Digital Home Thoughts: Roxio Easy Media Creator 7.5 - One Rockin' Media App!

The Giant just got Bigger!
Easy Media Creator (formerly Easy CD Creator) has always been known for packaging several useful media creation and burning applications onto one disc. In the older versions of Easy CD Creator, programs were not unified and resulted in a horrible user experience. That was the last time I had ever played with Easy CD Creator; well, until now, that is.

Roxio Easy Media Creator 7.5 now adds several new programs to the table. These include a disaster recovery program, Backup MyPC Deluxe 6, a full-featured DVD player, Cineplayer 2, a DVD slideshow program, MyDVD Slideshow 6, as well as other useful utilities, including a program to easily capture audio, a converter that can quickly convert DiVX films to DVD, plus more.


Figure 1: This Roxio Home window launches on startup, and it simplifies starting up a new project.

With such a full load of programs available, things can get overwhelming quickly. That's why I really enjoy the Roxio Home window that pops up on startup. It simplifies things into categories, Music, Data, Photo, Video, and DVD. For example, the music category inclues labels such as "Copy Audio CD," "Create new Audio CD," and "Convert LPs and Tapes to CD." When you click on one of these labels, the corresponding program launches. I find this very simple and efficient. Moreover, if you're an advanced user who knows which program you want to launch, all the programs and tools are also listed in the home window.

Creator Classic - Burn CDs/DVDs


Figure 2: The Creator Classic interface.

Creator Classic provides the barebones requirement of any media burning package. I really enjoy how the interface is split up so that the file tree and the disc are arranged vertically rather than next to each other. It limits the amount of side scrolling necessary, which is always a good thing. Creator Classic allows you to also burn from images, including .iso and .cue. You can also make enhanced CDs, mixed-mode CDs, and bootable discs.

The burn time was normal, and the program did not produce any coasters at all. All in all, Creator Classic performed the way I expected, and did a good job at hiding the unused features from the user.