Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10 [OLD VERSION] Reviews

• More trouble than it's worth

  
  By A4PTUEVFE13K6 on 2007-09-28
  Maybe it's my computer, although everything else except this runs fine. It took me over two hours just to install this, it kept locking up and stalling. I had to keep rebooting. Finally got it loaded, took forever to open it. Got it opened, started looking thru it's features and inadvertently closed it down, haven't been able to open it up again since. Have restarted the computer three or four times and the program just won't open.
  I have an older version of this that runs great, this new version though is a total waste. I'll probably just end up removing it unless I can somehow get it to work. For now though it's just useless.
  UPDATE: After getting a corrected copy of the software, I reinstalled it. The product does function similar to previous versions. I burned a copy of a DVD and it went smoothly and without problems. There are a lot of features in this software, unless you're a complete AV geek, you'll probably find that there's more here than you need. But some features are just good to have. The installation is apparently the most complicated aspect of this software, the instructions don't tell you, but you need to remove any and ALL traces of previous versions, most software will overwrite existing versions, this does not. I ended up having to save everything to my hard drive and install from there. This is a glitch that hopefully the people at Roxio will rectify soon.
  Once you get over the hurdle of installation, you're on your way.
  
  

• Maybe more than you need...

  
  By ACEA95FQS1AVP on 2007-09-26
  Creator Suite 10 does it all (or at least anything I could possibly want to do). Audio, video, data, photos, media devices, label creation and more. You can download directly from a camera, camcorder, iPod, cell phone and most portable devices. It has a sound editor to capture sound from DVDs and other sources. It even converts LPs and cassettes to digital sound from a stereo input. DVDs are easy to create and users can add soundtracks using their own music catalog. The program screens are well organized, with helpful wizards to get a user started with every feature.
  
  I recently purchased a new HP tablet laptop with Windows Vista. Windows Vista does not work with older versions of many software programs. I already own Nero Burning Rom and Easy CD Creator 6. Neither would work with Vista. Creator Suite 10 runs perfectly with Vista. Also, older Roxio products do not do DVD burning and my version of Roxio will not rip from CDs to create MP3s (which is why I had bought Nero). I had never created DVDs before getting this program. But, it worked perfectly with the Lightscribe DVD drive, and I easily created a DVD from MPEGS, added chapter inserts and customized the menu. It played in our 5-disc DVD player with no issues. Burning CDs was just as simple.
  
  So, why 4 stars and not 5? First, doing it all is great - unless you're never going to use it. A $100 retail price is a little high for some users. Other than the DVD and CD burning, I am unlikely to use the product to do photo manipulation and the myriad other features available. I already own other programs that do these things, that I am more skilled at using. Second, it will likely not work in an older system. I tried loading this on my 2 year old Averatec laptop running Windows XP. I could not get the software to install. I ran DSKCHK when prompted by Windows, but the disk would run loudly in my drive and go nowhere. I did install it on a Dell GX620 system running XP with no problem, so it is the laptop (or drive), not XP, that's the problem.
  
  If you have an older computer, or just want to burn CDs, you may want to go with a cheaper media program. If you've got a brand new system with Windows Vista, I cannot recommend Easy Media Creator Suite 10 enough.
  
  

• I am ready for my close-up Mr. Demille...

  
  By AN2CU1YP12J4U on 2007-09-24
  I will admit it, I have always been intimidated by the idea of purchasing and using video editing software. The very thought conjured a thousand questions/anxieties: How do I transfer my movies from my device to my computer? I know how to transfer movies from my digital camera, but what if I want to transfer movies from a camcorder, will they work on my computer? Do I need different software? If I edit the movie, will I permanently lose the scenes I cut? How much space will this software and these movies take up on my computer? Can I stitch photos together to make a movie?
  
  Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 put my fears to rest. This easy to use software comes equipped with a great wizard program which acts as a tutorial, guiding you through the various procedures, step-by-step.
  
  I am not a techie, so I can't talk about the technical aspects of this software program, nor can I compare it to other comparable programs.
  
  What I can tell you is this:
  
  I performed two functions with this software and was very, very pleased:
  
  1. I shot a home video with my digital camera. It was a film of my children's musical recital. There was a lot of background noise which annoyed me and distracted from the performance. I was able to reduce the background noise without ruining the video.
  
  I was also able to add a sound track to a soundtrack to some movies using SmartSound.
  
  2. Using Mobile Phone Doctor, I was able to greatly improve the quality of some photos I took this summer at Disneyworld. I really liked the photos but was not pleased with the clarity. Using this software, I was able to sharpen the details to the point I was hoping.
  
  The pro: This software is easy to use.
  
  The con: This program complements Windows Vista, which I do not have. I think it would have been nice if it was advertised or marked on thebox that the user will be able to use a lot of features if they have Windows Vista...that it is a necessary complimentary program.
  
