ITS FOREBEARS WERE MEDIA-CREATION, format-conversion, disc-burning hodgepodg¬es, but Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 (EMC 10) is a polished package with nearly every part smoothly rewritten for Vista integration.
This disc-authoring tool handles all aspects of creat¬ing CDs and DVDs and also manages music, video, and photos for portable devices.

Like Nero 8 Ultra Edition, its main competitor, EMC 10 has a front end that directs you to the appro-priate destinations. Both products bring the most popular functions up front, letting you quickly per¬form basic tasks. But EMC 10 incorporates more func¬tions, categorizes them more logically, and provides better descriptions. Overall, it does a good job of explaining the component programs' capabilities, but some programs have only bare-bones Windows help files. Still, the interface looks great, and many of the software's new additions, such as one that transfers audio and video between your iPod and PC, enhance current consumer technologies.

You can sync photos, music, and video with com-patible phones via the Media Manager. One of its coolest features lets you preview content meant for PCs or mobile devices. You can also specify a photo, audio, and video file format for each mobile device and transcode incompatible media.

A scaled-down version of SmartSound's music generator lets you add orchestrated music to visual content. It edits the music automatically, matching the flow of the slides or mood of the video scenes, and produces remarkable results. Video editing, though, is somewhat hampered by being split into two com-ponents. CineMagic, geared more toward novices, instantly turns a sequence of video clips into a slick production. Video Wave is a full-featured editor, but lets you perform most of its functions (such as tran-sitions and overlays) by dropping elements onto a timeline.

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Vista compatibility lets EMC 10 and the OS share metadata-alter a photo tag in one, and the other rec-ognizes the change. Vista users also get two Sidebar gadgets. Easy Audio Capture can associate any audio input with a predefined audio level and file format. It also captures streaming music and can pull the audio out of a video file. Audio/Video Converter can con¬vert media files for cell-phone use, route them to por¬table players, and save them to specific folders.

Nero 8 supports more unusual media formats, but for ease of use and portable-device communication, Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 is the better option and earns an Editors' Choice.