The Cheapskate

Stock up on free holiday music (for kids and adults alike) from Amazon.

(Credit: Amazon)

Those of us who celebrate Chanukah may get eight nights of presents, but you X-mas folks get all the good music.

Thanks to Mrs. Cheapskate, who tinsels with the best of 'em, I've really come to enjoy Christmas songs over the years. Consequently, I'm always on the lookout for new (and cheap, natch) tunes to add to the holiday playlist.

Amazon has quite a bounty this year. For starters, check out these 29 free holiday tunes from artists like Tori Amos, Lady GaGa, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Over at Dealnews you can find 11 more holiday freebies from Amazon, including the kid-friendly "Christmas with a Monkey" and funk-tastic "Boogaloo Santa Claus."

Finally, you can download a free audio book of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" from Learn Out Loud.

Got a few bucks to spare? For my money there's no better holiday album on the planet than Vince Guaraldi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which Amazon sells for $5.99 (two bucks less than iTunes).

Update: Apple just joined the fun with 20 free holiday tunes, which are available for download via iTunes. Artists include Amy Grant, Sarah McLachlan, Aretha Franklin, and Weezer.

This 99-cent app serves up a wealth of free Redbox rental codes.

Good news for fans of Redbox movie-rental kiosks: the new Redbox app (free) lets you browse and reserve movies and find the kiosk nearest you. Cool.

Better news for Redbox fans: the new Red Box Free Rental Promo Codes app (from third-party developer Neese) means you may never have to pay for another movie.

The app aggregates codes from around the Internet and various promo mailings, updating them every 12 hours so you're sure to have the latest and greatest.

When you get to the Redbox checkout screen, just tap "Rent with a Promo Code," then type in any of the codes listed in the app. If one doesn't work, try another.

Red Box Free Rental Promo Codes costs 99 cents, so the first time you nab a free rental, it pays for itself.

I haven't had a chance to put the app to the test just yet (it does require a visit to a kiosk--you can't use the codes when reserving movies), but I'll update the post if I run into any problems. To me it seems like a can't-miss way to score free movie rentals.

While we're on the subject of using your iPhone to save money, be sure to check out "Five iPhone apps that can save you money," "iPhone apps for Black Friday shopping," and eBay's new holiday-deals app.

All this gets me wondering: Could your iPhone actually start paying for itself? I mean, if you can rack up 70 bucks' worth of savings per month by way of various apps, that would cover the cost of AT&T's low-end plan. Hmmm...

The Toshiba Satellite L455-S5980.

(Credit: Toshiba)

If you are in the market for an inexpensive laptop to make the jump to Windows 7, we may have just what you're looking for.

Office Depot has the Toshiba Satellite L455-S5980 15.6-inch widescreen notebook for $349.99 with free shipping, $130 off the list price and a good $100 cheaper than the closest deal we could find for this model.

Toshiba's laptop features an Intel 1.8GHz dual-core Celeron T3000, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB 5400 rpm SATA hard drive, a SuperMulti DVD drive, 802.11g Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

The deal includes a one-year warranty and expires Saturday.

Veterans Day bonus
With Veterans Day approaching this week, Amazon is giving away a collection of songs to honor the brave men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces.

The e-tailer's MP3 store is offering for free download "Veterans Day Honor" by the bands and ensembles of the U.S. armed forces, a DRM-free collection of patriotic music that usually retails for $8.99 on the site ($9.99 on iTunes).

This collection of 12 songs includes "The Star Spangled Banner" by the U.S. Coast Guard Band, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" by the U.S. Air Force Airmen, and "Retreat" and "Taps" by the U.S. Marine Band.

No strings attached, just six worthwhile Mac apps for the grand total of $0.

Remember MacHeist from earlier this year? For $39 you got nine complete, unlocked Macintosh programs worth about $600. And 25 percent of your payment went to one of several deserving charities.