  

• A continued evolution of the Roxio suite

  
  By A3Q4TYJVAM4IRM on 2007-10-15
  I'm always a bit leery of Big Software: packages that try to do too much, install too many components, try to get their hooks set all over your system. So I was a bit leery installing the newest release of Roxio Easy Media Creator, which has been growing rapidly into bloat-ware in recent releases. It turned out that Ipleasantly surprised to find it more streamlined, cleaner, and professional-looking than previously.
  
  Although one of the big "enhancements" in this release is Vista support, I tested this package on my Windows XP Pro machine, on which I was previously running Roxio Creator 9. I cleanly removed Creator 9 first since installing on top of an old version is always a bad idea, many software complaints seem to arise from not uninstalling the old software first. Install was straightforward if a bit slow to run on my Inpiron Dual Core system.
  
  My primary purpose in buying Roxio, like many of you, is to create media. Burning CDs, DVDs, etc is the core strength of Roxio, and they continue to do this well. One of my frequent tasks is burning CDs from ISO images. Roxio did this with literally 4 clicks, nice and easy.
  
  The master control panel has been streamlined and it's now easier to get to all of the functions of the package.
  
  Some of the old bloat is gone (the "ringtone maker" is no longer included), although big extraneous components like the PhotoSuite photo editor and audiox mixing tools remain. Those may be useful to the neophyte, but anybody wanting to really tweak their photos is likely to fire up an Adobe product, or something that came with their camera, or with their computer, or some other full featured package. Including such superfluous programs in a Media Creator suite (when they are available from so many other sources) seems excessive, but I guess it lets the publisher lengthen the feature list.
  
  Other major enhancements include support for Blu-Ray, HD DVD, and HD video, though I didn't have the equipment to check out that new functionality.
  
  If you don't need the Vista support, or the enhanced DVD support, there's not a burning reason (pun intended!) to upgrade from Roxio Creator Suite 9 to Roxio Creator Suite 10. But if you're in the market, this is a fine product and does its core media work as advertised.
  
  While I wish it were more streamlined still, the software works well, installs easily, and has become more streamlined than before. Recommended with a 5 star rating.
  
  

• A ton of bang for the buck

  
  By A3R1WFO4KIUQXZ on 2008-01-23
  I used one of the very early versions of Roxio a long time ago and did not like their menu system so I switched to Nero, which at that time was a bare-bones simple CD burning application. I have used Nero ever since as I watched it get bloated with more and more "features" that had little or nothing to do with CD/DVD burning. Nero is truly several separate applications rather than a suite, and the CD/DVD burning portion is capable but very dated. My new computer came pre-loaded with Roxio Creator 9 so I have been using it for several months and had no problems with it. I liked some of the new features of Creator 10 when it was introduced but was completely scared away by all of the negative, and even hostile, reviews. Recently I was able to buy it for 39 after rebates and figured I couldn't go wrong for the price. After using it for a while here are my first impressions:
  
  The variety and usefulness of the included applications is amazing. Even at full price I think it is one of the best software bargains in the world. I have tried each of the apps, though not in depth, at this point and they each work. My favorite is the audio capture function. Unlike everything else out there that requires several steps to capture audio, Creator 10 installs a widget on your screen in which you simple press a red "record" button to capture a clip. After the capture is completed you are taken to a very easy to use audio editing screen where you can trim and equalize your clip before saving it to a variety of popular formats. This application alone is worth the price of the entire bundle.
  Also included are a competent backup program, nice media player (but come on, who needs another media player with Microsoft, Apple and Real dominating the market?), label creator, media manager (a cool app that catalogs all those unlabeled CD/SVD disks you have laying around), apps to easily create music and video compilations, a nice photo editing app plus a panorama photo stitcher, a pretty capable video editing program (although I'm puzzled why it can't read FLV files), a cassette/LP converter tool, and about 10 more highly useful tools.
  
  Negatives? Well first of all I will semi-dispute what several reviewers have said about it freezing their system on installation. I thought so too, and then realized that a full install was loading over 50,000 files into my computer and even though I have a very powerful computer, the process took almost 45 minutes, making it the longest load time for any software I've ever owned. Where Roxio messed up is that the install screen only has a simple message that "installation may take several minutes". There are long periods ... like a couple of minutes at a time ... where the status bar does nothing and you would swear your computer is frozen. You just have to have a lot of patience and resist the urge to terminate the install, which may be why some people have had so much trouble with the software. Roxio could save a lot of frustration by making the install process a little more clear.
  My other concern is that my anti-virus and anti-spyware programs (from two different companies) both identified Creator 10 as mal-ware. I would like to know more about what information Roxio is gathering from my computer and how they are using it. Software companies should be more open with their customers about such things.
  
