WineBottler.app and followed the directions (demo available in a future post).  Afterwards I had a MAC app that opened the MP3TAG application with the corresponding executable icon.  I was able to use the application just like any other MAC application.

I have since tried WineBottler with other PC applications and was successful.  I intentionally choose freeware PC executables that are either stand-alone or are self-contained in a single folder.  I avoid applications that create junk in many parts of the Window operating system, or are commercialware.

Noteworthy:

I have found in my projects is that a self-contained WineBottled app is large (usually over 100MB) because it contains the virtual PC operating system as part of the package.  However, storage is not an issue today with USB Flash drives averaging 32GB.

Conclusion:

The WineBottler application was extremely useful and amazing in design, a truly unique idea that really worked....so I made a donation to the author.