by Dale Farris, President, Golden Triangle PC Club
May 2001

Operational Overview

Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum is the newest version of Roxio's critically and commercially acclaimed CD Recording software, and includes a collection of powerful, easy-to-use CD Recording utilities. With these tools In this all-in-one toolkit, you can create, organize, share, and store digital content on your own CD discs.

If you are into MP3 files, or want to customize your own audio CD, then this program will provide what you need to pursue these interests. With today's growing interest in creating customized audio CD's and carrying these around for playback on the numerous portable audio CD players, including the important MP3 file format, this has stimulated a new market of customers that need user-friendly software that supports these various interests.

In this program, from a variety of sources you can create high quality custom music CD's, including MP3s, WMAs, CDs, LPs, and cassettes. In addition, the program includes a CD Copier utility that supports making a backup copy of a music CD.

You can also archive and store data on durable, compatible CD's, create photo slide shows and video postcards, create video CD's that can be viewed in most DVD players, and with the CD Label Creator, make designs to print CD labels and jewel case inserts.

Using the Program

When you start up the program, you first see the Easy CD Creator 5 Project Selector window. You just roll your mouse over the buttons to view the variety of options for making music, data, photo, or video CDs, or to make a backup copy of a CD or create a CD label.

You use the SoundStream II module to make music CD's, and while it may look like an MP3 player, it has been designed with CD recording in mind. This part of the program combines the functionality of a MP3 player with the capability to easily create audio CD's with your favorite music. You can combine MP3, WMA, WAV, tracks off other CDs, and even analog sources, all on one recordable CD (CD-R). Doing the reverse is just as easy, allowing you to rip audio CDs into MP3, WMA, or WAV files, and you can do the same with analog (LP) sources.

The SoundStream II interface is simple and streamlined, designed to allow you to easily select and listen to the songs you wish to record, and to build the layout of the CD you want to make. You can also use SoundStream II to record directly from CD to CD, and it makes exact copies while not compressing the data. From the Project Selector, you select the Make a Music CD option, and click on the SoundStream II button, and go from there.

The Spin Doctor is used to clean up and transfer an LP recording to an audio CD. For people with a lot of "old" vinyl records lying around, now with this program, you can convert all the songs from these platters into a digital format that can be stored and played on an audio CD. You just select Spin Doctor from the SoundStream II Options Drawer, and go from there. Spin Doctor even allows you to remove the pops, hisses, and clicks from these old LPs.

Select the Music CD Project option from the Make a Music CD, and you can mix your favorite songs from various audio CDs, and then copy them all onto one customized collection on one audio CD. This program also allows you to create cross fades between songs.

With the CD Label Maker, you can design and print labels and inserts for your audio CDs that are stored in the standard CD jewel case.

With the MP3 CD Project, you can convert audio CD files into the MP3 file format, for copying onto a music CD that can be played in the various types of MP3 players now on the market.

The Data CD Project is used to archive files and to share data with others, and the DirectCD component allows you to treat a CD just like a floppy disk, which is the easiest way to save data files to CD. Of course, you will first need to format your CD RW disc, and then insert it into your CD RW drive. Select the Make a Data CD option and choose the DirectCD button, and the DirectCD format utility will appear. You don't want to use the DirectCD program to create music Cds.

With the Take Two program, you can create an image of your hard drive in three easy steps. This utility creates an image of your system -- capturing all of your data, system files, and registry settings, so that you can recover everything on most systems.

The other included programs allow you to make a CD photo album or slide show, create video postcards, create a video CD, and copy original CDs. However, the success of the Copy CD utility with what is called "sub-channel" data, or data files that are not necessarily as easily moved, in order to purposefully thwart the intention, which is to copy a CD, is dependent on how the various software manufacturers choose to load their files onto the platter before they release it for resell.

New Features and Enhancements

Sleek and professional new look and feel
Dozens of usability improvements
MP3 encoder that allows you to convert CD tracks to MP3
MP3 CD Project and a MP3 play list editor
DirectCD
WMA support
TakeTwo
Burn 100 MP3 files on a CD
Realizer filter for enhancing MP3 files
Normalizer for balancing the loudness between tracks in SoundStream II
MPEG 1 video encoder
Convert your video clips to the correct format for VideoCD Creator
Bonus CD with MP3 songs, video clips, and 4 AtomFilms movies

Versions

Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum is one of three versions now available. These include Easy CD Creator 5 Lite, Basic, as well as the top-of-the-line Platinum version. The Lite and sometimes the Basic are the versions of Easy CD Creator that most likely will come bundled with the drivers for the CD-R and CD-RW drives now so common in most all newly purchased computer systems.

Special Features and Utilities

Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum actually includes an extensive lineup of neat utilities, that include the following.

Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum
SoundStream II
DirectCD
Take Two
CD Spin Doctor
CD Copier
VideoImpression
Photo Album
Video Postcard
Video CD Creator
CD Label Creator
Sound Editor
Session Selector
Comprehensive User's Guide
Getting Started Guide
Web CheckUp

Operational Concerns

The user guide that comes with this program will definitely be a must-read for new owners of this super collection of programs. When using these various programs, users will obviously have to have the requisite type of optical drive(s) on their machine, and when wanting to convert older LP songs, there will be obvious cabling requirements in order to connect the LP player and receiver to the sound card on the computer.

