Rating: 
Summary: Better for ripping LPs, but may need patch
Review: Although I quickly found that Magix Audio Cleaning Lab (ACL) wouldn't write to my CDRW drive, an e-mail to tech support resolved the problem. In two days, I got back a bilingual English/German response and patch that got me writing to my drive. But in the meantime I had bought the top-selling program and tried using it. I quickly became frustrated with that other program's inability to do both end of LP detection and track-splitting at the same time (it could do either, but not do both at the same time). The patch to ACL worked. ACL does a good job of finding the splits between songs on an LP, except on records with quiet musical passages. ACL also detects the end of the LP side. And ACL does both at the same time. ACL also gives pretty good visual feedback while recording, showing recording levels. That other top seller gives only a generic animation while recording. All in all, between the top seller and ACL, I prefer ACL for ripping LPs.
Rating: 
Summary: Sofware full of bugs
Review: Don't loose your money on this one, the software is full of bugs and it claims to clear your recordings from old vinyle noises and it does not, user interface is not easy to use. Impossible to uninstall even with it's own uninstall program. If you really want to buy it, go to Magix web site for a free trial first.
Rating:
Summary: Despite bug, an impressive program for the price
Review: First of all, I will affirm the complaint of several other reviewers: Audio Cleaning Lab was NOT able to burn CDs with my system. Nevertheless, this software is able to do something relatively few others can -- rip LPs, cassettes, etc. and clean the audio to the point that they almost sound like a new CD. If you already have a program that can burn audio CDs from .wav files or MP3s, then use that (if not, you can get one for almost nothing these days). Use Audio Cleaning Lab to rip, edit, clean, and mix your .wav's/MP3s, and you're set. For the price, I still think it's worth buying, even if it doesn't actually burn CDs on your system.
Rating: 
Summary: Way Beyond the Competition
Review: I have long wanted to transfer some old tapes and LP's to CD, but finding decent software was hard. I could have taken the obvious path and bought Easy CD Creator, but I have Windows XP and refused to buy their package until it was XP compatible. (As of this writing, Roxio still requires that you buy the old edition and download a free updater that is none too easy to use.) I think Nero has some sound processing, but I refused to buy that product until their InCD component (equivalent to Roxio's DirectCD) was available for XP. I use packet-writing software like DirectCD to do my backups. Since neither Roxio nor Ahead were finished for XP, I bought SimpliCD from Oak Technology. I use it mostly for its packet writing, but its other CD burning features are quite nice as well. I recommend it, and it's cheaper than either Easy CD Creator or Nero. Back on subject...I was still lacking software to do recording and audio processing prior to burning. SimpliCD doesn't have that. I spent countless hours researching products on the web. I downloaded those that seemed reasonable in price, effectiveness, and simplicity. I did sample recordings and fixed some difficult audio. Some products were okay, but none were great. Diamond Cut 32 proved itself capable, but wasn't the easiest thing to use. Audio Cleaning Lab had a plausible demo, although to limited to tell if it would really do the job. I finally bought a copy and am glad I did. Neither the web site nor the box promise that the software will run on Windows XP, although I read some owner comments on the web that sounded like it would work. I figured it wouldn't be able to burn CDs for three reasons: Windows XP wasn't supported, my CD writer wasn't listed on their web site as supported, their support forum says that it won't work with DirectCD or other packet-writing CD software installed. Okay, I would export the sound files and burn them with SimpliCD. To my surprise, ACL burns CD's on my system perfectly! I guess the SimpliCD software does not conflict in the same way DirectCD or InCD do, and the XP and hardware compatibility problems didn't exist. That brings me to the core of the program: getting sound ready for a CD. ACL is just head and shoulders above everything else I looked at. It takes in sound by either recording or loading .wav, .mp3, .wma, or other audio. You can them assemble those pieces on the master track. You can then cut up the pieces into sub-objects and work on them individually. You can place track markers (automatic track recognition is the best I've used), reorder cuts, do cross fades, trim cuts, etc. You can give each track a name which is shown on the sound wave for convenient reference. None of this actually affects the original files, nor does it create new audio files! It only creates a set of instructions that are used to play back the original material as specified. You can then apply the various sound processing tools to remove defects and do various types of enhancements. These are as effective as any others I tried. The processing can be applied to individual snippets you have marked or to the entire assembly. When the project is perfect, you can burn it to CD. The names of the tracks you gave are even burned as CD text. Or you can export the project to .wav, .mp3, or .wma files. If you've named the tracks, the files will have the names you gave instead of just numbers as most products do. (Note that the product include a license to produce only 20 MP3 files. If you want to make a lot of MP3's, you'll have to buy a license for another $20 or something.) Then you can burn those files with other software, if you prefer. I found the user interface visually appealing and very easy to use with a little practice. This thing is great.
