Roxio Easy Media Creator 2009 Ultimate (PC) | 
 enlarge
| From: Roxio
Category: Software
List Price: £69.99
Buy New: £52.99
You Save: £17.00 (24%)
New (2) from £52.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 376
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Operating System: Windows Vista
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.3 x 1.3
MPN: 242310UK
UPC: 815227009558
EAN: 0815227009558
ASIN: B001CZCY8S
Release Date: September 30, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW SEALED 12 MONTH WARRANTY
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
Straight-forward and easy to use. November 22, 2008
Overall, I'm impressed with the software. But before installing ensure you have removed any previous instances of Roxio. As others have noted, it takes a long time to load, a complex piece of software take time to install. I have used the video editing Video Wave and these behaved much better than expected. The software was problem free to use and if you are looking for something straight-forward then this is the package to buy. I would recommend this software to anyone who is interestied in the features on offer in this package.
Works very well with hi-def November 21, 2008
Having been using a product I purchased 4 years ago and trying to use that for capturing hdv, this product is a godsend, I use it to capture hdv from my Cannon HV20 and it works perfectly no problems whatsoever, nice and easy and fast. The cd burning is awesome it takes only a couple of minutes to burn a full cd, my old product used to take around 11 minutes (nero essentials). Probably my only gripe I have with this product is that some of the applications take a while to load, perhaps instead of making it look so pretty they (Roxio) should of concentrated on efficency.
 Ultimately, it could be better November 20, 2008
Roxio Easy Media Creator 2009 Ultimate lives up to the Easy, but doesn't quite deliver its promise of Ultimate. As far as Creation goes, I'm personally of the opinion that it offers more features than your average user has any desire for. If you don't already have a backup utility, media organiser, photo editor, video editor, video player, audio editor, audio player or any of the media basics this bundle may be for you. If you already have the majority of those functions in existing software, as many users do, then there is perhaps little to be gained by purchasing this item which effectively reinvents the wheel whilst breaking the two cardinal rules of doing so: replicate existing functionality whilst improving upon it.
My immediate impression was that the program's installation time was reminiscent of computing a decade back and that I was presented with little to no configuration options. There was the choice of where to install it, but not if it should create shortcuts (personally I prefer not to have to delete them from my desktop and Quick Launch afterwards), nor which files to associate with it (it simply marched ahead and took control of my ISO and other media files that it saw fit to do so).
Moving beyond the installation, I was surprised to discover that the program is not such, per se, but a bundle of assorted Roxio media products. Each had its own interface style which took adjusting to and its own way of doing things. I would strongly suggest that Roxio save the moniker Ultra for a future release which offers a more integrated suite of features and trims off some of the unnecessary functions it appears to boast purely for the sake of justifying its Ultimate Edition label.
Ostensibly, the program facilitates creating CDs and DVDs and Blu-Rays, whether they be audio, video or photo. Along the way it will offer you the ability to edit and organise that media - but you'll have to discover the correct program to do so, each time navigating a new interface.
The program has some quirks, such as displaying an advertisement to buy the very program I was using, but all in all the individual programs do what they claim to do. I just had better expectations from a brand such as Roxio when they boast an easy media creator. That said, there are a couple of nice features here I will be taking advantage of in future; however there are certainly more that I won't be.
Impressive all-in-one package November 20, 2008
I started years ago with Easy CD Creator on my very first computer and thought it was just wonderful!! When the computer died and I got a new one, I just made do with the provided software. Until I got the chance to try out this hugely upgraded version.
First thing, as other people have noted, it takes a long time to load since it's such a large program. I just let it load and came back when it was finished, just under half an hour.
Since I use a digital camera and love music, this was an absolute Godsend to review! It makes my first piece of software look completely antiquated. I now have a one-stop place to store photos, edit photos, share photos online (you get a generous 1GB allowance, the same as Photobucket) There is also a useful tool that will resize photos for emailing.
I can burn cds, create dvds, create labels, have photo slideshows... it's a really comprehensive package and I much prefer it to Windows Media Center!
If you started off with an early version of CD Creator, do yourself a favour and treat yourself to this, especially as Amazon have it heavily discounted at present.
A good value digital media suite November 20, 2008
I've used Roxio products off and on for some years now. Although they have always offered a good set of features, I have found Roxio products to be full of bloated code which makes them slow and unreliable to run, whilst also being a little more bugged than I would like.
EMC 2009 is definitely an improvement. I have been using EMC 9 right up until I installed the new version, mostly for the VideoWave editing suite, MyDVD burning application, PhotoSuite and Creator Classic. Mainly because when it did work, it was great, rather than because I loved it! Crashes, file corruption, poor performance, etc. were something I had grown used to but so far my experience of EMC 2009 has been a considerable improvement.
Considering the size of the package, installation was not too long and I have not had any show-stoppers yet. It does have a hefty footprint on your hard disk, so make sure you have a good bit of free space.
EMC's main `hub' looks a bit more slick but is fundamentally the same as it has been for the last few years, and the various applications now seem to run faster. Internet connectivity throughout Roxio is a mixed bag, some programs work just fine, and some struggle to connect and work properly at all, sadly.
I mainly use Roxio for video editing, and VideoWave is not as sluggish as it previously was, with much less disk thrashing going on when working with large uncompressed video files. I haven't burnt many discs yet, but the ones I have done have been fine and there are an impressive amount of features available for customising menus, background music and so on.
So far I have not come across anything that Roxio just wouldn't do, although some perseverance and research has been required as the Help supplied is a little wanting. The photo slideshow `wizard' is still less than perfect and frankly it's better to just use VideoWave.
As a long-time Roxio user I have found EMC 2009 to be a considerable improvement over its predecessors, which is great.
If you have not used Roxio before, the best description I can give it is: if you have a form of digital media on your PC, EMC 2009 will be able to do something with it. Music, photos, videos, the lot. At this price point there are some compromises and some of the features may seem a little basic, but it's a good all-in-one solution.
Some of the applications and utilities included can be found elsewhere in, say Windows Media Player, and to be honest sometimes you are better off not using the Roxio version. If you want to do detailed photo editing, this is not for you. But if you want a one-stop-shop for your media, it's ideal.
Roxio are maybe guilty of over-stuffing the product. It has so much going on that sometimes it feels that the more well-used applications could use more features and be made more pleasant to use. But then it's a suite that can't please everybody all of the time, I suppose.
Suffice to say, EMC 2009 is a big improvement on previous versions, it's pretty good value and it does a solid job. A worthy purchase.
|
|
|
