Review by BNewby

I’ve had some Roxio products for Windows and I had mixed opinions. I like the software, but I didn’t like the cost of new versions and I felt like the overall product wasn’t that robust.

I bought Toast long ago and I don’t know what version it was–it’s long gone, and that’s my biggest concern about Roxio. This version is number 12? I feel like I buy a new version with every PC change I make. I guess that’s the point, on their site, but I don’t like.

That said, I have Applian products for my Windows machine now to record screencasts and to convert video and audio files. This program is easier to use on my Mac than that the Applian products, and I think they are pretty intuitive. I find the menu to be a little more straightforward, actually, than previous versions of Roxio CD Creator on my Windows machines.

Installing Toast was slightly clunky, but not too bad. It asked for access to my contacts, which I denied, but I was concerned that such a program would ask for that. Overall, I’m comforted having a program to convert audio and video files downloaded from the web for my iPad, mostly, but it beats me why these features are any different than earlier versions or how there can be much better versions in, say, Toast 13. My hunch is that this program will be a good buy, and still very useful, in the summer of 2015.