CDH Productions' Media Wizard

Ripper Supreme

Media Wizard is a great program, but only for the very few people who have need for it and can deal with the complex features. The retail price of $50.00 is a bargain when you consider the many features and how well they work. The average computer user will find very few uses for it, especially if they don't collect music files in order to make their own CDs. I had no use for the video conversion and adjusting capabilities so I had no opportunity to test it.

I personally used Media Wizard for "ripping" CD Tracks from commercial CDs, downloading the song titles and artists from an online source (CDDB) and converting the tracks into MP3 format. The tracks on a music CD average over 30 megabytes each and it doesn't take that many tracks to fill up even a large hard drive. MP3 files average between 2 and 4 megabytes. When you make your own music CDs, the "burning" software (not included) converts the MP3 files back to the larger format which enables you get 20 to 22 songs on a CD. I also used Media Wizard for adjusting the sound levels on some of the music before I put it on my own CD but there are other adjustments that I could have made without much difficulty.

It was easier to use the manufacturer's explanation of the many capabilities of Media Wizard so the following information has been taken directly from their program overview.

The conversion features are easy to use, yet very powerful. Both audio and video formats can be converted. Supported conversions include CD to WAV, CD to MP3, CD to WMA, WAV to MP3, MP3 to WAV, WAV/MP3 to WMA, WMA to WAV/MP3, OGG to WAV, WAV to OGG, WAV to CD Audio, and WAV Codec Conversions. There are also power Video editing and conversion features including a Video Converter, Video Constructor, Video Decompiler, and Video Processor. The Video Converter features two-way video conversions among MPEG, AVI, Multi-Page TIFF, and FLIC. The CD Converter module provides a CDDB auto-save feature, which enables track title, artist, and album information to be dynamically downloaded from the Internet CD Database and used when converting CD tracks to WAV, MP3, or WMA. This feature is fully configurable to use as much or little of the information desired in any preferred order. Of course, this feature can also be disabled from those who do not wish to be connected to the Internet while converting CD tracks. The full-featured audio editor's capabilities include Amplify, Null Amplitude, Insert/Delete Silence, Fade In/Out, Invert, Normalize, Reverse, Echo, Stretch, Merge to Stereo, Mix. Mix from File, Paste from File, Paste from Clipboard, Copy to Clipboard, Zoom, Convert, Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste, and much more. Furthermore, the audio editor can be used for audio file recording as well. The powerful Audio Merge will combine two WAV, MP3, and WMA files into one file enabling you to do your own mixing and more. Media Wizard supports all popular multimedia formats for playback, including MPEG Layer-3 (MP3), MPEG Layer-2 (MP2), Active Streaming Format (ASF), MPEG Video (MPG, MPEG, MPE), Windows Video (AVI), Windows Media 4 (WMA, WMV), Vivo Digital Video (VIV), Apple QuickTime (MOV, QT), Windows Audio (WAV), Audio CD (CDA), Video CD (DAT), Media Playlists (ASX, WAX, M3U, WVX), MIDI, AIFF, AU, SND, and more!

For video formats, advanced zooming and full-screen modes are supported. The video window is freely resizable, allowing precise zoom adjustment. Playback speed and position control are also supported. The playlist gives you the ability to create your own symphony of favorite songs and videos for your listening and viewing pleasure. You can combine both audio and video files within the same playlist. Since Media Wizard supports all popular formats, the creation of playlist(s) is limited only by your imagination. Complete drag and drop support, fully skinnable interface, MP3 tag editing, CDDB capabilities, browse features (Media Previewing, Loop Playback, and Volume Control), and versatile preferences (for maximum control) add in making Media Wizard a powerhouse multimedia solution!