Roxio Creator 2009 is one of the most powerful digital authoring tools available and Roxio continue to be a leader market which is still evident in this current version. Whether your backing up data on CD, DVD or Blu-Ray discs, creating multimedia (photos/videos) or making backups of your own discs, Roxio Creator 2009 adds a variety of new features to the software suite and is still one of the easiest burning programs to use.

Installation

The installation of Roxio Creator 2009 was a breeze and it simply auto-installed once the disc was detected by out PC. it should be noted that the installation process is quite lengthy and does take up quite a bit of room on your hard drive. A small price to pay for what some may say perfection?

Once the installation was complete, we were greeted to a rather impressive graphical interface that has a strong Windows Vista feel behind it. Although the interface is perfect for novice users, it still gives the more professional user, a variety of high-end options, ensuring that this program caters for a wide variety of users.

The interface is neatly divided into two panes, a small icon pane on the left and a workspace pane on the right. The icons available to user include "Home", "Data - Copy", "Video - Movies", "Music - Audio", "Photo" and "Online". By pressing these icons, it gives the user access to more options, however most users will generally stay in the "Home" area which allows for ripping, copying discs, backup files, batch convert and transfer, browse and manage media and finally burn audio CD's.

Without continuing to be verbose, see screen shot 1. The program even contains some great tutorials for the novice user and the revamped interface is definitely a benefit to all users.

Screenshot 1

The most noticeable feature of the new version of Roxio Creator 2009 is integration of Roxio Online into the product which allows you to share files with your friends and family. For lovers of YouTube, Roxio Online even allows you to create content for this popular movie sharing media. It should be noted that there is a cost for the premium service that is well worth it in my opinion as it's a great option for backing up important photos.

While we're on the topic of "online", Audiobook Creator is also included in this software package which allows users to convert MP3 files and even CD's into the iTunes M4B format which truly simplifies this process and even allows for chapters and bookmarks. The audio capture function of the program even gives you the option of recording internet audio such as radios, podcasts and like.

Ripping, backups and the like

Ripping music from a CD is quite simple, all you need to do is click on "Rip" from Home area, select the files you want to turn into MP3 files and then click on the green "GO" button. As opposed to some of the other ripping programs that I have used in the past, this is by the easiest that I have had the pleasure of experiencing.

Backing Up files is almost as easy and by clicking on "Backup Files" from the Home area, you then need to select the files or directories you want backed up. It's that simple! This does require a little more fiddling then ripping and if you get stuck, the program will assist you. You can even add compression and encryption to your files, ensuring that they remain totally private.

The Beatmatching part of the program is a nifty little feature for users wishing to modify music in their audio projects that include modifying the tempo and the like. It's like a mini DJ aspect and is an interesting program for those who wish to create unique music tracks.

Lovers of Blu-Ray discs will be pleased to know that Roxio Creator 2009 supports this popular new format and the program also captures high definition video and AVCHD video. The only issue is that Blu-Ray owners will need to download and pay for this privilege. The program also contains a variety of templates available for video menus that supports both standard and high definition video. Although some of these templates are a little desktop publishing in appearance, there are a few impressive ones as well.

Although the simple wizards are ample for most users to create impressive Home Video discs, the program is quite powerful and you virtually have total control over all aspects of the creation. For instance, the timeline allows for the creation of chapters, special effects and background audio or even commentary.

Photos

Roxio Creator boasts a rather impressive photo editor and gives you the option of touching up photos and creating some flawless slideshows which is great for watching them again on a high definition TV. We had a photo that did contain some Red Eye" and is was only just a matter of clicking on the photo edit button and selecting "Red Eye". Even the more vain person will be pleased to know that you can even remove wrinkles and blemishes, it's almost like having Photoshop light built into the program.

SyncIt! is a great program for users of portable devices such as mobile phones, iPods or even the PlayStation Portable to name a few which is great for copying and converting files to these devices. For movies, you can even lower the resolution and frames per second, allowing you to copy more files onto these devices. Depending on the quality you have chosen, the conversion was rather good, although there were a few syncing problems, however this was quite rare.

At the end of the day, Roxio Creator 2009 is a very impressive software suite that also contains Blu-Ray capabilities. The presentation of the program is flawless, although some aspects of the program are a little more complicated to user than others but thankfully Roxio allows for online help and video tutorials to assist in this process.

Definitely one to consider if you create CD's, DVD's and Blu-rays!

Minimum System Requirements

• Microsoft® Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows XP SP2 or SP3 (32 or 64 bit)
  with 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM

• 1024x768 DirectX 9 compatible graphics card with at least 16 bit color setting; 24-bit or 32-bit true color recommended

• Windows compatible sound card

• DVD-ROM drive

• Hard drive with at least 3 GB free space

• Windows Media Player 10

• Internet Explorer 7

• Internet connection required for registration, product updates, and some features. Any Internet charges are the user’s responsibility.

Recommended

• Intel or AMD dual-core processor

• 2 GB RAM

• DVD recordable drive

• Hard drive with at least 10 GB free space

• Optional device support: DVD recordable drive

• iPod

• iPhone

• Windows Media Portable Device

• PSP

• 3GP Mobile Phone

• TiVo® requires a TiVo® Series2™, Series3™, TiVo® HD DVR or other TiVoToGo compatible DVR connected to your home network, and TiVo Desktop. Does not work with DirecTV-provided TiVo DVRs. See www.tivo.com for more information.

• For video playback: AMD graphics processor with Aviv support or nVidia graphics processor with PureVideo support

• For video capture: OHCI compliant IEEE 1394 FireWire card (for use with DV camera) or analog video capture device

• Blu-ray authoring: Blu-ray video authoring requires the High-Def/Blu-ray Disc Plug-In which can be purchased at www.roxio.com

• Blu-ray recordable drive required for Blu-ray authoring.

• Supported Input Formats: Video: AVI, DV, HDV, DV-AVI, MPEG-1/2/4, MPEG2-HD, DVD-Video**, IFO/VOB, DivX, DivX HD, XviD, DVR-MS, TiVo, ASF, MOV, WMV, QuickTime, 3GP, MPEG2 Transport Stream, AVC (H.264), AVCHD

• Audio: Audio CD, MP3, WAV, WMA, Dolby Digital AC-3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, M4A, MP4, Playlists (WPL, ASX, M3U, PLS, XSPF)

• Image: JPG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, GIF

• Supported Output Formats: Video: AVI, DV-AVI, HDV, MPEG-1/2/4, MPEG2-HD, DivX, DivX HD, WMV, WMV HD, AVC (H.264), MP4, 3GP

• Audio: MP3, WAV, WMA, Dolby Digital AC-3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MPEG-1/2, M4A, AAC, Playlists (M3U, PLS, XSPF, WPL)

• Image: JPG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, GIF

•  Video disc formats: DVD, Video CD (VCD), Super Video CD (SVCD), Mini DVD
  Recordable Formats:

• Supports all popular recordable formats: CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVDR DL, DVD+R DL, DVD-RAM, BD-R/RE, BD-R/RE DL

• Supports popular disc image formats: read ISO, C2D, BIN/CUE and GI; write ISO and GI
  ** Does not copy encrypted or copy-protected discs or media