Rating: 
Summary: Superb product
Review: I got the product based on the PC Mag review which said it was great. It's quite simply an incredible product when you consider what previous versions were like and what you get for less than $100. It's not perfect but it comes close. Here's some pros and cons. On the pro side, it basically has everything you need for anything to do with music, burning, video, photo and DVD. Everything looks and works the same way (it might the nicest looking software on the PC - actually it looks like Apple made it!) All the tools work well together. The burning is really fast. There's a nice data back up feature with password protection. It has this very cool feature where you can create slide shows of pictures that move, which is an amazing effect. The whole slide show app is pretty clever. It's actually a video app (which might seem scary at first) but it's so easy to use you never realize it. You can use it for both pictures and video. The disc label app is pretty extensive(I didn't think people actually use these) it's a full featured graphic app just for disc labels and it works while you burn CDs. The photo app seems no different in features than Adobe Elements but is much easier to use (more about that below). The DVD application is very full - you can move and resize buttons and text, you can animate buttons and menus, it even has Dolby audio. You can edit DVDs. You can even create a full DVD with just one click with a digital camera. There's a tool that comes up when you plug in digital cameras to bring your photos or videos in. I've never seen such a tool (usually every digital camera has it's own software). You can record audio from LPs or tapes and the software finds the different songs automatically. The help system is pretty good - there's like 1000 pdf pages for everything and even video tutorials. On the con side, I would say the photo app is a bit too wizardy for my taste. Napster is kinda connected but not like the other applications -and there's no free trial or free downloads which would have been nice. There's no printed manual like the previous version but the online help is extensive. The launcher is kinda big - it can be made smaller but there's a big graphic of the product name they should lose. On the whole though, I think it's a great product at an amazing price. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: What's worse? The software or Roxio's customer service?
Review: I strongly recommend you stay as far away from Roxio Easy Media Creator as you can - not because it's buggy (very), but because of the response I received from Roxio's customer support personnel. I purchased Roxio's product last week, downloaded and installed the updates, yet have been utterly plagued by numerous bugs and system crashes so bad that I can't even ctrl-alt-del to the Task Manager. I'm a highly experienced networking engineer who's built and configured hundreds of computers for more than 20 years. I'm running Windows XP Professional on stock 2.53 GHz Pentium IV with the latest updates, my antivirus and firewalls (Cisco) are top-notch, as well. I've run numerous media editing programs, including Pinnacle Studio 9, Adobe Premier 6, Adobe Photoshop CS, etc., without the slightest problems. In short, my system is solid is a rock - it has to be, as that is how I earn my living. You can't run a business on a screamingly tweaked machine that's buggy. The reason I'm recommending you avoid it is because when I asked Roxio for a refund in accordance with their refund policy (notify Roxio and attest to the fact you removed it within 15 days of initial purchase), they gave me the proverbial run-around. I've been quite polite with them, but when I finally demanded they honor their refund policy, they quit responding to me. That was four days ago, and they still have not yet credited my charge card. The buggy software itself will test your fortitude. The attitude of Roxio's customer support personell, however, will drive you insane, and will cost you significantly more time (and time is money) than the product itself cost. If I may recommend an alternative product, I would recommend you carry Pinnacle Studio 9. I used Studio 8 for two years, but decided to try Roxio's product as I knew some of Roxio's earlier software was pretty decent. But when I encountered the massive problems with Media Creator, I switched back to a known entity and upgraded to the latest version of Studio, which has worked flawless over the last five days on a video project I'm creating for our church. Again, Roxio is a liability. Much better software, and far better customer service, are available elsewhere. Thank you for your time.
Rating:
Summary: Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 is an Outstanding Product
Review: Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 (EMC7) is an outstanding product. It installed without a problem, it was easy to learn how to use, and provides a breadth of capabilities all under one integrated suite of products. The Home Page offers tremendous flexibility in how to use the product:
1. Task List: Music, Data, Photo, Video, DVD
2. Components: Disc Copier, Creator Classic, PhotoSuite, DVD Builder, VideoWave, Drag-to-Disc, Napster
3. Core Tools: Media Manager, Capture, StoryBoard, Label Creator, Sound Editor, Help Center & Tutorials, Extras and Utilities
4. Recent Projects: shows thumbnails and lists your recent projects The process of creating and editing projects works smoothly and the final project results are very satisfying. I had no problems creating great videos and slideshows on to VCDs or DVDs. EMC7 comes with many materials to make you self sufficient in learning and finding more information, such as how-to video tutorials, and product user guides (Adobe PDF files). The Roxio web site has unlimited self-help options including FAQs and a good knowledgebase that helps you find answers. If you still need help, like other users have also reported, I too found their tech support email response good, as they sent answers to my questions usually in a day or two. Overall, I recommend this product to anyone who messes around with digital media.
