home :: Features :: Software reviews 13th May 2004 Roxio Creator 7 software review by Ian Burley Related Articles Epson PictureMate review Epson improves P-2000 and eases supply situation October's competition is now closed NOVEMBER COMPETITION: Is now CLOSED Introduction For the digital photographer Creating audio visual productions Conclusion ROXIO CREATOR 7 Once upon a time, a company called Adaptec produced an easy to use utility suite for getting the most out of your recordable CD drive. It was called Easy CD Creator. Today, Adaptec concentrates on hardware interface products since Roxio took over as the custodian of Easy CD Creator, except that's not what it's called any more. With the release of version 7, Roxio has acknowledged that the world has moved beyond the basic recordable CD era. We're talking digital media, now, recording to CD, DVD and to removable storage devices, like USB key chains, memory cards and, of course we're distributing digital media around the Internet, via email and on Web sites. Easy CD Creator has become Easy Media Creator, or Creator 7 for short. So why buy a software package like this any more? Microsoft bundled CD-burning support with the introduction of Windows XP. At the same time improved file browsing with faster generation of image file thumbnails, plus a simple slide show applet were also featured. Without the basic 'makes it work' value to drive sales, Roxio has had to concentrate on feature range and value for money. Windows XP can burn CDs, but Roxio shows there is a lot more to it than recording the final disc. Prior to Creator 7, Roxio had a big bag of interesting, usually easy to use, utilities – many of which would be of interest to people wanting to edit and organise photos, audio files and video clips and then burn them to CD or DVD in a variety of ways. It's the same with Creator 7, but different. Before Creator 7, the selection of applications were only loosely coordinated – after all, Roxio and Adaptec had, over the years, acquired component programs from a variety of sources. Now, Roxio presents its library of solutions in a much more managed and coordinated fashion. To start with, there is a central application and project launcher. All you need to get there is to launch the Creator 7 'Home' application. Creator 7's centralised application and project launcher This takes up a fair amount of the screen, so you can also opt for a space saving Drag to Disc mini window, onto which you can drag files in preparation for copying to a CD or DVD. Creator 7's Drag to Disc space saver Check the latest price or purchase this item via Click on the flag that best relates to your location The EU flag links to Amazon Germany, currently the only European Amazon outlet that supplies electronic goods like cameras priced in Euros. Each Amazon outlet can ship to most countries in the world. FOR THE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER So just what can Creator 7 do? We'll start with its still image-related offerings. Media Manager is a tool for creating virtual collections, or catalogues, of media files, like photo images, movie clips and audio files. The window is split into two, with a folder and file browser on top showing thumbnails of media files and a similar-looking display that shows the content of collections. Media Manager is used to browse media files and create collections A collection is simply a selection of references to media files stored anywhere on your hard drive. One media file can be included in as many different collections as you like, though only one copy of the file, in its original location, is required. Maybe you took a great picture of a racing car at the Silverstone circuit on the 25 July, 2004. Collections including that shot might be about your best racing car shots, your day out at Silverstone and, for example, a collection of all your pictures taken in July, 2004. Remember, the contents of a collection is completely independent of the actual file's location on your hard drive. Unfortunately, image files using the LZW data compression system, including some TIFF files and GIF files, are not supported. Once you have built up a collection of media files, you can process all those files using another Creator 7 function – burn them to CD, preview and edit them or print them, whatever. You can also examine the EXIF data stored in camera images, like aperture and shutter speed settings, ISO settings and more. It is also possible to annotate the files and use different strength search facilities to find files or collections of related files that you need. Media Manager lets you examine embedded information like camera EXIF data and even add your own annotations All of these features are typical of a stand alone image management package. Creator 7 keeps things simple and easy to understand. Power users may, however, soon grow out of Media Manager. Next on the list is PhotoSuite 7, Creator 7's image editing application. PhotoSuite 7 may be a simple application, but it has some surprisingly sophisticated features, like different shaped cropping tools, for example PhotoSuite has always been a techno-fear free introduction to transferring photos from your camera and tidying them up. It's unlike conventional editing applications that use complex layers and highly technical jargon. Instead, it approaches image editing from first principals in an intuitive and friendly way using a browser-like user interface, aided by step by step wizards. Want to convert your large camera images into a form suitable for emails? PhotoSuite will hand hold you through the process Over the years PhotoSuite has become much more capable than its simple look and feel might suggest, but nobody is suggesting that it is a be all and end all of image editing packages. Have you noticed a theme beginning to form here? PhotoSuite works well, but you may well grow out of it if you get ambitious enough. Incidentally, you have the choice of firing up Roxio's own-branded online photo print ordering service. It's actually run by the German firm, Pixum and results we've seen in the past are pretty good and competitively priced, though order turnaround times haven't been particularly swift. Check the latest price or purchase this item via Click on the flag that best relates to your location The EU flag links to Amazon Germany, currently the only European Amazon outlet that supplies electronic goods like cameras priced in Euros. Each Amazon outlet can ship to most countries in the world.

CREATING AUDIO VISUAL PRODUCTIONS

Once you have created a collection of tidied-up photos, why not make an animated slide show? The StoryBoard feature in Creator 7 is actually part of a major top level Creator 7 component called VideoWave 7.


VideoWave is for editing and joining sequences that have a time line, including video clips and slide shows

This is a tool for creating assembling the audio visual content of a presentation or movie. The StoryBoard aspect of VideoWave 7 provides the means to order your images, select animated fades and wipes between pictures, set the inter-frame time delays, add soundtracks – even add a voice commentary, etc. If you feel you need more help, the StoryBuilder feature makes the process of creating a production use a guided step by step approach.


StoryBoard can construct very competent animated slide shows with background music

You aren't limited to still images with StoryBoard – video clips can be included as well. Once the show has been completed, you can export it as an intermediate file compatible with another Creator 7 component, DVD Builder.


DVD Builder is the final tool you'll need to in preparation for creating your own multimedia CD or DVD

With DVD Builder you can create discs that should be compatible with most digital A/V disc players using the standards Video CD (VCD), Super Video CD (SVCD), DVD on CD and full-blown DVD. Incidentally, a version of CineMagic is included for hands-free automatic movie editing.

Another Creator 7 component, Roxio Player, is provided for viewing productions created in any of the above formats. It's not, however, a player suitable for copy-protected commercial DVDs.

Audio
Away from imaging, you also get a stereo digital audio editor. Tools are included for creating standard MP3 digital music tracks using conventional music CDs as masters. You can also create your own audio CDs and duplicate CDs – observing copyright regulations, naturally.


Be your own digital sound recordist

Once again, the Creator 7 sound editor isn't necessarily going to satisfy a professional sound engineer, but what it does, it does OK.

Roxio also provides access to the, now-legalised Napster online digital music track previewing and purchasing service.

Data functions
These days it's almost easy to overlook the utilities that started the original Easy CD Creator package – copying data files to CD or DVD (write once and rewritable) for archiving or distribution. We take them for granted, but most commonly used recordable CD and DVD formats and associated hardware are supported, even the much-maligned DVD RAM standard, though this is only supported through the Drag to Disc feature. Creator 7 also helps you create hard drive back up to CD or DVD projects. Label design software for printable discs is also included.

Check the latest price or purchase this item via
Click on the flag that best relates to your location
The EU flag links to Amazon Germany, currently the only European Amazon outlet that supplies electronic goods like cameras priced in Euros.
Each Amazon outlet can ship to most countries in the world.