|
On the video side, the Dolby compression allows users to fit two hours of video with audio on a single disc (up from 90 minutes with PCM sound). By the time you read this, Roxio also will have added dual-layer DVD burning capability to Toast—available as a free downloadable upgrade to users who've already purchased either Toast 6 Titanium or the Toast 6 with Jam package—allowing for four hours of video on a single disc. So what about Jam itself? Most notably, you can burn your discs directly from Jam, rather than having to create a disc image and export it to Toast as you did with version 5. And though Jam still lets pros create 100% Red Book-compatible CD masters, the program's now a bit more consumer-friendly, with advanced features like relative index times and frames per second hidden unless the user turns them on in the preferences. The crossfade tools—Jam's bread and butter, if you'll pardon the pun—are even easier to use than they were in version 5. When you've got your tracks loaded into your Jam playlist (a simple drag-and-drop proposition), you simply select the "bowtie" icon to the right of a track title. That reveals the crossfade window, which consists of three bars: the top one showing the waveform of the first track, the bottom showing the waveform of the second track, and the middle one indicating how the waveforms will overlap once the crossfade is set. A green line indicates the end of the first track, while a red line indicates the split point between the two tracks. In between, you see blue lines that are diagonal or curved, depending on your crossfade option; Jam's presets include linear, slow in/slow out, fast out/slow in, and slow out/fast in. You can drag those lines to precisely set the rate and volume of your fade, and you can drag the second track as far over into the first track as you'd like, meaning you can fade out of track one as early or late as is appropriate. Jam performs all of its edits without changing the source file; for that, you'll need the included Peak Express LE sound editing software. It's a great tool not only for cleaning up dirty or poorly mastered source files but also for cleaning up the audio on iMovie soundtracks. Compatible with QuickTime movies or straight DV files, Peak opens a video window alongside the audio waveform, letting you precisely edit out unwanted background noise, boost voices, or adjust music volume in sync with your movie. Peak single-handedly saved an iMovie production I'd created by letting me essentially remaster the soundtrack without starting over again from scratch. Once again, Roxio's got a winner here. For Mac users who want more control—way more control—over their audio creations than they can get from iTunes, Toast 6 with Jam is a no-brainer. System requirements: PowerMac G3; Mac OS X 10.2 or later; 200MB HDD space (more recommended for video authoring); QuickTime 6 or later —Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen
|