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SoundConverter, Like GraphicConverter But for AudioWell, not exactly on par with GraphicConverter... |
By Victor Mihailescu, Apple News Editor
22nd of June 2006, 15:40 GMT
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I have often praised GraphicConverter as being an excellent piece of software. The fact that it was chosen by Apple to be bundled with OS X speaks volumes about it. Converting from one file type to another is not really that big of a deal unless you do serious work with many different file types and need fast and most of all reliable conversion from the most obscure format to another. Because of this, GraphicConverter is such a great program. When I stumbled upon SoundConverter, it promised to be the audio file version of GraphicConverter, and, as such, there was much excitement on my behalf because I often had the need for such a tool.
What it does
SoundConverter is a small program that can decode and encode audio information into many different formats. The file format list is huge, absolutely massive, and while there are some limitations and you cannot convert from all file type into any other, most of the most common formats are supported both ways.
Besides the actual converting, you can also perform simple functions such as splitting or joining left right audio files or normalizing, and increasing/decreasing the volume, pitch and speed of a file.
Working with it
Working whit this program is very easy, just drop any file or files you want converted onto it, setting the options beforehand and you are
done.
There is no learning curve, and the options themselves should be more than familiar to anyone that has ever used a sound editing or playback program.
The anatomy of the window is also very intuitive. You select the destination format from the dropdown menu. Because this menu is ho huge, you are best off clicking it and then starting to type the name of your desired codec to cut down on the scrolling.
The options below are not available for all formats, and will be inaccessible when they cannot be used. The locked options are often hard to spot as there is little to no visual difference between them until you enable the option.
The advanced options let you tweak the file you are working on. While these options can be handy at times, this is the sort of work you are better off doing with a dedicated sound editing program, so it's for the best that they are nicely hidden away.
Once everything is ship-shape, you can simply drop the files you want to convert onto the SoundConverter icon which is a well. You don't need to bother yourself with the format of thee files, as the application will figure out for itself what they are and act accordingly.
Now just choose a destination and you are done.
Conversion, yes?
Unfortunately, while SoundConverter supported file type list is on par with that of GraphicConverted, the actual conversion itself is not. Trying to convert a file can result in one of two things: seamless conversion as expected, or a total flop.
There are simply some combinations of formats that did not work at all while testing. The conversion would start, and then the program would generate converted files in all kind of formats only to delete them and then make another version in another format. This would go on several times before the process would crash, and the program presented me with an error.
Seems I am not the only person to experience this and a quick look on the web revealed similar problems encountered by quite a lot of users. Seems that SoundConverter is not exactly top notch in terms of reliability, and while a certain format might be supported for either reading or writing, or both, it could very well be incompatible when working with another.
As such, the functionality of this program could be severely limited for some. Testing it out in demo version to ensure that it can work with the formats you need is advised.
License
Unlike most shareware applications, SoundConverter license locks it down to one computer. Once you purchase it for a computer, you can never, ever, use it on another.
Upgrading, accidents, upgrading, theft or any other such situation will result in your loss of the license, and you will have to buy a new license for the program if you wish to continue using it.
This is something to keep in mind if you are considering this program, especially since the conversion is iffy and the supported files list is pretty much meaningless.
The Good
Easy to use, and has a massive list of supported audio file formats.
The Bad
Not all conversions work, and the license is a dubious one at best.
The Truth
While this could be the ideal solution for any sound conversions, it is a little less than perfect and should be approached as such. That is not to say the application is bad, far from it, but that you should check it before you buy it, to make sure that the formats you need are fully supported. Also, make sure you are going to be keeping the computer you license it on for a while.
Click to enlarge the screenshot below:
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