Product Reviews

Roxio Creator 8 Suite offers a similar set of functions across its 13 programs, the only exceptions being that there's no equivalent of Nero Home and no music-production software. However, it has its own set of interesting features. It can guide you through the process of converting your vinyl collection to CD or MP3, and will even fill in the track details by analysing the audio and consulting an online database. More often than not, this actually worked when we tested it. We also like the ability to convert MP3 collections to DVD-Video format for the living room, using Dolby Digital encoding (stereo only) to fit around 35 albums on a 4.7GB disc.

Roxio

We didn't expect to find support for high-definition (HD) video, but both packages can handle footage from HDV cameras. However, only Nero can export HD, either as WMV or MPEG-4, although Creator can make DivX HD photo slideshows. Either way, anyone who's willing to spend more than £1,000 on an HDV camera will want a serious video-editing application to match, and these don't cut it.

Nero and Creator are such sprawling entities that it's hard to generalise. Nero Scout and Home look promising, but until their teething problems are sorted out, Roxio's more conventional Media Manager does a better job of organising and accessing large media collections. Nero's surround sound and HD support is astounding at this price, but who really needs it? Both packages have plenty going for them, but even we long-term Nero users found Roxio Creator more appealing.