  Bottom line is that I don't think Creator 10 is as bad as some people make it out to be. Today's computers are incredibly complex and there seems to be a tendency to blame hardware or software for lack of understanding of how computers work. Other than your operating system, Creator 10 is probably one of the most complicated things you can install on your computer and there is no doubt it will have a noticeable effect on performance. If you choose to go with Creator 10 make sure you have a very capable system with plenty of hard drive space and as much memory as you can afford. I'm giving it 4 stars because I think overall the positives outweigh the negatives.
  
  
  
• Lots of features, effective so far
  By A19DW3VKM5KKYB on 2007-12-10
  I don't know if I've just had good luck so far, as I've noticed quite a bit of very mixed reaction to this product. But as I've explored the program, I have yet to have any serious problems with it. Copying DVDs has been successful every time, after a few dozen times using that feature. It does take a bit longer than I'd like to copy DVDs. Truth be told that is the only minor issue I've encountered so far.
  
  One of the things I've been using this software most often for is converting tapes and record albums to CD. I've had very good results, as I happen to have many old recordings - family gatherings, audio letters - on cassette tape. It's great to be able to easily record those into the computer and then burn it to CD. There are some nice features that allow you to clean up the audio quality - improving the overall sound, reducing tape hiss. It is very easy to edit the files too - very intuitive and easy to catch onto. For those with lots of old vinyl records, you'll be as glad as I have been to easily digitize the audio - removing clicks and pops that are a result of scratches - and put them on CD.
  
  This program is huge and has lots of features - many of which I am still exploring. I will update this review as I continue using it for new applications.
  
  As a side-note - but importantly - there were some problems with the product initially shipped to me, but the Roxio customer service staff was very helpful and promptly rectified the problem.
  
  
  
  
• Another winner from Roxio
  By A3AM1VNSPSYASP on 2007-09-24
  When I selected this item, I thought it would be newer and better than existing Roxio products that do the same thing. While it works well, I'm not crazy about it. I couldn't help but compare it to items I already have. I did not find it significantly different than what I have. If you don't have this sort of program, this may be what you need. If you would like to duplicate or safeguard items you have, this may work for you. I would also like to suggest other Roxio products, which you may find at Roxio.com.
  
  
• Stable, Tons of Features For The Money!
  By A3MH9J8VEBMAGM on 2008-04-13
  I was leery of this software after reading the reviews, but I needed an all-in-one product that converts audio files,makes home movie to DVD creation a snap, and a few other things-so I gave it a try. My computer is running XP SP2 with a Pentium 4(3Ghz)CPU on 2 Gigs of RAM.
  
  I was pleasantly surprised and relieved to find that this really does almost anything you can think of in the media department-AFTER I figured out how to stop the little program Creator 10 had running in the background that was zapping 90% of my CPU. (It was in the taskbar, I think) After doing a quick google on that little background program, I found it to be a common problem and easily removed it..and haven't had issues since.
  
  After over a month, I haven't tried all of the features (there's A LOT) but it has been completely stable and BUG FREE for even the largest tasks I've thrown at it (converting hundreds of video and music files) with no issues at all. I have found myself smiling numerous times, marveling at what this thing can do. The ID tag editor is awesome as well, it renames music files (in quick and easy batches)to whatever you want...no more finding 8 "greatest hits" folders in your music collection and wondering what they are.
  
  I'm no power user, but I do know my way around a computer rather well, and this scratched every itch I had for tweaking everything I could think of with my media. As others have noted, there isn't super in-depth features here, but if you are looking to tweak every aspect of your editing,mixing,etc., why are you looking at this product anyways?
  
  Anyways,with the price that you can pick this up (I got mine direct from roxio for less w/coupons) it's practically a steal. By buying a direct download, I knew I was getting the most updated (less buggy!!)version.
  
  For all the pluses, I have found a few negatives as well:
  -Exporting video files when making home movies to DVD takes an excruciatingly long time-about 3 hours for a full DVD.
  -Certain parts of the program can take a couple seconds to load up.
  -You can't save the list of music that you picked to convert.If you cancel, you have to pick your music again.
  -Although it was easy for me, initially having to get rid of that little CPU hog background program could be an annoyance.(that was a one-time thing though)It's worth it.
  
  Bottom line: If you are looking for a do-it-all software for cheap, this is it. There is a 30-day guarantee offered by roxio, and it beats Nero. I tried Nero, and it seems that Nero practically took over my computer. Nero was everywhere! It also messed up my autoplay for cd's and dvd's, wouldn't let me change its autoplay control, and NeroHome had a slowww interface that didn't really have a point.Try Roxio First!
  
  
  
• great for music mixes
  By A1E159O7XM1MCH on 2008-04-17
  I've been making mixes of my music since the days of lps and cassette tapes. I've used and researched many varieties of software for this, including earlier versions of Roxio. I have to say, with EMC version 10, Roxio seems to have really gotten it right!
  
  Some strengths:
  - EMC sees all your music, but doesn't force you into its single management system like Itunes or Windows Media Player. You simply drag and drop either from a master sortable list of tracks and artists or from your own file structure, into an album or project you can manipulate any way you want.
  - Making customized crossfades is a breeze! Other programs either make you use the same overlap or gap for every transition, or use a complicated sound wave editing format. EMC10 just lists the songs in your mix and includes buttons for the length of the overlap and the kind of crossfade.
  - When you make a mix with crossfades, it still retains track markers so you can jump between tracks, unlike some other programs that force the whole mix into a single mp3.
  - Important: automatic track volume leveling actually works! And you can manually adjust the volume of individual tracks without leaving your mix project, along with other effects like equalizing or eliminating clicks.
  - The mixes burn nicely on CDs and play flawlessly on CD players. You don't know how many coasters I've made over the years.
  
  There are other features if you want, sound editing and exporting to portable music players and such. There's a decent CD labeling program, although for some reason it doesn't provide a good way to list both songs and artists (you have to rename songs to include the artist name as well). And of course there's all this other stuff about photos and videos which I guess could come in handy but it doesn't get in the way.
  
  All in all I have to say Roxio has made my favorite hobby of making personal music mixes fun and fast so I can concentrate on the sound. Thank you, Roxio!
  
  
• The best Creator yet
  By A28181QUTDO8JR on 2008-05-15
  There are too many good things to say about this product. Since I received it I have been trying to use its many features, and I have not been disappointed. It combines speed of CD/DVD burning with ease of use. It is also very intuitive, though, sometimes you have to just allow the application to guide you, because some of the tasks are now done differently compared to the previous versions.
  The only downside to this great product is that it could be a memory hog. This is not unexpected in my opinion, considering the many tasks that it now undertakes with ease. I recommend this product most heartily, and I am confident that you'll find it very useful.
  
  
  
• Full featured media suite
  By A2CWIYIETNBAK3 on 2007-10-10
  As an Easy Media user for many years, I'm fairly familiar with the features available with this media suite. Over the years, the number of media creation possibilities have grown dramatically. What began as a way to rip CDs into mp3s and burn them onto CDRs, now involves music, photos and video creation for CDs, DVDs, the internet, portable music and video players and cell phones. It's obvious that this suite now contains a vastly increased number of elements. As the suite has grown, so has its demand for computer resources. That was the first thing I noticed after loading the program and putting it through its paces. You'll be well advised to have a fairly hefty machine if you intend to run this suite at anywhere near optimal conditions. That's the trade-off: if you want a truly full-featured media suite, expect something of a drain on your resources. It was about this time that I began to wonder if the functions of this suite might not run faster and better if they were slimmed down into 2 or 3 different discrete packages, carefully targeted as to purpose. I can see the more esoteric possibilities of Easy Media Creator 10 never being utilized by the majority of users while there's still this additional cost in lost speed and the drain on your computer resources because of its all-encompassing nature. If you can live with the added expense, there's little this suite can't do. Just be aware of this caveat.
  
  
• Works Great!
  By AHD7S5MILQ1MA on 2007-10-15
  This is one of those rare products that does exactly what it promises to do!
  I am now able to easily make videos for YouTube and other sharing applications. Roxio is a well known company in this field, and has been for years. I needed something simple to help me make short videos that could be posted and shared. This Media Creator suite does that and much more - I would find it hard to push the boundaries on this software. I think it's also important to mention that you can protect your works also with this software.
  
  I didn't have the install issues that other reviewers noted, running XP SP2.
  
  
  
• A solid, comprehensive multi-media package
  By AE12AEJFCOGGY on 2007-09-28
  A staggering array of features make this one of the more comprehensive multi-media development packages on the market. If you want to do something to a video, audio file, CD, DVD or picture, this program can probably do it.
  
  That variety of features might make the package intimidating for some. Although navigation is generally good, there is a lot going on here. (And users with slower/older computers might find the software a little too greedy when it comes to system resources.) I still prefer using the programs I'm already familiar with when it comes to tasks like photo manipulation, etc. I also find it more convenient to burn CDs and the like with programs that do just that and not a dozen other things.
  
  Still, if you're looking for a program with a broad range of functionality, that combines most of the common multimedia tasks all in one package, you won't go wrong choosing this one.
  
  
• A cornucopia of media options; runs fine on my new Vista PC
  By A3KF4IP2MUS8QQ on 2008-01-17
  I guess I'm a lone voice crying in the wilderness because I like this product. I can't say that I've used every one of the dozens of features this software includes, but I haven't run into any problems so far - and it's nice to know that I now have the capability to do so many other things I would never have even thought about doing before. The main draw for me was the video editing and DVD creation features - everything else in Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 Suite is just icing on the cake for me. That being said, you are going to need a pretty good computer to make all of this magic happen. When I first got this product, I had a five-years-old XP machine with limited memory. I had no trouble installing the software, but I was very limited in what I could do, especially in terms of video editing. Now I have a Vista PC with 4 GB of RAM, which means I am pretty much ready to Roxio and roll. I did have some trouble installing this on my new PC, but that was because my PC came with Roxio Creator DE and I didn't want to uninstall that until I knew this new software was working problem-free. All I had to do to get past this was to kill my preexisting Roxio processes in the Task Manager before installing this new software. It was easy to do - my only complaint was that I had to figure this out on my own, as it wasn't mentioned in the documentation.
  
