15-Minute Reviews :: Wondershare Audio Converter v3.1.21

Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is Wondershare Audio Converter version 3.1.21 by Wondershare Software – An application to convert audio files in an easy-to-use package.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“Wondershare Audio Converter is a powerful audio conversion tool that can convert various audio formats between one another, such as MP3 to WAV, WAV to MP3, MP3 to WMA, MP3 to AAC, AC3, M4A ect. for playback on popular audio players including iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod, Zune, and all kinds of MP3 Players.”

Quick Pros

• Interface is very easy to use though built for video
• Batch functionality good for large groups of files
• Trim and volume control functionality
• Mediocre speeds for conversion – Audio quality sounds good

Quick Cons

• No auto-normalization – Must do it by hand
• Can’t batch folders and retain folder structure
• Settings are limited for output
• Format input and output somewhat limited – No apparent plug-in system

Expansion

As all other Wondershare applications, this shares the common Wondershare interface elements. As such, the application is very easy to get up and running. The main page initially shows you instructions on how to get up and running. Adding files is as easy as dragging and dropping into the window or using the Add button at the top. The batch functionality is good for doing an entire folder or a group of music files you are preparing for your portable music player. At the bottom of the page are the format settings and the output location. It does quickly become very evident that this is the common Wondershare design because of the preview windows that are all sized for video as well as the format settings window has the video settings still there simply greyed out. I feel this should have been altered some to make the application feel less like a quick throw-together.

Besides straight audio conversion, there are a few extra goodies to be found as well. Volume control per track is here – With a preview window and a slider to adjust the volume. Personally I prefer to do my own normalization, but many people likely wouldn’t be bothered and would much rather have auto-normalization across all of the tracks. There is also trimming which offers you the ability to cut apart a file into a smaller piece; There are many uses for this including converting to ringtone or cutting out your favorite motivational speech’s passage (or cut out the boring/useless parts of a lecture). Common to Wondershare applications, I feel the adjustment of the trim start-end blocks is too grainy but it is functional.

During testing, I ran one batch of MP3s I had previously created from another review; A total of 21 MP3 files with a length of 1 hour 40 seconds. The process of converting them to OGG (96kbps – Stereo) took 16 minutes and 8 seconds; It felt slower than other converters I’ve used, but not too bad if you’re looking to batch and walk away. The audio quality coming out the other end was good as well; I couldn’t detect any caused anomalies in the portion I listened to either. I tried a few more files and it reflects the general speed of the application to be less than stellar, but not too bad either.

I did have a few concerns for this application. First, the batching functionality, while nice, wouldn’t be great for converting an entire collection without some labor. There is no way to include entire folder structures and there is also no way to retain the entire folder structure originally; Many have a good structure to their music to make finding music easier. Batching for audio files really needs to be able to handle entire folder structures as well as specific files.

While the application does support a good number of formats, the application does not support a lot of features on each format nor can I find evidence of extendable (through plug-in or otherwise) formats for input and output. With the output settings for MP3 for example, you can only choose between Mono and Stereo settings (doesn’t denote if Stereo is joint or full); There is no apparent VBR support and the bitrate is limited to 6 presets from 64kbps to 256kbps. All of the formats have these same general restrictions. With having no apparent plug-in system that users can add to, you are limited to the 8 output formats and 4 input formats.

Final Verdict

While the interface on this application works well and is easy to use, I feel that more focus needs to be put into turning this into a die-hard audio converter with plug-ins and more. While free, this is a good application, especially if you are not greatly familiar with the settings of audio conversion; For many however might not feel there is enough ‘punch’ here. As for paying for this application; This application needs both simplicity, ease of use and power on its side and with the lack of power (as well as a feel of being mainly ripped from the video conversion application for the interface and main workings) I feel it may not be worth the $29 yet, but could with some effort.

As for alternatives, one I have used extensively in the past has been dBpoweramp Music Converter (Free – $18 with MP3 licence and Power Pack) – Interface isn’t as easy to use as Wondershare Audio Converter, but does have a lot more power.

Posted by BladedThoth on Thursday, August 16, 2007