Roxio's do-everything media suite gains a handful of new features with its 2012 release
Roxio Creator 2012 is a mammoth media suite that comes packed with disc burning, media editing, video, audio and photo-related functionality.
There are tools for burning audio discs, data CDs and DVDs, or working with disc images, for instance. Roxio's video editor now includes video stabilisation, to compensate for shaky camera work. You're able to burn attractive video DVDs, and there's full support for 3D, with the program capable of converting 2D images and movies to 3D versions in a variety of formats.
The 2012 version isn't quite as revolutionary as previous versions, but adds a handful of new features and effects, including the ability to both create and convert DivX video. There are also eight new Hollywood-style effects for your videos such as fire, fairy dust and fog, plus 50 professional (and now royalty free) background music tracks for using as soundtracks to your home movies and photo slideshows.
Another interesting inclusion is a portrait photo improvement tool, but this surprisingly doesn't find itself incorporated into the main Roxio PhotoSuite tool; instead Roxio has opted to simply bundle a copy of Reallusion's FaceFilter Studio 2, which needs installing separately after the main software has been loaded. It's certainly a welcome inclusion - the original sells for $60.
Beyond what's new, there are so many more features, everywhere you look: modules to digitize your old vinyl albums or tapes; easily edit and clean up audio files; convert your videos into formats that you can play on portable devices like the iPhone, iPod or BlackBerry; create panoramas or photo slideshows; capture streaming audio or video; even share your media collection across the internet, so (for instance) you can access your music files from almost anywhere in the world.
Note that the full build plus content is over 2GB. You can choose to add a backup/install disc during the ordering process.
There is no trial for Roxio Creator 2012.
Review by Nick Peers.