  So what all can this puppy do? Let's start with the video options. You can capture video directly or import it from your digital camcorder, rip it from your non-encrypted DVDs, edit it, save it, export it, watch it, convert it, etc. You can even upload videos to YouTube in one quick step. Now I can finally transfer some of my old analog video to digital - up until now, I could transfer video to DVD, but I couldn't transfer it to my computer or edit it at all. That means I'll finally be able to post some video of my late, beloved canine buddy on YouTube. You don't have to be a total AV geek to do this stuff, either. If the thought of turning your old home video into a "movie" scares you, you can just make a few basic choices and let the software do it for you. All of the advanced video editing features will still be there when you're ready for them. This isn't the most powerful video editing software in the world, but it's more than most of us will ever need. I just want to be able to share my home videos with family and friends, not try to follow in the footsteps of George Lucas.
  
  You also have a lot of nice options for working with photos. If you already have a good photo editing program like Photoshop or Fireworks, Roxio's Photo Suite has nothing to offer you, but it's a good, basic editor for newbies. You can also create slideshows, panoramas, and other types of photo projects with this software. Again, many users will already have bigger and better ways of doing the same thing, but I certainly don't begrudge the fact that these options are included here - and some will definitely find these things of use. The same goes for the Roxio Media Manager, which includes the ability to synchronize photos and videos with any mobile device you might have.
  
  Turning to audio, you get a myriad of features for ripping, burning, and organizing your files. There's a Sound Editor that lets you add sound effects and/or edit and mix different audio tracks, a Batch Audio Converter that lets you convert your audio files to different formats, and a program that allows you to record analog audio from LPs and tapes (a Recording Setup Guide shows you how to hook the different components together). If you're as old as I am, you have a lot of great music on LP and tape that you would love to have easier access to. Roxio's Data and Backup utilities help you back up your important data files, a Disc Gallery lets you index all of the files on your discs, and Express Labeler and Label Creator make it easier to keep your discs organized.
  
  I've just tried to give you a quick overview of the many different features included in this software package. Suffice it to say that this thing will give you plenty of bang for your buck. Chances are that you're going to have different software programs you prefer to use for different things, but Easy Media Creator Suite 10 is such a complete package of products that you're sure to find a use for it in a number of different ways. I might still use ITunes for my music, Fireworks for my photo editing, and Windows Movie Maker for some of my video editing, but I'm still quite happy with this software package.
  
  
• Each version gets better
  By A2GXDG1R9O80EV on 2008-06-04
  Over the years I've stuck with Roxio Easy Media Creator Suites since I'm used to the programs and have always found them to be reliable. Also I can get user rebates and think the price is still good. For those new to Creator it has tools and programs for digital media. This category is huge but Creator does a good job of covering much of the range.
  Originally I bought Creator to deal with my video tapes to transfer to digital. The deluxe version has a video converter. I liked the video programs well enough but I'm surprised that version 10 has more additions. Most obvious is the YouTube video optimizing feature. It is also better at adding soundtracks to video and slideshows. The are more tools and effects. Although it doesn't have tv broadcast streaming, it does have tivo file features. My tivo unit broke so now I burn dvds for the dvd player so I can view them on my pc. I even noticed that when I transfer photos to my cellphone I can eliminate the bars. In 9 I also experienced a C++ overrun problem that would appear now and then. The Roxio Web support site had instructions on how to deal with it. I see that the problem never occurred on the same pc in version 10. As long as Roxio keeps improving and adding, I'll keep upgrading.
  
  
• One Suite saves time, space and money
  By AQ9LSSMPHW0RF on 2008-05-28
  There's a lot of opinions and the diversity may be due to the wide range of computers and configurations. My new Epson printer doesn't even work with Vista so nothing can be taken for granted. Begin with your pc specs-- mine is a Vista 2GB RAM, AMD Turion 64 x 2. No where near top of the line but should be more than adequate for digital media. Disk Authoring is still the greatest strength in Easy Media. Everyone has their preference for digital editing, but I have not found anything more straight forward than Roxio's disk burning programs. Some people blame the program for makng bad disks but this program removes many user errors. It's possible to pick the wrong format for a disk and this program helps by recognizing the blank disk and listing the best possibilities. It is also more reliable to make a virtual disk and copy from there than to do a direct disk to disk copy. The track by track method is longer and more prone to errors. I did find that the utilities were able to fix some disk errors. No program can burn 100% error free so a good utility is essential.
  
