You can sync animations or visual effects to music and make images glow or pulse with the beat in Adobe After Effects 6.0. http://www.adobe.com/uk/tips/aft6audio/index.html
There are many ways to create a waveform like you see on winamp or on any mediaplayer with visualizations.. http://www.pixel2life.com/publish/tutorials/42/voice_waveform_create_a...