Rating:
Summary: Must Have Product for Digital Video and Digital Camera Users
Review: Easy Media Creator 7 integrates several full-featured applications together to create a software suite with a consistent user experience. In no time, I was using it and creating projects with it. I use Creator Classic all the time to burn data and music to CD and DVD and appreciate the automated backup feature. Even though I use those features all the time, I really bought Media Creator 7 for all the great digital media creation tools. Photosuite is a wonderful photo-editing product. Since I am a casual point and shoot digital photographer, I use the autofix option all the time to clean up my pictures, plus of course the red eye removal tool and the clone tool (to remove the date/time stamp I forgot to turn off in some of my pictures). I use VideoWave to transfer/capture my video to my PC, and then edit it down to remove unwanted video clips. I also use it to add text using different fonts, styles and effects, plus add transitions between clips, and background sound tracks. When complete, I then send the output to DVDBuilder for authoring to DVD. I could go on and on how I use it, but the bottom line, this product is outstanding. It is loaded with excellent features and is a must have product for transforming your digital content to marvelous DVD movies or slide shows.
Rating:
Summary: CD and DVD Media Creation Just Got Easy
Review: Creator 7 has so many great features and capabilities that I suggest you do as I did and read the many pro reviews that thoroughly put the program through its paces. For me, my favorite and most frequently used component is storyboard, which enabled me to combine digital photos, video clips, and songs into a slideshow. It has creative features that include the ability to add transitions, titles, and a narration track. Then using the DVDbuilder component, I can create VCDs or DVDs to master my slideshow creation to disc. Overall, this is a great product for anyone dabbling or serious about working with digital media.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to Use, Great Features and for the Price it's a Bargain
Review: Easy Media Creator 7 offers an easy to learn and understand interface that enables you to quickly use any of the applications that make up this integrated software suite. My daughter just graduated from high school and this weekend I created a video comprised of digital photos and video clips, select music, transitions, titles, etc. all blended together of all the events this past month leading up to graduation. I am so proud of my daughter but also have great pride and sense of accomplishment in what I just did by creating a great looking video that I burned to DVD. Roxio provides many materials to help you find all the answers, such as how-to video tutorials, and PDF user guides. The Roxio web site knowledgebase also helps you find answers to any questions, and if you still need help, I found their tech support email responses were quick, only taking 1-2 days to get answers. I recommend this product for people at all levels.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Integration and Ease of Use
Review: Tightly integrated product where all components look and operate similarly with seamless interaction, not like some suites of products that are really a bunch of independent applications "bundled" in one package. Well thought out design and interface makes it easy to use. The "Home Page" offers various ways to use the product:
-- Task List: Music, Data, Photo, Video, DVD
-- Components (Applications): Disc Copier, Creator Classic, PhotoSuite, DVD Builder, VideoWave, Drag-to-Disc, Napster
-- Core Tools: Media Manager, Capture, StoryBoard, Label Creator, Sound Editor, Help Center & Tutorials, Extras and Utilities
-- Recent Projects: shows thumbnails and lists your recent projects It allows you to launch components and complete additional tasks simultaneously, such as create and print a disc label for your audio CD while the CD is being burned to disc. The process of creating and editing projects works smoothly and the final project results are very satisfying. I recommend this product to all.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible customer support
Review: I acquired the basic version of this product with a DVD burner package. After installation, the main software package, Media Creator Home, would start up and then just disappear. The other modules would not recognize the burner as a burner.
I then made the mistake of thinking that maybe I should bite the bullet and buy the full version of the software from Roxio, despite the poor reviews I had read about previous versions. I thought maybe they had finally gotten their act together. WRONG!!!
I installed the purchased product and got the same result. I was then able to use their product support system. What a waste! After using the knowledge base on their website and performing the procedure to try to rectify the problem I was having (which must be very common), I created a trouble ticket with them. They referred me back to the procedure that I had already tried.
They then suggested that I create a new administrator account and try to run the software. I created a new account on my Windows XP Home machine, logged onto it and tried the software. It started up and also recognized my burner. Sounds great, right? NOT!! I don't really feel it should be necessary for me to either;
a. log out of the account I normally use on my PC just to use this one piece of software.
or
b. migrate all of my settings and documents to the new account just to be able to use this one piece of software.
The customer support at Roxio seems to be clueless as to where the actual problem may be located (i.e. registry, system settings etc.).
Rating:
Summary: Very, Very, Slooooooow--Disappointing
Review: Beware!!!! You will spend all day editing photos and video and not accomplish much. We have Windows XP, 3.0 GHz, 512MB RAM, 120 GB HD. Everything else runs smoothly and quickly except this program. This was my first digital media software. I should have done more research. Since then I have switched to Pinnacle Studio Version 9 for video editing--I highly recommend this alternative. Currently, I am looking for another photo editor. Don't waste your money on Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 like I did. Aside from it's slowness, the program itself is mediocre at best.
Rating:
Summary: Unsupported Garbage
Review: This product cannot write a DVD on my Dell which can be read by any of my DVD players. No help from Roxio support. All my other burning software works just fine.
Save your money.
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