14 DAY TRIAL // Why?
Today's tendencies concerning audio software are turning more and more towards integrating as many features as possible. The big question is whether programs comprising that many capabilities can also perform this multitude of tasks in an - at least - decent manner. There are lots of all-in-one softwares which claim to have both the power and the specs to perform everything the perfect way, and in real-life conditions they can barely manage to do 2 or 3 of these.
The battle is on between developers, who have been able by now to issue software which stuck to the ad-specified features and quality, as they strive to further improve their performances. Whether we're speaking about bundling audio players with CD burning or tag editing with sound editing and so on, one thing can assure both success and failure of a specific program. Turning a specialized player into a multimedia center is even harder than starting such an all-in-one program from scrap, so this is why nowadays the developers would rather put together different applications, make them work alike and create a common GUI and even a host-window.
Thus, a "new" software is born, sold at a way better price than all the contained applications sold separately and overall, it's a lot easier to both learn and use. Even more, this software is from the start intended for both inexperienced users and advanced/expert ones.
The Looks
Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio is for sure one good looking software, no matter if we speak about the novice or the expert-oriented modes. Bright and contrasting, yet not hindering colors and very well-drawn graphics make a stunning first impression, which on fact will last for the entire Ashampoo experience.
Icons have been simply beautifully drawn and overall, they look like hi-def pictures rather than simple icons. In the main window, all sections become neon-lighted as you hover the mouse over them; even if the other windows have a more traditional XP look, the general navigation buttons look just amazing: truly 3D, slightly-animated buttons, with extremely high detail, all displaying light and shiny colors and offering a truly pleasant sight.
One really nice thing is that you start form one single location and you can also very quickly choose the way you want to go, while at the same time being able to return to the initial point with just few clicks. If you click on an application's icon and that application has more options, in the area next to it a new menu will appear, offering info and choices that have the same well-designed look.
Further on, as you use the Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio, the windows' appearance becomes a bit more sober, but still great-looking; some sort of XP-style, but more fashioned and seemingly designed more carefully than any XP theme I saw by now. Light colors and black text make a very readable combination, thus not straining the eye even after prolonged use.
In the audio edit module, this general design seems not to be the best choice made, since it tends to be too eye-candy, regardless of the functionality requirements when it comes to editing jobs. Without being a handicap, this little thing rather contributes to the generic sleek and stylish look of the Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio which - in my humble opinion - is already one of the coolest looking softwares in its category.
The Works
One thing I liked best was the fact that Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio really does what its producers stated and does it well. Be this task usual CD ripping or DVD burning, tag-editing or sound recording, the Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio works very smoothly and it's definitely worth the money.
The first module is for CD ripping and it works as any major application of this kind, quickly ripping the contents of audio discs and recording them on your HDD in a format and quality specs of your choice. The difference between the two operational modes of the Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio (normal and expert) are that, in normal mode, setting up the ripping session is made one feature in each step, while the normal mode has only one window containing all selections available for the rip job. I have to notice the excellent web database interrogation, which allows you to get the titles on a CD directly form the net.
The burning module lets you record audio, MP3, WMA or mixed content on media like CD, DVD and even Blu-ray. Very intuitive interfaces ensure that even the less experienced user gets this task done in good conditions and the result is satisfactory. Technically, the Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio will guide you step-by-step towards your final goal.
The organizer module is - in fact - a tag editor and a playlist admin tool at the same time. You can easily rename the content of entire folders, set your own preferences in what the artist/album/track/title data is concerned and quickly have them all renamed and even stored in a location you have chosen prior to this. I won't say anything about playlists, because I am surethat everybody who has ever used a PC for music listening knows what is all about.
The next module is the Modify Files and I must admit I smiled as I first read its name; but after I checked it out I understood that no other name could have done a better job, just because of the 4 different operations you can perform starting from here. First of all, you can convert files between different formats and also change the quality settings for your songs as needed.
The audio editor lets you cut, copy and mix portions from songs, thus helping you create mixes. One nice thing about this feature is the zoom tool. If you remember, I've told you before that the very stylish looks don't go too well with the editor's work, as one needs accuracy rather than nice shiny looks. But despite this, the excellent zoom tool really helps: you can zoom in to selection or zoom out indefinitely. I managed to reach a total playtime of several billion days, at least this is what the timebar said and this is great!
I was just making a little fun of this infinite zoom out possibility; nevertheless, this zoom option helps you a lot when all you need is cut very precise portions of a song, and Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio is the solution at hand. In fact, few editors on this kind of software packs feature a zoom tool, so one more good mark for Ashampoo!
You can easily normalize the volume levels for numerous tracks to a predefined standard, using the very convenient Normalize tool; thus, you can make compilations having different volume tracks without fear of having to work the volumes in the middle of the party.
The Recording module is one more nice feature found in Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio: it will record audio from any source, in any of the supported formats (mp3, wav, wma, ogg and flac) and with the quality you decide as well.
Finally, the Broken File Assistant will do the hard or even impossible jobs of working with tracks with bad headers which can't be moved or edited any longer. This module will do its best to help you regain those files as well.
I have tested all these modules - some of them more thoroughly, while on others I spent a little less time - so now I guess I could easily say that Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio is one hell of a software pack at a very good price.
The Good
Well-bundled heap of programs/features, sold for a just price, as they are smooth and fast at work and also get the job done.
The Bad
Personally, I don't like the way the sound editor looks, as it has way too much shine. I guess a more professional look would be better?of course, while keeping the whole appearance.
The Truth
Ashampoo AudioCD MP3 Studio is well worth its money and is really one software you can rely on. Keep up the good work!
And if you don't believe me, just take a look at the snapshots below:
