Roxio Easy CD Creator 6

Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 beta is an extensive piece of software with many features, but the use you will get out of it will depend on the software you already have installed on your PC, and which version of Windows you use.

In addition to simple, intuitive CD writing, Easy CD Creator 6 has a photo editor and a media player, and the whole lot is joined together with a very tidy interface, while diehards can revert to the Creator Classic interface.

The photo editor has clearly come from Roxio's acquisition of MGI and it is a very basic tool that can handle cropping, rotating and cleaning up images.

It's no substitute for Photoshop Elements or Paintshop Pro, but it'll suffice for sorting photos before you drop them on a CD.

The Audiocentral media player adds little or nothing over Windows Media Player or Winamp, but it makes it easier to maintain a unified Roxio media library.

It also uses what seems like Windows Media Player visualisations; we can only assume that the use of these was part of the deal that allowed Roxio's CD-burning technology into Windows XP.

DVD Builder allows you to drop movie clips onto a timeline with a soundtrack, and then burn to + or - DVD media, much like Windows Movie Maker.

If you already have Windows XP and some CD writing software there is little reason to shell out £50 on this, but if you don't have XP and prefer the all-in-one approach, Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 will suit you well.

Contact: Roxio 01908 278 100
www.roxio.co.uk

System requirements:

• 1.6GHz Pentium 4
• 128MB of Ram
• Windows 98SE and above
• 600MB of free hard disk space
• 800 x 600 display for audio, 1,024 x 768 display for DVD Builder