Roxio RecordNow Music Lab 10 premier
(Download version)
Total cost: £22.98 which included £2.60 for the extended download facility and £3.00 Tax. (15%)
Verdict: Good value
One small problem installing (down to me not heeding my own advice!)
Install problems
Again a hefty 350Mb download (about 35mins on a 2Mb broadband connection). It was my own fault - I should have shut down my antivirus program before trying to install. After several warnings of Trojan type files being installed the installation failed. At least Roxio generate install log files so it was easy to diagnose the problem - yes, it was the antivirus software. We never read the installation instructions do we! Switched off antivirus, reinstall and all was well.
it's a good idea though, when downloading sofware to save the download and execute it locally rather than just running it. Because if the installation fails, everything will roll back and you will have to download the software again.
Functions
Once loaded the user is presented with an opening page of frequent tasks (I'm not sure if this is dynamic and will change depending on how frequent different functiond are used). The opening menu is cleanly laid out and basically split into 4 tabs - Home, with frequent tasks, Data/Copy, Video/Movies, and Music/Audio. All the usual functions are there - Creating Audio discs, Data discs, ISO images and copying both CDs and DVDs (subject to copyright laws of course). There's a useful audio editor, a CD ripper and a guide to converting LPs and tapes to CD or MP3. There is also a very usefull facility to capture and record from your soundcard. Great for recording Podcasts etc.
More later.........