  Video Editing is more complete than I thought possible in a suite. First there are 2 completely different video programs. One is simple and can be used right away. the other--videowave is a complete video editor. I'm not attached to any other program so I didn't mind learing the ins and outs. In short it works by layers so you can take sections and add/delete sound and effects. Photosuite is much like other programs although it isn't for pixel editing. But it does have more advanced features than normal suite programs like quick redeye deletion, cloning, brightness and contrast adjustment. Audio editing is again complete if not the most advanced program available. I noticed the sound capture program which isn't so common. It makes playlists and also has the unique feature of automatic song info insertion. Is it too much? Maybe if you already have programs for digital media. For me it is much simplier to have all the programs together and linked. Also I don't have to worry about upgrading individual programs and can stick to the one suite.
  
  
• Don't waste your time
  By A1ILZDEZRK31TP on 2007-09-25
  You might think that version 10 of any product would have to be pretty bulletproof, but you would be wrong. I wasted two days trying to convert an mpeg to a dvd. I finally downloaded two shareware products that worked perfectly the first time (one to convert the mpeg to a dvd image, the other to burn the dvd image to a dvd).
  
  Even the Media Creator program launcher could not close without crashing. Thankfully, Sonic offers a 30 day money back guarantee. However, I wish that I could bill Sonic for the time that I spent debugging their product.
  
  It may seem obvious to suggest that Sonic improve their QA processes, but I must. This product should not have been released in its current state.
  
  
  
• An Everything Box
  By A2MAB5Q4XA209W on 2007-10-08
  This box has a little (or a lot) of just about everything you might wish to do in terms of working with multi-media files. For the average casual user, it might be a bit much, with more capability (and a higher price tag) than he really needs. But if you wish to create good-looking and sounding videos, slide shows, fix up your somewhat blemished photos, create new audio cds or perhaps even a DVD, this suite has the tools to do it.
  
  Most of the actions required to actually get where you want are fairly intuitive and are logically laid out in the menu choices. And you won't need an engineering degree in the complexities of audio and video editing to do most of this. Perhaps one of its best features is conversion of LP audio to digital, with reasonable filters for the inevitable sound quality problems with LPs.
  
  But at the same time, if you are an audio or video buff, you might be better off getting some other more specialized packages that concentrate on just one or two aspects of this work, such as Adobe Photo Shop or Sony Vegas Pro, which provide a greater level of control and additional features than this package offers (at the price tag of having to really know what you're doing).
  
  Installation of this went smoothly on my machine (running XP2), and to date has not exhibited any egregious bugs, though it does seem to be somewhat of a resource hog.
  
  Bottom line: It's got everything, but is possibly too much for the average user, while not enough for the serious media creator. A reasonable choice if you want just one package that can do just about everything you ever imagined you might wish to do, but were too intimidated by the complexity to try before.
  
  --- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
  
  
  
• Way beyond disc burning, nice media options
  By AEUOW8UQ97AN7 on 2008-05-17
  I'm just getting into digital music and was looking for a way to manage new digital media along with transfering old media. I would recommend Creator 10 in every shape and form. Playing my old tapes and having them turn into digital files is awesome. The money I saved on buying replacements far exceeds the price of the program. There are a few remastered songs I want but I dont' have to buy the whole album. The program has features which takes into account conversion issues. There is a maximum volume control which will level the volume on all songs. It has auto id tagging with title, artist, year, genre. Extra features organize songs by the id categories.
  Basic disk burning can't be ignored. I've used programs, mainly free ones which I would make some sort of error along the process. I prefer Creator's approach, especially the drag n' drop option. I see that it has blueray and HD disk burning. I guess I can forget about HD now but in the future blueray would be good. Right now its too pricey but whenever I want I now have a program to burn the disks. Photo projects are good here. Video sucess depends a lot on the hardware. I can do some editing on my XP, 512RAM computer. I use a faster pc to do more serious editing. It's to Creator's credit all the programs are easy to use.
  
  
• Finally, a product that does everything it says!
  By A29HT9J9U4QPV5 on 2007-09-26
  You know how awful it is when you try an editing or media file product, and it refuses to do what it claims, even if you buy the "premium" version? (I'm looking at you, MusicMatch Jukebox.) Well, you won't have that problem with the Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10. Video, audio, pictures -- this has everything the average person would need to do whatever they want with their media files. Go, Roxio!
  
  
• Okay at what it does, but not worth purchasing
  By A3KZCNV1N8R9GC on 2007-10-10
  The formerly great Roxio suite has not aged well. Version 10 is a tired, boring, crippled old version of what Roxio used to be.
  
  In theory it's loaded with cool things to do: burning, editing video, making dvds and music cds, backing up, and more
  
  In actuality, it does this stuff, but in a very lackluster way. Nothing really stands out about how roxio does things, and its simply not worth paying for anymore. Why pay for software when a free alternative is better?
  
  Every feature, and I mean every feature in this suite is available in various freeware programs, without the bloat and without the install issues. Some users might like the "all in one" aspect of EMC, but the truth is most people only need a handful of the features, and you can cut down on the amount of system resources used just by googling some freeware to do the same thing for you.
  
