14 DAY TRIAL // Working good and being completely free? Small, easy to use and even easier to learn? That's a rare one, you must admit it! Well, when I first saw the Softpedia Pick award on this software's page I thought that this was a thing done by one over-zealous colleague of mine; needless to say, I instantly downloaded the code and installed it to see what all this enthusiasm is about. Well, I must say I wasn't disappointed at all; au contraire - the dBpowerAMP Music Converter is really worth this award and I decided to take a closer look testing and reviewing it.
The quick 3 MB installation will let you convert your music in no time as the dBpowerAMP Music Converter will easily and effortlessly integrate in the Windows shell so you can take advantage of its processing power with one single right-button click. Altogether, the dBpowerAMP Music Converter isn't at all an intrusive piece of software and will not attempt to take over your personal routines or individual setups you may have prepared on your PC, and this is one good thing, especially as much of today's software will do the opposite.
The Looks and The Works
It's rather hard to say that dBpowerAMP Music Converter really has too much of a GUI; it looks rather like a front-end for the LAME encoder it uses for MP3 processing or an interface made quickly for some immediate purpose. I guess you have already figured out that this little piece of code does not have any skins or color schemes you might use to make it look a bit nicer or get along better with a Windows theme you might have had installed on your PC. I must also say that this isn't necessarily a bad thing or a severe lack as the dBpowerAMP Music Converter isn't a "looker" but more of a "doer".
Not being quite the everyday flashing kind of software, I am willing to say that for what its purpose is, the dBpowerAMP Music Converter looks really OK. It has a main window which contains almost everything there is to it: from a drop menu allowing you to choose between MP3 or WAVE formats and even a test-write with no actual conversion to an extremely handy and convenient slider bar regulating the quality, stereo modes (including a totally cool "As Source" option), frequency or normalization features. Technically, you've got almost everything you might need within easy reach; this way, the dBpowerAMP Music Converter becomes really easy to use and very fast as well!
No matter how inexperienced one user may be, I really doubt he or she would find it difficult to work with the dBpowerAMP Music Converter: it can't get simpler that it already is, especially if we also count in the fact that you also have the opportunity to create custom-quality settings. Thus you don't just have a fixed number of presets but can switch through a very large number of qualities ranging from mobile phone use or similar field of applications (therefore, low quality) or extremely hi-quality output files you'd listen to in your home.
The "as source" format allows you to get rid of decision-taking when it comes to stereo modes or even frequency: if you just don't want to spend time thinking of what settings should you use when converting some files, just click the "as source" option wherever available and "voila!", things are running almost by themselves. The very handy way to organize things by means of drop menus and checkboxes you must tick/un-tick makes dBpowerAMP Music Converter a piece of software usable by everybody, even children. It may not be the fastest program but it definitely is simple and produces very cool results.
If this is not enough, I must definitely tell you that the dBpowerAMP Music Converter also works as a file renamer so you won't just produce "Track01"-like files after you worked with it. Lucky for the developers of the dBpowerAMP Music Converter that I was quite inquisitive with the software today and found out the CD-ripping utility in the installation folder, otherwise it would have not been in this review, much to both sides' loss. The installer does not "say" anything about it and you must actually go to the installation folder and create a shortcut from there for the CD-tool: no sing and no warning are displayed during installation, (first) run or at the shutdown of the application and this is why I guess many of those who have downloaded and installed it have found out about this very useful feature after a longer time than usual.
The options of the dBpowerAMP Music Converter are quite few and they concern mostly quality-issues of the LAME encoder. "Settings might override other options", this is what the Options menu warns us as we open it; quite amusing this "might" - it sounds like the developers of the dBpowerAMP Music Converter still aren't sure whether changing something in this menu will affect the settings you have prepared in the main window...! The Rename Files is quite nice as it will allow you to name files you are about to construct (encode) all at a time and thus make your dBpowerAMP Music Converter richer.
The output folder is dead-simple to choose and I am 110% sure that absolutely anyone who has ever used a PC will be able to set things right in no time. dBpowerAMP Music Converter will handle CDA, MP3, MP2, SND, MPGA, MPA, MPX, MPG, WAVE and WAV files alike so you have some freedom at hand in what file formats are concerned. Believe me or not, the "hidden" CD Grabber works very good with the FreeDB online and will let you configure the ripping process (tags and the likes) exactly the way you want. Sporting even AccurateRip and AccurateRip results submitting ensures the bettering of the existing databases each time an individual makes use of this option and is willing to submit the results.
Selective ripping is also possible so one truly has almost all the processing power needed to obtain the desired results. The rest is up to the human using the software; and I advise you to at least give it a thorough try since is totally free!
The Good
It's freeware, it's simple, it's good! What more could you want? (ha-ha!)
The Bad
That CD Grab option should actually be reachable the first time dBpowerAMP Music Converter is started. Believe me, I almost passed by without even noticing it; nevertheless, I am confident that future versions will have this matter properly taken care of.
The Truth
If you aren't already using dBpowerAMP Music Converter (as I advised you before:) ), you should and you will also see I haven't lied to you.
Watch the screenshots below and think of the first tracks you'll process:
