14 DAY TRIAL // In the dedicated ?Converters" section of the Softpedia.com website, 30 programs proudly stand on the first of the 11 pages, after you sort the code according to the number of downloads. This means the absolute elite recorded in our ever-growing database and at the same time, the elite directly chosen by our visitors who are - in the last instance - the proper users of all the software.
So I decided to look closer to this piece of code to see what makes of it such a downloaded and appreciated software. Akram Audio Converter is, as its name says it, a software which will aid you when quickly switching the format of a certain audio file is dearly needed and quality setup is also a must. Having said these, let's rock!
The Looks
Akram Audio Converter is a software definitely looking forward to the Vista OS and whose graphic design has some Mac flavor as well. The main screen is a very pleasantly-looking window with calm and shady blue-tone colors, displaying buttons accessing the 4 main functions of the program, as well as two more buttons, for Exit and Help. When I mentioned the Mac-influence, I was looking at the "close" and "minimize" graphs in the upper-right corner of this screen: they are not rectangular as commonly met in Windows interfaces but round and very large, the Exit also having a large X which instantaneously made me think of the OS X-type X letter.
The text in this initial screen is absolutely huge, and thus, people with visual impairment will be able to read it very easily; the rest of the (very intuitive) icons are very neatly-drawn and look like hi-res small pictures, rather than flimsy icons. As you hover over these 4 big buttons bubbles appear and briefly explain what your opportunities are in the section you are about to enter so - if your are not sure about what you want to do - you may take a peek and read the few directions given here.
All the modules of which Akram Audio Converter consists of look the same, but with a little less "style": very bright and with large and intuitive buttons, with dropdown menus and the "fool-proof" green (for adding) and red (for deletion) coloring. The way the GUI of Akram Audio Converter looks like clearly states that it has been made for mass-usage: nice and warm, almost toy-ish buttons and icons, very large text, easy to read even for children (should need be), very clear visual indications and guidance in the menus and modules, all contributing to the general look which will get a big mark from me.
The Works
Before I say anything on the Akram Audio Converter, I would like to note that it is one of the (really) few converters which actually handle media files from the Real family. RAM, RMVB, RA and RM, they all can be transformed in your fav popular file format with just a few mouse clicks. The really interesting thing is that this operation does not work in just one way, meaning that you can transform other common formats like WAV, WMA (or whatever you'd choose) back into Real Media files. This clearly states that Akram Audio Converter will help you get rid of the uncomfortable (for most people I know) Real format and transform your audio to a file format easily recognized by your smartphone or portable music player or by whatever device you may use to listen to your music; you can freely use this format AS WELL, if you need to.
While the first two modules are complimentary, the first working Real to other popular formats and the second changing these formats back to Real, the third module (Easy Audio Converter) will let you experience the rest of (more or less) used audio file formats such as VOX, AAC, IMA ADPCM, U/A-LAW, G.721/23/26/29, AMR and so many more. This way, Akram Audio Converter is really becoming even more useful as it will help you optimize sound for a broad array of devices (cell phones and all sorts of applications which require lower bitrate/quality sound).
Needless to say that, in each module, you can edit tags for the output file(s) so you don't loose track of your audio nor have to come back upon it sometime later.
The last module is the Audio CD Ripper, a very useful tool when you need to quickly produce quality digital audio in WAV, WMA, MP3 or OGG formats. It really struck me that the LAME 3.91 encoder (which is an awesome tool) has had its GUI well done but slightly non-functional, as 2 of the tabs led me to some very weird menus, as you will easily see in the screenshots below. Besides this, some imperfections still remain, as the CDDB settings returned an annoying error, so I could not see them. Overall, Akram Audio Converter has showed that its position in the web rankings is well-justified and those who have downloaded it more than 12.500 times have had their reasons to do so...
Akram Audio Converter is really worth its $19 as it is a software which not only looks very good, but is as well very easy to both learn and use while delivering fast processing and very reliable quality.
The Good
The things which made me rate Akram Audio Converter with a high mark were the good looks, the processing speed and the ease of use. Indeed a software anyone could learn how to use in just minutes.
The Bad
The bad things in Akram Audio Converter are related not to programming or concept-flaws, but rather to small imperfections in the generic works. I am quite confident that these errors (the CDDB and LAME encoder GUI) will very soon be fixed. No truly bad things for Akram Audio Converter, but one final recommendation regarding the times in which the modules start after clicking their launch buttons...
The Truth
The truth about the Akram Audio Converter is that for 19 USD you'll get your hands on a very good audio tool which will not only work in both ways with Real Networks formats, but will also let you rip audio CDs and easily transform your audio files in a multitude of either popular or "technical" other formats. Not only a program that I recommend you to download and try, but about which I also say it's a piece of code that's really worth buying.
See the screenshots below to get better info on Akram Audio Converter:
