How many times has this happened to you? A friend emails you a "must watch" video clip, but when you double-click the attachment, your PC tells you it doesn't have the necessary software to play it. Or if you like a song and try to copy it to your favorite MP3 player, it says the file format isn't supported. Sigh.

Now, there is good news. FormatFactory is a free media converter that converts audio, photo and video files.

• For audio It reads and converts to MP3, WMA, MMF, AMR, OGG, WAV and MP4 (including support for iPod, iPhone, PSP, and BlackBerry formats).
  
• For photos It supports JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIF, and ICO.
  
• For video This software plays and converts to MP4, 3GP, MPG, AVI, WMV, FLV, and SWF.

Other features include a DVD/ISO ripper; the ability to repair some damaged video and audio files; batch conversion options; and photo conversion that supports zoom, rotate, flip, and tags.

While not pretty, the interface is clean and accessible.