Deluxe Version's Bells & Whistles (Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4.0)

Member Name: Nibelung

Product:	Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4.0
Date:	14/12/01 (461 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Basic facilities easy to use, Buying it separately gets you the full manual

Disadvantages: Spin Doctor needs a lot of practice to get thresholds set properly, If used "straight from the box" can lead to wasted CD-R's

The DELUXE issue of version 4.0 Easy CD Creator comes with all the kind software that you would expect to be “bundled” with any self-respecting CD-RW machine.

For example:-

CD-AUDIO (and CD-ROM)

Audio recordings can be assembled from a selection of .wav. AND .mp3 files. How you get them onto your c:/drive is another matter. Anyone familiar with Windows Explorer will be at home with its `Source File` and `Assembly Area` screens. (This is mirrored by a data CD copying facility using the same drag`n`drop methods for creating selective CD-ROMs)

Just identify where the originals are and drag`n`drop them to the assembly area in the right running order. They can be a mixture of file types.

Make any changes to track title text (make sure you set it out as if it’s going to be a disk label – it will be later!) and set the recording process in action.

If you are feeling really flash, you can even overlap tracks so that they fade into one another.

There is a CD-Labelling facility that can either use your typed-in information, or if you load a mainstream shop-bought CD into your machine, the software can be made to go off into the web, to a database of CD’s where it derives all the track information for you and dumps them to an MS Access compatible database on your C:/drive. All you have to do then is tidy-up the on-screen format to your satisfaction.

This is a useful facility in its own right if you have a large record collection and a copy of MS Access, since you could database them for insurance purposes, but its inclusion in CD Copying software can only be seen as an incitement to copy whole CDs, which as we are frequently told is illegal. (Unless you're trying to foil burglars by hiding all the originals in the loft!)

DIRECT CD

A utility for copying straight to disk from Windows Explorer, making your CD-Rs and RWs massive “floppies”, in
effect. A short period of “prepping” the disk is needed before it is formatted to receive data.

After use, you get the option of creating a CD-ROM readable in other machines, or leaving the disk open for later downloads.

CD COPIER,

Does exactly what it says `on the tin` by making verbatim copies of entire sound or data disks. This also links into the databasing and labelling facility if the source is a CD-audio disk, providing it's a CD that the system has already "seen".

With all of the facilites mentioned so far, don't forget to use the calibration routines in Tools to check out your playback AND recording machines for their data transfer rates - unless you've got a use for shiny beer mats with a hole in the middle, that is!

TAKE 2

This is a back-up utility, allowing a chain of CD-R`s or CD-RWs to be written to, capable of holding the entire contents of c:drive if need be. Of course, at only 650 mb a go, this could need rather a lot for the average well-stuffed c:/drive these days.

Now then…..where the DELUXE issue differs is in the extras.

For example,

SPIN DOCTOR

This has many interesting little features designed to help you clean up your sound source prior to committing it to CD. For example, if your source is scratchy vinyl or “hissy” tape, you can process these noises out by sampling the noise and having all examples of it removed.

You can also get it to detect quiet passages in an analogue source, and make track breaks for the CD. This latter facility is tricky to find the right sound threshold levels for it to operate faultlessly, especially with a noisy LP, as even large scratches in the silent bits can be seen as a new (but short!) track.

Don`t forget, you will need a hi-fi grade sound card to make this worth using, and also if you are recording from a turntable, some form of pre-amplifier
to raise the pick-up output to be compatible with the sound card input (I use an spare hi-fi amp for this).

Also, to stay within the spirit of the law, it would be illegal to re-record your vinyl albums onto CD and then dispose of the originals. As with all `software` it`s only legal to make back-up copies for security reasons. Anything else is piracy.

VCD Creation

In addition, you can also create VCDs from suitable movie format files, but I have yet to use this as my hi-fi’s DVD player won`t accept anything on a CD-R, despite being VCD compatible but you could see this being useful, if you have a Mini-DV Camcorder with a Firewire download link to PC so that your precious holiday footage can be laid to disk after editing the rude bits out! (or maybe you like leaving them in – who knows!)

All in all, some clever extras if you`ve a use for them, and the time to spend “taking the hiss” (out of your records, I mean) and anyone at home with Windows Explorer will take no time at all in becoming proficient at producing those “personal compilation” albums that the advertisers of CD-Rewriters are at pains to mention.

Note: Unlike previous versions, this will accept 80 minute disks.

£45 well spent

Summary: