I make frequent use of tools others recognize, but have decided they have no use for, One of these is Apple Quicktime. This product comes free with Apple devices (probably the reason I first explored it in some detail) and is a tool for video play (it may be known to you as player), creation, and editing. It does not have the capabilities of more advanced and costly tools, but does some basic things quite well.
I first used Quicktime to remove the soundtrack from video I had captured and wanted to use in a way that would result in the sound being distracting. Quicktime would allow me to open the video file, have access to both the video and sound, and delete one or the other. This was useful. Quicktime was updated in 2009, yes that long ago, and this capability removed. Apple seems to have a way of making its software user-friendly and in the process removing some capability I use. Remember when Garageband had an option for making podcasts.
I continued to find uses for the new version of QuickTime with the most frequent being screen capture. There are other products that do this well, but QuickTime was so convenient and so flexible. I used QuickTime to capture the video from my online classes. I would just use the tool of the year for running the class, activate Quicktime, and capture the class for posting to YouTube for those unable to attend. Because Quicktime was recording the video on my computer, I could be assured that my voice was always easy to understand. With multiple individuals involved online, I learned that the remotely recorded signal from other services cannot be counted on. Since, I probably talked more than any one student and I sometimes conveyed content that others were expected to use in one way or another, local recording solved many problems. It made certain the recorded video always contained reliable sound at least for my voice.
I have also used QuickTime to create many of the tutorials I eventually post to video. Use a good mic, do your demonstrations, and record what appears on the screen. Quicktime allowed exporting in multiple formats so I could reduce the quality of the recording before uploading to YouTube. The following video is an example of recording from the screen for a somewhat different reason. There are several products for doing this, but since I was familiar with QuickTime from the other ways in which I used it why learn another tool.
It now appears that Apple is updating Quicktime to make it 64-bit compatible. In doing so, it appears that Apple is again making the product easier to use and less capable. I was unable to determine from this announcement which capabilities will be removed, but it might be time to find a new product to suit my needs. When Apple updated the original QuickTime, it was possible to hide the old version in the utilities folder before updating so the capabilities of the original product could be maintained. The way QuickTime tied into the underlying capabilities of the operating system allowed this hack to work. It is unclear if this workaround will still work.