If you’re a student (or teacher, or parent of a student) and you’re shopping for software like Microsoft Office 2007, be sure to save money with an academic discount, from a source like journeyed.com.

But maybe you don’t even need to pay anything at all. Microsoft offers a free 60-day trial version of Office 2007 Professional Edition which you can download at http://www.trymicrosoftoffice.com/

If you only need Microsoft office for a limited time, maybe for a class are taking, or until you save the money to buy the full product, you can download it and try it free for 60 days.

Here’s how the free download process works:

Go to trymicrosoftoffice.com and click on the download link

You’ll need to sign in with a Windows Live ID or Microsoft Passport account to download the software.

If you have a Hotmail email account, or a MSN email account, you can sign in with those credentials. Otherwise you can create a new account on the spot.

When you sign in, you’ll be creating an account with Microsoft Office 2007 Trial program to receive a product key for the trial version of Office 2007 Professional. You will also receive a series of emails on information about the software.

After sign-in you’ll be taken to a page where you’ll find a personal Microsoft Office Product Key. Save that key because you’ll need it to install your software. You also find that button that you will click to initiate the download.

This is obviously going to be a huge download, so you’ll want to have a high speed Internet connection (like DSL or cable Internet). Also, once you install your download software, you’ll need to activate it to begin your 60-day trial, and this also requires an Internet connection.

Activating the product begins the 60-day trial period. As you near the end of that trial phase, the software will alert you to the fact that it will expire soon, and encourage you to purchase or “convert” the software to the paid version of the software.

Remember however that students and faculty can obtain this software and academic discount, so rather than paying full price during the “conversion” process, you may want to buy the student version online from a source like journeyed.com (for as little as US $79.98).

Here’s a few facts that you might need to know about the trial version of Office 2007 Professional:

If you’re using Outlook 2003 (from the previous version of Office) you should be aware that two versions of Outlook cannot be installed on a computer at the same time. When you install the trial version, Outlook 2007 is not automatically installed Outlook 2003 already resides on the computer. This will actually make your life easier if you decide to uninstall the trial version of Office 2007 when it expires after 60 days.

After 60 days, your trial software will no longer be fully functional. It will operate only in a read-only mode that will allow you to view your documents but not change them. Any documents you’ve created will not expire; they’ll be just fine and you can open and edit them in any fully functional version of Office 2007.

If you’ve already used a trial version of one of the office 2007 products, you’ll probably find that you will not be able to activate and use the 60-day trial version of Office 2007 because your trial period has already expired.

It’s very easy to add a music file to a presentation to create a soundtrack effect with PowerPoint 2007.

This short video explains how to take an MP3 file, insert it into a PowerPoint show, and make it play automatically when the presentation begins.

How To Add Music To A PowerPoint Presentation

This demonstration uses an MP3 file. MP3s provide good compression (i.e smaller file sizes) and are the most popular format for digital music. The technique also works with other formats, like WMA (Windows Media Audio) and WAV (Windows Audio).

Using an MP3 file is much better than trying to run the music off an audio CD. The presentation is easier to set up, loads faster, doesn’t depend of having a CD present, and works well on any machine — as long as the MP3 file always in the same folder as the PowerPoint presentation.

The video show how to use the  settings to Play across slides and Loop until stopped …so the music continues to play until the presentation is finished.

Keep in mind that some music tracks sound better when looped than others — in fact some tracks are designed to be looped seamlessly.

For music and loop tracks (plus audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, etc.) released under a Creative Commons License, check out The Freesound Project or ccMixter.

Microsoft has re-introduced special student pricing for Office 2007 through a promotion called “The Ultimate Steal.”

Qualified students can purchase the “Ultimate Edition” of Office 2007 for only $59.95. This Ultimate Edition includes all the Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, Publisher, OneNote, Groove and InfoPath. Complete details are available at theultimatesteal.com.

To be eligible for the special price, students must…

• Have an email account ending in .EDU
  (or have an email account at another qualifying institutions)
• Be currently enrolled in a US school
• Carry at least a 0.5 course credit

The Ultimate Steal Promotion had originally been introduced when in 2007, but it ended on April 30, 2008.

According to Naman Khan (Worldwide public sector strategy manager for Microsoft Office)…

“Students responded overwhelmingly to The Ultimate Steal last year, telling us that they need Microsoft Office and want more flexible ways to get the latest version… This offer provides students with an accessible and convenient means to acquire [Office] at a great price to help them reach their academic goals.”

With the program’s renewal, the promotion has been extended to include an offer for a  Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade* for $64.95, and Visio Professional 2007 for $55.95. Microsoft has  stated that the offer is currently scheduled to last until December 31, 2010.

Students can obtain the software by downloading from The Ultimate Steal Web site during the purchase process, or they can choose to order disk(s) for and additional $13.00.

Sources:

The Ultimate Steal Web site
Ultimate Steal Terms and Conditions
The Ultimate Steal: A Deal on the 2007 Microsoft Office for Students
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 product overview
The Ultimate Steal Offers Students Easy Access to Microsoft Office 2007

* Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade available to licensed users of Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows 98, Apple Macintosh.

If you need Microsoft® Office 2007 but don’t have the time or money to order it right now, you can download a free 60-day trial version directly from Microsoft.

To get your download, visit the following link…

http://www.trymicrosoftoffice.com

Here’s some info you should keep in mind…

• You can run Office 2003 and 2007 on the same machine, except for Outlook: if you use Outlook, you may install only one version, Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007.
• If you uninstall any software (like the 2003 version of Office), you will need the original media and product key to re-install that software, if you decide to uninstall Office 2007 at the end of the trial period.
• Office Professional 2007 includes Access 2007 — other versions may not include Access.
• When you download the software, you must provide your email address.
• You will receive a 25 character Product Key at the email address you provide.
• To use the Free 60-day trial version of Office 2007, you must activate the trial software over the Internet.
• The trial period begins with activation.
• The trial software may only be used for a SINGLE 60-day trial. If you have previously used a trail version of Office on your computer, your trial period began when you first installed and used that software.
• Some new computers have the 60-day trial version of Office pre-installed.
• If you have used any BETA versions of Microsoft Office, you must uninstall them before installing the trial version of Office.

When the 60-day trial period is over, the software remains on your computer but operates in a “Reduced Functionality Mode.” This means you will be able to open and view existing documents, but you cannot save any changes.
 
You may uninstall the 60-day trial software when it has expired …but once expired, any re-installed trial version will only operate in Reduced Functionality Mode.

Read all the information on Microsoft’s download site carefully before you install the software; follow the instructions. Currently Microsoft is offering a 60-day free trial; obviously, they may change this offer in the future.

Downloading the software will require a fast Internet connection (like DSL or Cable).

Answers to frequently asked questions are available here: http://us1.trymicrosoftoffice.com/faq.aspx

Sources and other resources…

How to Set Up & Install Your Trial