Doing research is a huge part of my professional life, and for the most part I love doing it – thanks in no small part to the amazing tools available today.  Below are some of my favorites, all of which are free.

Google Reader

This application lets you efficiently monitor any number of blogs, which can be conveniently categorized by topic. Blogs are a great way of researching specific industries, technologies, or people. As an online tool, it can be available from any computer or mobile device.  Other than a search engine, it is the most powerful research tool I use.

Media Monkey

iTunes is great in many ways, but it suffers from significant flaws.  It’s a resource hog, filled with ads, uses a proprietary format, and surreptitiously  imposes a lot of controls  about who owns the media you’ve purchased.  Media Monkey  has none of these issues and it works great – particularly for having a single media library be accessible from multiple machines via a small network.  It is also compatible with mobile devices, including iPods.  I use it for listening to audio podcasts, audio books, and music.

Miro

Miro is a great tool for monitoring video podcasts.  It runs in the background, gradually downloading content. I use it for learning about drawing, technology, and social issues.  Without a doubt, my favorite podcast is TED — an amazing and inspirational series of lectures about a variety of social, technological, artistic, and cultural issues.  Also free.