  What's worse, this "upgrade" is actually a downgrade! The old version of Easy Media Creator had features that aren't even available in this version.
  
  What is new with this version? Now it's more difficult to install! Just look through a few other reviews of this product for more info on the install issues frustrated customers have been getting.
  
  I really can't recommend this product for anyone, there is a better alternative out there for just about everyone i can think of.
  
  New users: Just use the software built into Windows or Mac OSX. Odds are you don't need the "advanced" features Roxio has.
  Intermediate or Advanced users: Google some freeware to do what you think Roxio can do for you. I bet you'll find several alternatives, and I bet they'll be better.
  Roxio Diehards: Really like your old Roxio software? Keep it. This version is not a good upgrade.
  
  
• Create the Night and Day Away!
  By A3DHHQ2NGXOUAH on 2007-10-11
  Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10 is a dream for creating movies, music and uploading even for someone like me who is *not* a tech person.
  
  You just follow the prompts, create, edit, share and most of all ENJOY.
  You can even work with pictures and videos that you take with your cell phone.
  
  I honestly think this would make a FANTASTIC HOLIDAY GIFT - it's high quality, inspiring and easy to use. Send this to your kids in college or anyone who wants to create to share. I'm going to get two more for my teen age daughter and son.
  
  On a side note, this would be GREAT for teenagers - to spark their creativity and inspire them - they'll love it for how much they can create.
  
  
  
• About picture quality-----sharpness.
  By AIJU3EN3K68TN on 2008-03-23
  Most of amateur videotographer's works are within one hour video.
  So I edited and made one hour DVD for trial.
  It was very good picture quality (sharpness) compared to original source DVD. However old EMC7's picture quality was exactly same sharpness as original source DVD.
  
  I compared with UXXXX VIDEO STUDIO 11 PLUS which is at highest customer reviews among those editing programs.
  But Studio 11 Plus's sharpness at HIGH QUALITY setting was far worse than
  EMC 10. I can not use this UXXX VIDEO STUDIO 11 PLUS any more for video editing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  EMC 10 is very good picture quality (sharpness) compared with original source DVD.
  
  I chosened
  
  
• Version 10 is a Vast Improvement over Earlier Versions
  By A1RIQUDE4B8NGX on 2007-09-27
  Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite version 10 is a vast improvement over some earlier versions of this package. Besides the obvious power that version 10 brings with a much wider suite tools, this version provides a much friendlier interface and design that is more responsive; versions 5 through 7 were somewhat clunky and at times very slow and unresponsive. Version 10 is even an improvement over version 9; while version 9 was more robust than previous versions, the interface was still a little lacking in design and intuitiveness - version 10 has improved the interface to the point that it quick user friendly.
  
  The audio tools for ripping CDs and editing audio files is straight-forward and easy to use. I wish there were a little more control over filenaming of ripped files, but it is good enough to deliver what I need. The standard CD and DVD burning of data or music is the best out there and always has been; of all of the burning software I have used, the Roxio Creator Classic has always been and is still the best of bunch.
  
  I was pretty familiar with versions 6 and 7, which were before the recent boom in consumer video editing and mastering, and version 10 has a whole host of tools to aid in this endeavor: VideoWave, an editor application that supports HD; MyDVD, for authoring slick DVDs; an Audio/Video Conversion tool for converting between formats; and CinePlayer, a pretty nice video player. I have a film and video background and have used some fairly high-end video and audio editing tools; and, while Roxio's video editing and mastering suite is not quite that level, it will deliver a straight-forward video creation experience for the home user that wants to create slick productions of their daughter's recital or the family vacation to the Grand Canyon or Paris.
  
  Some other useful features: a photo editing application that is not quite Photoshop Elements, but will get the job done; a nifty Plug & Burn tool that will turn a videotape into a DVD in one step; and Assistant to help with burning legacy LPs and Cassette Tapes; Disc Gallery for cataloging offline disks such as CDs and DVDs; a bunch of pre-made themes for DVD menus and labeling; and much more.
  
  Bottom line: If this is your first media creation package, then this is definitely the right choose; if you are using a version older than 9, then this is a must upgrade for all the reason you can think of; and if you are currently using version 9, then it isn't an essential upgrade, but you would most likely be happy if you do.
  
  
• Like an aging Shaquille O'Neal...
  By ACUYXGCMWVF7S on 2007-10-05
  This multimedia creation/authoring suite is like aging basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal. How is this? They are both powerful, capable of doing a ton of things and generally quite useful to have. They are also overweight, bloated, not as good as they once were.
  
