The Best Source for Powerpoint Sound Loops

Looking for music and sound loops to spice up your Powerpoint presentation? In my experience, the best source bar none is Flash Kit Loops. Part of the huge Flashkit.com mega-website, an online portal for some half million plus Flash developers around the world, Flash Kit Loops provides a searchable archive of hundreds of music loops in nine categories including alternative, ambient, easy listening, ethnic, soul and technodance.


A special audio player called a "flashtrak Console" allows a user to listen to each music clip. The Console also provides background information about the clip such as its length (say six seconds), sample rate (say 44,100), and total size (say 649K). If you like the clip, the loop may be downloaded in wav or mp3 formats.

A word of caution: each clip has its own usage restrictions and licensing arrangement. The easiest to use are freeware clips which may be downloaded by anyone and used as they please (although you're not allowed to resell the loops or claim the music as your own). Linkware loops may be used if you provide a link on your website to the website of the music author. Shareware loops require permission to use and usually cost a fee which may vary from a few dollars to as much as several hundred dollars. In all cases -- freeware, linkware, and shareware -- the copyright of the loop remains with the original music composer.

In recent years, a strong "loop" community has emerged on the website. Scores of musicians from around the world have become serious loop artists who specialize in writing, scoring and performing these micro-compositions which typically range from three to 10 seconds. Most of the music is surprisingly good, and some artists -- such as Asim Khan and Will Musser -- have even emerged as loop "stars" who are renowned, at least on the site, as cutting-edge audio creators.

Whether you're checking out new and funky audio clips for fun or auditioning background music loops for an important Powerpoint presentation, Flashkit Loops is THE online source for music clips.

How to Add a Website Screen Shot to a Powerpoint Presentation

How do you add a website screen shot to a Powerpoint presentation? I've been asked that question dozens of time, and most assume that you need special graphics software such as Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop to accomplish this task. Fact is, you don't. While you may use these and other pricey programs to take screen shots if you wish, there's a quicker, easier -- and best of all -- free way to do this.

The first step is to open two applications on your desktop: Powerpoint and your Internet browser. Select your Internet browser and type in the URL of the website you wish to capture. If you want, scroll up and down the webpage to properly "pose" the webpage to show only the portion you wish to capture. Now hit the "print screen" button on your keyboard. This copies a picture of whatever is on your screen to your computer clipboard.



Toggle away from your browser and go to Powerpoint. Select Insert, New Slide. Now point to that new slide, and select Edit, Paste. Shazam! The webpage image should appear instantly on the slide. Depending on your Powerpoint file, you may need to fiddle with image positioning and size. To move and center the image, click on the screen capture and move the crosshairs until the image is in the desired position. You may also need to slightly shrink or enlarge the image to properly fit on the slide. Do this by clicking on the image and point to one of the image corners until the cursor turns into a diagonal line with two arrows. While holding down the shift key, click and drag the diagonal line until the image is the proper size and covers the entire slide.

That's all there is! With a simple press of the "print screen" button, you can transform a dull, text-only presentation into a colourful and more visually appealing webpage showcase.

How to Search for Powerpoint Files in Yahoo

Google is not the only search engine that allows you to specifically search for Powerpoint files. Yahoo offers that service as well on its Advanced Web Search page.

Scanning for Powerpoint files is a two-step process. First, you enter your key words(s) in one or more of the four search boxes. Next, you scroll down the page to the "File Format" section. Select the drop-down menu to the right and choose from among the eight file type categories including Powerpoint, Adobe PDF and Excel.



In this instance, select Microsoft Powerpoint(.ppt). This tells Yahoo to search for your key words but only return results that are .ppt files. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, hit the Yahoo Search button, and Yahoo will execute your specialized .ppt search. Voila! Only .ppt files are shown in the results and you can scan for the specific file that best suits your information needs.

How to Transfer Large Powerpoint Files Over the Internet

My Powerpoint presentations typically have 300 slides or more, and include hundreds of screen captures, photos, videos, music loops and sound effects. This means my ppt files are HUGE -- usually between 100 megabytes and 120 megabytes. I've learned from experience that sending large files like this through e-mail is not recommended since files of that magnitude often choke and crash most e-mail servers and inboxes. In other cases, the file may not go through at all because some e-mail servers impose limits on the size of an e-mail attachment, or may not even allow an attachment of any size because of concerns over computer viruses.






The solution? I use Megaupload, a free web-based file transfer service. Using the resource is a snap. On the Megaupload homepage, select the browser button and choose a file on your own computer you wish to send. Write in the recipient's e-mail address, your own e-mail address, and then hit the send button. As the file is transferring, the service even has a real-time progress bar that tells you how much of the file has been sent, and the estimated time remaining to complete the transfer.

Easy and free to use, Megaload is always my first choice whenever I need to send a large Powerpoint presentation to a client or back and forth between my home and work computers.

How to Search for Powerpoint Presentations on Google

Did you know that you can restrict your Google searches to specifically look for Powerpoint files? Simply type in your terms in the Google search box and add the phrase "filetype:ppt" (without the quotation marks) after your search word(s) or phrase.



Say you were interested in searching for information on automotive dealerships. After typing in your key words -- in this case, automotive dealerships -- add filetype:ppt. This tells Google to restrict the search to a specific filetype, ppt, which is the filetype extension for Powerpoint. Google then searches for and returns results that are ONLY Powerpoint files. Other filetypes, such as html (hyper-text markup language), pdf (Adobe portable document format), and doc (the file extension for Word documents), are deliberately EXCLUDED. This is a quick and easy technique to zero-in your Google searches on Powerpoint files and an underrated way to uncover new and fresh online information on virtually any topic.

Military Powerpoint Presentations

Army Powerpoint
File size: 299 KB
File type: pptx
Author: Garrett Wasny, MA, CMC, CITP
















An excellent source for military-related Powerpoint presentations is ArmyPPT. The resource offers scores of free presentations on dozens of topics including anti-terrorism, first aid and land navigation. The presentations come complete with all the key information in bullet-point format and are ready for instant delivery to a military audience. Just download the presentation, fire up Powerpoint, and start clicking. The site also offers free Army Powerpoint Templates, a collection of Powerpoint backgrounds with military themes. Styles include information brief, decision brief, and recruiter style. Although not an official official government site and not endorsed in any way by the US Government or the US Military, ArmyPPT should be required viewing by military personnel of any stripe who use Powerpoint to deliver training.

Must-Read Powerpoint Article

A must-read for any Powerpoint user is Absolute Powerpoint, an article by Ian Parker in the May 28, 2001 edition of the New Yorker. In the article, Parker notes that at least 30 million Powerpoint presentations are made every day, and the program has about 95 percent of the presentations-software market.

Welcome to Powerpoint Templates Blog

This blog will provide tips and tutorials on how to better use Powerpoint, spotlight leading Powerpoint template resources online, and offer free Powerpoint templates for use in your own presentations at work and at home.