14 DAY TRIAL // These days, more and more technology and software merges from the research facilities and the IT world seems to be spinning around faster and faster; this not only makes software change but also inflicts changes upon the way we, people, interact and use everything related. Even common things as music files have begun to have a very distinct "life" of their own as more and more attributes are given to them such as DRM (Digital Rights Management), more and more embedded info and so on.
Even more, man has developed new applications and even new hardware which requires certain formats or protocols...it's obvious that things become more and more complex with each passing day and somehow, we have to keep up. That's why, on the other hand, another type of software is being produced: the kind of code to ease a bit of this complications, to clarify the complexity of what's going on; some may see this as simply being one more step towards making things more messy...but I'd say that it really helps!
I have found today's first software as a very nice, simple and powerful tool for file format conversion. The Switch Sound Format Converter is definitely one tool I am planning to use from this day on as it really deserves all the best words. While simply being able to handle a multitude of formats, the Switch Sound Format Converter is also fast and reliable. Wanna find out more? Keep reading...
The Looks
In my opinion, the Switch Sound Format Converter looks exactly like a format conversion software should look like: it can't get any simpler than this while still retaining a very tight and rewarding balance between looks, functionality and ease of use/learn.
The Switch Sound Format Converter is actually a fullscreen-able window which won't let you make it smaller than a certain dimension - a very well-calculated one so the additional info with which the tracks you're about to process usually come will be easily readable with no effort. The upper part of this window has been loaded with the few menus and the very good-looking buttons which will help you in your Switch Sound Format Converter experience.
These buttons don't look too "futuresque" but still, they are pretty "XP"; even more, it's obvious that they have been designed more for functionality than for the looks - the additional text beneath each graphic symbol on a button says it all. It's rather hard to "get lost" in the Switch Sound Format Converter even if you are a first-time user or a highly-inexperienced PC user at all: technically, the GUI helps you, tells you what your options are and makes this very directly - no need for clicking innumerable buttons and options, no more complicated and sterile indications!
The lower part of the main window has been dedicated to setting up the output data of the software, such as output folder and output format as well as for the encoder's options for each file format separately. The largest area in the Switch Sound Format Converter's main window is a huge tracklist where you can either add tracks using the traditional button or can drag and drop multiple files, thus easing up a lot of your workflow. It is here where a lot of data associated with your audio files will be displayed (local path, format, size and so on); needless to say that this will ease your processing by allowing you to visually access this info without the need to click even once!
The menus look very simple (as the rest of the GUI does, actually) and there is really nothing confusing for the beginners' eyes; simply pay attention to what's on the screen and things will go on OK, for sure. All the info and tweaks contained in the menus are easy to understand and use from the very first encounter with the Switch Sound Format Converter; and this adds a lot of value to the final ranking of its GUI. Overall, despite its simplicity, the Switch Sound Format Converter manages to appear like a very good-looking program - even if it's not eye candy and neither does it look very "professional", I am willing to give it a very good mark (for the looks) because it has a very comforting blend between calm and familiar looks, excellent functionality and simplicity.
The Works
Switch Sound Format Converter is a batch converter and I guess you have already figured this out... The range of file formats it can work with is huge and even more, the Switch Sound Format Converter will not only open those files but also save the processing-results into a numerous amount of formats. To get a better picture on what the Switch Sound Format Converter can do, I'll enumerate the files it will open: WAV, MP3, AU/AIFF, GSM, VOX, RAW, OGG, FLAC, AAC, M4A, MP2, WMA, RM/RA/RAM, DVF, MSV, DSS, CDA, MOV and AMR! Well, what do you think? If I'll add the list of output formats, I guess you'll already want to try the software...so here we go again: WAV, MP3,A U/AIFF, GSM, VOX, RAW, OGG, FLAC, AAC, M4A and MOV!
Having said all this, I think it's time to speak a bit about the way things are done with Switch Sound Format Converter. Believe it or not, everything is a child's play, whether you want to rip the content of an audio CD (yes, it also rips!) or simply switch (ha-ha!) between so many file formats you might have to put your audio into. You can decide to add files one by one in the Switch Sound Format Converter's track list or you can simply drop in the content of large folders; and I mean Large! No matter how many files would you happen to need conversion for, the Switch Sound Format Converter will accept it: it is a true batch converter!
Setting up the Switch Sound Format Converter is one easy task as things are very clear: all one has to do for having formats switched is to choose the quality settings for each encoder. For example, as you want to change one MP3 file of your choice in an AMR file, all you have to do is choose a value for the Encoding Bitrate (kbps) out of the list. The 8 values available are contained in an extremely easy-to-use drop menu so...as I have been telling you, it can't get any simpler than that. With more complex encoding such as MP3 encoding, things may seem a bit more complicated...but are not. Technically, even if you have never encoded a file in the MP3 format before, you should be able to do it just fine with the help of the Switch Sound Format Converter - things are so simple and so intuitive that practically, one must have absolutely nothing in common with the PC-world in order to fail this task.
As I was telling you before, the Switch Sound Format Converter works also as an audio CD-ripper: unlike other specialized software, the "Switch" allows you to rip the tracks on the disc directly in ALL the supported formats! Thus, you can save a significant amount of time by ripping the desired tracks directly to the formats you might need, when you need them. This really handy piece of software can travel with you almost anywhere as it's quite small and will fit on almost any system due to its low resource-consumption; adding the fact that it is also completely free, I guess that things are really making you more interested.
In shorter words, by deciding to install and run the Switch Sound Format Converter, you can benefit from several cool things such as: no money spent at all, no intrusive/adware/spyware code on your PC, a nice audio CD ripper and a batch file format converter. Even more: all these comprising a very large number of audio formats allowing you the kind of freedom few similar softwares would, even for a sum of money. You must definitely install the Switch Sound Format Converter and give it a thorough spin; I am sure you'll get to enjoy it at least as much as I did!
The Good
There are more good things to Switch Sound Format Converter than I'd have the room to write here. I just have to mention the extensive list of file formats supported for both opening and saved to, the awesome ease of use and the quality of the output results.
The Bad
The only bad thing I have noticed about the Switch Sound Format Converter was that its freeDB protocol doesn't seem to work as good as the rest of the software.
The Truth
One of the overall-nicest softwares of this kind I have tested during the last period. A must!
See the screenshots below and believe me: it's a must!