Rating:
Summary: Way Beyond the Competition
Review: I have long wanted to transfer some old tapes and LP's to CD, but finding decent software was hard. I could have taken the obvious path and bought Easy CD Creator, but I have Windows XP and refused to buy their package until it was XP compatible. (As of this writing, Roxio still requires that you buy the old edition and download a free updater that is none too easy to use.) I think Nero has some sound processing, but I refused to buy that product until their InCD component (equivalent to Roxio's DirectCD) was available for XP. I use packet-writing software like DirectCD to do my backups. Since neither Roxio nor Ahead were finished for XP, I bought SimpliCD from Oak Technology. I use it mostly for its packet writing, but its other CD burning features are quite nice as well. I recommend it, and it's cheaper than either Easy CD Creator or Nero. Back on subject...I was still lacking software to do recording and audio processing prior to burning. SimpliCD doesn't have that. I spent countless hours researching products on the web. I downloaded those that seemed reasonable in price, effectiveness, and simplicity. I did sample recordings and fixed some difficult audio. Some products were okay, but none were great. Diamond Cut 32 proved itself capable, but wasn't the easiest thing to use. Audio Cleaning Lab had a plausible demo, although to limited to tell if it would really do the job. I finally bought a copy and am glad I did. Neither the web site nor the box promise that the software will run on Windows XP, although I read some owner comments on the web that sounded like it would work. I figured it wouldn't be able to burn CDs for three reasons: Windows XP wasn't supported, my CD writer wasn't listed on their web site as supported, their support forum says that it won't work with DirectCD or other packet-writing CD software installed. Okay, I would export the sound files and burn them with SimpliCD. To my surprise, ACL burns CD's on my system perfectly! I guess the SimpliCD software does not conflict in the same way DirectCD or InCD do, and the XP and hardware compatibility problems didn't exist. That brings me to the core of the program: getting sound ready for a CD. ACL is just head and shoulders above everything else I looked at. It takes in sound by either recording or loading .wav, .mp3, .wma, or other audio. You can them assemble those pieces on the master track. You can then cut up the pieces into sub-objects and work on them individually. You can place track markers (automatic track recognition is the best I've used), reorder cuts, do cross fades, trim cuts, etc. You can give each track a name which is shown on the sound wave for convenient reference. None of this actually affects the original files, nor does it create new audio files! It only creates a set of instructions that are used to play back the original material as specified. You can then apply the various sound processing tools to remove defects and do various types of enhancements. These are as effective as any others I tried. The processing can be applied to individual snippets you have marked or to the entire assembly. When the project is perfect, you can burn it to CD. The names of the tracks you gave are even burned as CD text. Or you can export the project to .wav, .mp3, or .wma files. If you've named the tracks, the files will have the names you gave instead of just numbers as most products do. (Note that the product include a license to produce only 20 MP3 files. If you want to make a lot of MP3's, you'll have to buy a license for another $20 or something.) Then you can burn those files with other software, if you prefer. I found the user interface visually appealing and very easy to use with a little practice. This thing is great.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible customer service, product no longer works
Review: I purchased Magix Audio Cleaning Lab and was given an unlock code to use it in my computer. Problem is, when my computer crashed and needed to be reformatted, the same unlock code no longer worked. So I have a useless piece of software that I paid for and no longer can be opened. No problem, says their customer support web site... resubmit the computer code and the purchase order and they will reissue you a new one. (Apparently this problem is to be expected with this product with any configuration change in your hardware). I entered the EXACT information, cut and pasted from the invoice and it says the info is incorrect. Three e mails to customer support are to no avail. Good money down the drain. My experience with Magix Music Studio 6.0 was no better... when I upgraded to Windows XP, the former version of Music Studio wouldn't work. No patches available, "buy the new version" was their admonition. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AND THIS PRODUCT!!! Their customer support is less than useless!!
Rating: 
Summary: There has to be something better
Review: I used Audio cleaning lab to try to clean up a bad live recording. It does a fine job of taking out the hiss but it alters other parts of the original recording, the applause and talking sounds as if it was being heard through a pipe. How about a better sampling rate and a more windows like interface? You get what you pay for.
Rating:
Summary: PRODUCT WORKS PRETTY WELL
Review: I've tried several programs to "clean up" CD's that were recorded from scratchy vinyl and the Audio Cleaning Lab works the best. I use it on my Lap Top Computer to restore and clean audio files. Using the product to burn CD's is not a problem for me as it is for some of the other people who have reviewed this product - and I also have Easy CD Creator 5 installed. Just to let everybody know, there is a limit to how much cleaning the product will do for you - the worse shape the original source, the harder it is to clean the material. Overall, I've enjoyed working with this product. Highly recommended for the price!
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Product
Review: In comparison to Easy Cd Creator/Soundstream's cleaning, this product, in my opinion, is superior. (I've no clue about others problems having both on their computers?? I'm still running ME?? I haven't used DirectCD??)
I've been amazed with the resurrected sound quality of 30 to 35 year old LPs that have been boxed in the basement for 15+ years. Easy's Soundstream's cleaning was good; ACL's work on them is impressive.
ACL, having more and better utilities than Easy, is more difficult to use. I could have avoided some frustration at first by just reading the manual before diving in. (Real Men don't need directions!)
But learning to use it has been worth the effort.
I've bought many digitally remastered analog recordings since I stopped buying and listening to LP's. I think ACL's remastering is a very close second to the pros - and then comparative arguments would be very subjective among golden audiophile ears.
I did have a problem writing with buffer underun at first, but this was easily resolved with the image file utility - I read the manual finally.
If there is a bug leading to a crash, I haven't found it yet. Excellent software, in my opinion, that lives up very well to it's claims.
Rating:
Summary: MP3
Review: It is great for making MP3s ... the only problem is that it only allows one to make 20 MP3s before it asks you to go to their web site to buy an unlimited MP3 maker plug-in for the program. At the MP3 site, you have to give all of your information, including credit card number, before you find out what you are paying for the plug-in. Also, I think that they will release your private data to others, or at least that is the way that it appears. It does, however, restore older music very well ... but is it really worth the additional unknown cost when there are other similar products available that are complete when you buy them? I avoided buying the MP3 plug-in come-on and use other programs where the consumer is not duped into thinking he bought a complete product, only to find out that what he bought was not what he thought.
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