I've got good news, better news, and bad news. The good news is that MacHeist is back, this time with a bundle of six Mac apps worth $154.

The better news is that this time, the bundle's free. Really. Just...free. Download it and be on your way.

The bad news, of course, is that there's no money for charity, nor even an option to make a donation. That's disappointing, and I can't help wondering why the organizers went that route.

In any case, the MacHeist nanoBundle includes Hordes of Orcs, Mariner Write, ShoveBox, WriteRoom, TinyGrab, and Twitterific. I'm not really familiar with any of them (except Twitterific, which is great), but you can read complete descriptions on the MacHeist page.

As it happens, Mariner Write is "locked" until MacHeist reaches 500,000 participants (they're currently just shy of 100,000). I could understand the logic behind this system for the previous bundle, when there was money involved, but now I don't get it.

I don't mean to sound so pessimistic about this. After all, it's free software, and Mac users don't usually get a lot of freebies. So, by all means, grab this bundle while you can: The offer ends five days from now.

NFB Films streams over 1,000 shorts and feature-length films to your iPhone.

Like indie films? Documentaries? Animation? Ho, boy, have I got an app for you: NFB Films lets you watch over a thousand movies on your iPhone. For free.

The "NFB" stands for National Film Board, a kind of Canadian PBS. The app taps the NFB's mammoth library of documentaries, animated films, trailers (for upcoming NFB releases), and more.

All the movies are streamed to your iPhone, but there's also an ingenious "watch later" option that downloads a selected movie for later viewing. However, these downloads expire after 24 hours, not unlike App Store movie rentals, but that hardly seems unfair.

NFB Films includes a Channels section where you can browse various categories, including Documentaries, Kids Cartoons, History & War, and Environment. There's a search option, natch, and you can add movies to a favorites (sorry, "favourites") list for easier access.

If you come across a film you want to share with friends, the app lets you send an e-mail that includes a link to the Web version.

A while back I went to see 10 Oscar-nominated short films--five animated, five live-action. They were all tremendously entertaining. Since then I've been a lot more open-minded to non-mainstream movie fare like this. So for me, NFB Films is pure iPhone gold. I reckon you'll love it, too.

A one-year IOBit Security 360 Pro license normally costs $29.95, but right now it's free.

(Credit: IOBit)

Nothing thrills me like getting something for nothing. Yesterday, for example, I redeemed the last of my birthday coupons, wolfing down a free scoop of Cold Stone ice cream (Fudge Brownie Batter with brownies mixed in--yum).

Today I've rounded up three software freebies that have a combined value of $1,089. Seriously! Take a look:

• IOBit Security 360 Pro Normally $29.95 for a one-year license, this security app is free until Nov. 11. It promises "advanced malware and spyware removal," along with protection from all manner of threats: trojans, keyloggers, worms, etc. I haven't found any reviews to speak of, but the always-free, non-Pro version earned four stars from CNET users. So it must be halfway decent.
• WinX DVD Author Remember WinX DVD Ripper Platinum from last month? (Since expired, sorry.) The same developer, Digiarty Software, is now offering its DVD-authoring tool, normally $29.95, for free until Oct. 31. Use it to turn AVI, MPEG, FLV, and other kinds of video files into menu-enhanced DVDs. I haven't tried it myself, but DVD Ripper Platinum was a little gem.
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard This might be the weirdest and most surprising giveaway ever. Microsoft's DreamSpark program is offering this new Windows Server release to eligible high school and college students. Why? To learn IT skills, I reckon. Obviously not everyone needs or wants this OS, which is worth $1,029, but I had to mention it. Anyone who does want it will need a Windows Live ID, a valid student e-mail address, and a way to burn the downloaded ISO file to a CD or DVD.

ZoneAlarm Pro protects not only your PC, but also your identity.

(Credit: Check Point Software)

Keeping your PC secure requires diligence, common sense, and, perhaps most importantly, software. It's not enough to install antivirus and antispyware utilities; you also need a rock-solid firewall to keep hackers at bay.