Targeted Customers

Clearly, there has occurred a significant increase in interest in MP3 files and in creating customized audio CDs from these files, as well as from other audio CDs. The abundance of new hardware (CD-R and CD-RW drives) and software, such as this super package of utilities, has helped fuel this newly emerging market, and this has helped make this process easy for even novice computer owners to understand and use. With the release of this latest version 5 of the Platinum edition of this well known program, Roxio has gone off on their own as a subsidiary of the Adaptec company, and has produced a super package of advanced features with a very friendly user interface that results in a product vastly superior to older versions, as well as being extremely competitive with the many other similar applications now filling the retail shelves.

At the time of this writing, the legal wrangling with Napster had begun to slow down the rapidly advancing pace of making, storing, and copying audio files in the ubiquitous MP3 format, a phenomenon that literally reinvented the music business. However this eventually plays out, these exciting new developments mean more computer owners want to use the features built into Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum. Roxio's response to this new opportunity is one of the best of the many products also driven by this trend.

Install and Setup

Purchasing this program may present an opportunity for many folks to upgrade software that may already be on their system, especially if they purchased an OEM system that includes a CD-RW drive. Since Roxio has worked deals with so many hardware system manufacturers to bundle their software on these machines, readers may already have an earlier version of this super program. However, unless you were explicit when ordering your system, to purposefully include this latest Platinum version 5, then this newest release may be an upgrade for you.

For folks purchasing CD-R or CD-RW drives with merely the necessary drivers required for the drive to operate, then very likely you will not have any version of Easy CD Creator at all. In this case, this latest Platinum version 5 will present a slew of new possibilities to maximize the potential of these drives.

However, for those that already have an earlier version of Easy CD Creator, this may mean an Adaptec branded program, since this program used to be sold directly by Adaptec, before the Roxio subsidiary was formed. In this case, you will be advised to visit the Roxio web site to find the links to the support pages that explain how to upgrade these earlier versions of Easy CD Creator. You will find that upgrading may NOT be a simple matter of overwriting files, since the earlier versions of this program may be filed in different folders, under the former Adaptec name.

For example, on my office machine, we added an Iomega CD-RW drive, that included an earlier, version 4 of Easy CD Creator stored in a Easy CD Creator 4 folder in a ZipCD folder in the Program Files folder on the hard drive. In this case, I had to uninstall this program, following the instructions at the Roxio Web site, which was not as simple as merely letting the Add/Remove function work, before I could then install the latest version. If you are uncertain about how to do this, ask for technical assistance, or try and get Roxio tech support on the phone to be sure you fully understand exactly what to do.

At the time of this writing, Roxio made available a patch for folks loading Easy CD Creator 5 on a Windows 2000 Professional machine, AND planning to install the Take Two program. Note that if you are not going to install the Take Two component on this type of system, then you do not need this patch.

Price

$99.95 
$79.95 after $20 upgrade rebate

$17.95
(This is the special grace period price for those who purchased Easy CD Creator 4 Deluxe between February 1, 2001 and June 1, 2001. Call 866-280-7694 for more information.)

Minimum System Configuration Requirements

You must have a CD Recorder (CD-R) or CD Rewritable (CD-RW) drive to use this software. See www.roxio.com/recorders for the latest list of supported drives.

IBM PC or compatible, P 200 MHz or faster processor
Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4 Workstation, 2000 Professional
32MB RAM (64MB RAM recommended)
205MB free hard disk space
(At least 80MB of this must reside on the system boot drive.)
CD-R or CD-RW drive
CD ROM drive that supports digital audio extraction
(for making a music CD from other music CD's)
Blank CD-R or CD-RW discs
800 x 600 display, 16-bit color recommended

OPTIONAL

Windows compatible sound card (16-bit or better) and analog source (LP, cassette, DAT, or CD) attached to a stereo receiver with line-out capabilities, for analog-to-digital features

Cable to connect your computer to your stereo

Internet access to take advantage of Internet features

Scanner, digital camera, or video camcorder, for PhotoReplay Video capture device, required for importing video from video camera

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

May require minor adjustments to the configuration of your operating system, additional hard disk space, and/or updates to hardware component drivers. Results may vary based on your equipment.

The above system configuration requirements indicate the minimum and recommended system configuration requirements, and as any experienced computer owner knows, you always want to run this as well as any program on as much of a system as you can manage.

About Roxio.com

Roxio, Inc. was incorporated in September 2000 and is a subsidiary of Adaptec, Inc., a leading performance storage company.

Roxio provides software that enables people to create, manage, and move digital media. Roxio's suite of digital media products, including Easy CD Creator 5, include Toast for the Macintosh platform, and GoBack, the recovery software program that enables PC users to "Go Back" in time to recover from system crashes.

Roxio distributes their products through strategic partnerships and from its website. Roxio software was bundled with approximately 20 million CD recorders from January 1, 1000 through June 20, 2000.

Roxio also sells their products through major distributors that resell to computer retailers, such as Best Buy, Comp USA, and Staples, and to Internet and catalog retailers such as Buy.com, CDW, and PC Connection.

End-users may also purchase Roxio products directly from their web site, http://www.roxio.com.

Roxio's CD recording software is compatible with more than 1,000 versions of CD recorders and supports popular operating systems, including Windows 95, 98, NT 4, and 2000, and Apple OS 9.

Contact

Kathryn Kelly
Roxio Press Relations
408-957-1484
Mary Eaves
Roxio Product Manager
408-957-2157
Roxio, Inc.
461 South Milpitas Blvd.
Milpitas, California 95035
408-259-7694
408-635-7694
866-280-7694
FAX 408-957-4544
http://www.roxio.com

You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.