Review: Roxio Creator 2009 multimedia suite

Most new computers come with some basic tools bundled but hardly what can be called a comprehensive collection.

If you plan on working with any kind of multimedia, Creator 2009 provides the tools to do so.

The benefit of using a suite of applications like Creator rather than buying lots of different individual programs is the consistent interface and, in the case of Creator, the Product Launcher.

Rather than having to decide which program is the best for the job, it gives suggestions based on task and theme.

The Product Launcher has changed quite a bit; the icons are larger and it is possible to use any of the different sections as the starting page rather than the more general home page. There are still links to online tutorials and products news.

Of all media, digital photos are the most commonly edited and Creator still has all the necessary tools in one place. Of particular note is the tool for resizing images for emailing and a batch process utility. Most of the effects are best applied individually, but the Autofix option is useful.

The slideshow creator is also quite powerful and doesn’t require much input to create a professional looking project. It doesn’t support FLAC files, but the Smartsound feature will generate tracks in a wide variety of styles and moods to fit the slideshow.

Sharing photos is now easier with the Roxio Online sharing service replacing the need to leave a computer connected to the internet. Videos can be uploaded directly to Youtube.

Creator can be used to copy audio from CDs or other audio sources such as vinyl or cassette tape. Tracks can be saved in all the major formats including MP3, WMA, OGG and FLAC. There’s no audio player included in the Creator suite, which is a shame since Windows Media Player doesn’t support the FLAC format. CD tracks can be quickly given track and album information via the Gracenote online service.

One new music feature is the ability to automatically create a playlist where there is not only a crossfade between the tracks of volume but also of tempo, known as beatmatching. Analysing the tracks for tempo didn’t take too long, even with several different formats. The tracks are ordered by their tempo, which avoids some of the stranger sounds that can occur when too much adjustment is applied.

Also new to Creator 2009 is better support for audio books by combining the individual chapter tracks ripped from a CD into the iTunes .m4b format.

Video is probably the most daunting area of media editing, with big files and many different formats available. One bonus for Windows Vista Home Basic owners is that it comes with a DVD player; the codecs for DVD playback are not included in the Home Basic version of Vista.

An automatic editor detects scenes from imported video and the advanced interface will import videos from .ts files. The export options are ordered into video file, DV camera, TV or VCR and email.

Some advanced features such as chroma key are missing, but that is really outside the scope of Creator. And video-editing suites that do support this feature cost around the same as this all-in-one package.

Those who own the previous version of Creator may not see enough to upgrade, but we can still wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone requiring a comprehensive editing suite.