Today only (in honor of my birthday, I'm guessing), Check Point Software is offering ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall 2010 absolutely free. That's a $39.95 value, my friends.

(Actually, what you're getting is a free one-year license. If you want to keep using ZoneAlarm after that, you'll have to pony up 40 bucks. On the other hand, this is the second year running for this promotion, so you might be able to score it free again next year.)

ZoneAlarm is widely regarded as one of the best firewall utilities on the planet. Look no further than the rare five-star rating at CNET's Download.com.

In addition to blocking unauthorized access to your PC, ZoneAlarm analyzes browser downloads to prevent malware infections, monitors your credit report on a daily basis, and steers you clear of phishing sites.

The software is compatible with Windows 2000 and later, including Windows 7.

Speaking of which, if you're relying solely on the firewall that's built-in to Windows--well, my guess is you're fine. That's what I do, and at the risk of jinxing it, I've never had a problem. But there's also a firewall built into my router, so I feel doubly protected.

In fact, I'll be honest. I don't run security software at all. I rely on the tools built into Windows and Gmail's outstanding spam-virus-malware filtering. I also use that aforementioned common-sense thing.

That said, my security "solution" isn't for everyone. If you want help keeping your PC (and identity) safe and sound, grab this valuable freebie. The offer expires at the end of the day.

Update: Be sure to use THIS LINK to download the software! It should take you to a page that looks like this. You should not need credit-card information or the like to take advantage of this offer. I've downloaded, installed, and activated the software and was never once asked for a credit card.

The free Ecofont typeface promises to consume up to 20 percent less ink.

(Credit: Ecofont)

There are lots of ways to save money on pricey printer consumables.

You can configure your print driver to output two pages on a single sheet of paper. You can enable "draft" mode to use less ink. And, of course, you can bypass printing altogether and generate PDFs.

Then there's Ecofont, a free typeface that promises to consume up to 20 percent less ink.

Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, Ecofont closely resembles your basic Arial, but with one key difference: holes. Each letter has loads of little holes punched out of it, meaning it requires less ink to print.

But as you can see in the example, Ecofont is still plenty readable. So why not use it for all your everyday print jobs?

I know, I know, there are lots of outline-style fonts that would accomplish more or less the same thing. But not many of them look just like Arial--or have the environmentally conscious "Eco" prefix. That's how you know it's "green."

Anyway, it's been about a million years since I installed a new font. If you need a refresher course like I did, you can find help on the Ecofont download page.

This gold-plated HDMI cable--and $7--can be yours if you don't mind waiting on a rebate.

(Credit: Circuit City)

Update: Sigh. Sorry, folks. Barely an hour after I posted this, Circuit City bumped the cable's price up to $20. So there's zero point in taking advantage of this rebate--not when you can buy an HDMI cable for $3 shipped.

In light of yesterday's lively and enlightening discussion about rebates, I could not let this pass by: Circuit City is offering a 6-foot HDMI cable for $5.97, plus $6.99 for shipping, minus $20 after a mail-in rebate [PDF].

In other words, when all is said and done, you'll walk away with $7 and an HDMI cable. This rebate actually refunds 100 percent of your purchase price, and then some.

So let's assume you're in the market for such a cable. Even taking the rebate out of the equation, $13 out the door is not a bad price.

Of course, as regular Cheapskate readers know, you can buy a 6-foot HDMI cable for as little as $3.19 shipped. (In fact, that same deal is now down to $2.99: a penny for the cable, $2.98 for shipping. Crazy!)

So which is better: Three bucks now and no rebate hassles, or $13 now and the promise of a $20 check in 8-10 weeks?

Tough one! Either way, the song remains the same: Don't overpay for HDMI cables! I've used both cheap and pricey ones, and the audio-video quality was always identical. Your thoughts?