  I also own Nero 7 Ultra, so I was able to compare Roxio's Easy Media Creator 10 suite with its most direct competitor. Both suites endeavor to provide the end-used with a plethora of programs designed to allow one to create, edit, and produce multimedia content. This means that they include image, sound and video editing software, as well as tools to burn and produce your content when finished. The harsh truth is that both products are the ultimate example of the saying "Jack of all trades, master of none". I found that Easy Media Creator was generally easy to use if you are doing common tasks, but all of the programs which make up this mega-suite are inferior to a dedicated, stand-alone program. For example: I will continue to use IMToo's excellent video conversion software instead of Roxio's, largely because it is faster, more reliable and generally less of a headache. I will use Photoshop or even AcDsee for my image needs, and Ulead Video Studio or Adobe Premiere for my video editing.
  
  This suite is not a bad idea for someone with basic needs, but the sheer number of programs you will NEVER use overwhelms the basic user that this program is aimed at. The interface is much nicer than Nero's however. This size of this program meant that it was generally slower than one would like, and I had a number of lock-ups and soft crashes while performing basic tasks (authoring a DVD). The CD/DVD burning is generally solid and fast, but if that's all you're going to use if for, you probably don't want to spend the money it costs to get this software. Moreover, as another reviewer noted, I don't feel that this suite does anything better or differently than its predecessor, making upgrading a personal, yet expensive, choice.
  
  Bottom Line: Basic video/image/sound editing, a ton of useless/redundant features, and good burning software. Performance is slower than it should be, as is reliability, at least on my system. While this isn't bloatware, it needs a bit of fat trimmed from its code. True photographers, audiophiles or video nuts will definitely look elsewhere, and inexperienced users will be put off by the price and somewhat confusing organization of this program. I don't envision this software replacing any of the ones I currently use.
  
  
• Give it a chance
  By AO6EW7LZGP3V4 on 2008-05-28
  I've been trying to replace my aging Easy CD creator 6 for a long time. I tried many of the popular programs, and didn't like anyone of them. I finally wound up with East CD Creator 10, and after giving it a two week chance I found it is basically like 6 but much better. Once you get used to it it is fairly easy to use. Its still a large program ...
  
  
• Awsome software
  By A2C0XRTY7FETM9 on 2008-06-02
  This is easy and makes great videos. The music mix is anything you want, you can make as many copies as you want. We love it.
  
  
• Can control digital media from any angle
  By AZZ7QG4OR6HTX on 2008-06-16
  Roxio's suite has helped me salvage old media and just for that I give it the highest rating. I don't think that old media could be saved very easily when new formats came along. Remember beta and 8mm tapes, laser disc movies? Many people don't know and don't care but for those of us who invested in the systems and music/movies it is a loss unless we could transfer them. The best thing about digital media is the storage hardware may change but software converting is not that difficult, at least when I use this program. My only complaint is that the install can get messed up if you don't remove any old roxio media programs. I couldn't rely on the windows uninstall and had to check to make sure that an old burner version was removed before it worked. After that small problem I am pleased with the performance.
  Using the video converter in the package, the Deluxe version, same software I salvaged my beta and 8mm tapes. Good thing I didn't dump them. The video appears on the computer as it is being converted. I would have been content with stopping there but then I found that the video programs are easy enough to make edits. I can clean up and cut the videos exactly the way I want. I've also been able to save the videos in different formats. Since video is large I prefer to compress them. The program is user friendly and chose the video format when I backed them on disks. It tracks the disk contents too even when they are not in the drive. Since I'm not up to date on the latest terminology overall this is a good program for people like me. The steps were easy to follow.
  
  
• Another successful product
  By ATJR32HT32JIQ on 2007-09-27
  I've been a hard user of the Easy Media Creator line since it began and watched it grow better with each version. I have it running on both XP and Vista systems and other than minor trouble on 1 XP install, everything runs very well.
  There are a few parts of the suite that I cannot do without such as Videowave and MyDVD. New programs added in v10 include Multi CD Ripper, Batch Converter and Smartsound to name just a few.
  My rating shows 4 starts but I rate it 4 1/2 because nothing is perfect!
  
  
• Much better than average programs
  By A1C8CGEITX2IBG on 2008-06-23
  I can't say enough of how easy this program is. I learned a lot about photo editing from using verison 9. It gave me the confidence to try more. I bought an hd camcorder and the deluxe version for the tape converter. I don't need the converter for the camcorder but I figured I could now deal with the backlog of tapes. Anyway it only takes hooking up the camcorder to my pc and version 10 does a lot of steps. I've stuck with Cinemagic so It will make smaller clips automatically. It makes it easy to delete what I don't want and sort the clips. It makes HD dvds so I can keep the high quality visuals. My old tapes are s-video and the converter has this connection. It's not hd but it's better than regular vhs video. The video snapshot tool takes photos from the video clips. I can enhance them and not only use them for photo projects but they can be inserted into dvd menus. I did notice that the there are more menu, album, and slideshow templates in 10 than in 9. I'll be changing my phone soon so I will get a video player one since 10 can transfer video onto it. There are many other programs but I use it mostly for photos and videos and like the programs.
  
  

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