We recently upgraded to Roxio Creator 2010 Pro. Nice interface, but be very careful to read the forums for the correct procedure to completely uninstall older Roxio software/registry entries before installing. We had no problems installing Creator 2010 Pro after following the recommended procedures.
What you get:
1. LightZone: for photos. Allows you to quickly add professional lighting effects and correct color balance; fix any lighting problems with your photo; adjust gray levels; change the exposure without changing the current color; will work with RAW, jpeg, tiff and png photo formats.
2. HiDef and Blu-ray: you must purchase the optional plugin. Allows you to author/create blu-ray dvds (we don't recommend this at this point, as most do it yourself blu-ray software has all kinds of problems playing back on current blu-ray dvd players).
3. Sonicfire Pro: allows you to make custom soundtracks (based on musical styles) for use in your video projects. We like this version of sonicfire alot. You can customize which instruments are used, the mood of the music, the tempo of the soundtrack and the pitch, then export the track to use in your video productions.
4. Soundsoap: with trial and error, you can remove noise from sound recordings (such as wind, background noise, etc.). It takes alot of playing around to get exactly what we're looking for.
5. BackOnTrack: allows you to back up your hard drive, OS, files, settings and programs. If you don't already have a backup strategy for your system, this will do it for you.
6. Burning DVDs/Copying non-copy protected DVDs: Allows you to burn and copy dvds from your desktop; burn a blu-ray data DVD; burn a regular data DVD; back up CDs and DVDs; copy DVDs you've already made; backup audio/movies/tv shows from iPod to your computer; render a dual layer DVD to fit on a standard 4.7GB dvd.
7. Video: Allows you to edit your video files; create and edit movie style DVDs; make movie presentations quickly using your imported video and photos, then using the Cinemagic feature; capture analog video; import video; import video from HDV camcorders and AVCHD camcorders; save videos you find on the web and play them back on your phone or iPod; upload your video to Youtube; preview video quality before you decide to render an entire project; add titles and credits to your video footage; basic video editing tools such as trim, cut, timeline, storyboard, transitions, etc.; fix the color, contrast and brightness of your imported video footage; image overlay, text overlay and picture in picture for your video footage.
8. DVDs: with the optional blu-ray plugin, you can play back bluray movies on your PC, burn blu-ray dvds and data dvds. Without the optional plugin, you can make standard dvds with menus and chapters; burn a project directly to dvd; play dvds on your computer.
9. Music: Allows you to convert audio book CDs to iPod and other compatible devices; create music mixes with transitional beats between songs; trim blank spaces at the beginning or end of songs; import audio from CDs, vinyl records, tapes, and the internet; capture internet radio songs; digitize analog/vinyl recordings, clean them up, and export them as MP3s; rip the music from CDs or DVDs; convert many types of audio files and export them as a new audio file type (convert); burn mp3 CDs; burn mp3 DVDs.
10. Photos: Allows you to edit photos; create DVD photo slideshows; share your photos online privately; fix red eye; erase wrinkles/blemishes; crop photos; create panoramas.
11. Other: create dvd/CD labels and inserts using templates or creating your own.
We liked Creator 2009 alot except the fact that when we upgraded to Creator 2009 the "Pro" version was not a choice. Then a month later they released the "Pro" version. We didn't get burned a second time. We waited until well after Creator 2010 was released, then upgraded from Creator 2009 to the "Pro" version of Creator 2010.
They have some nice tutorials, but your best bet is to READ both the downloadable manual and also the Roxio forums. Many users have been around for years and have found workarounds to common problems. Be respectful, however--read through the forums first to see if your question has already been discussed and answered. People on the boards are very helpful but they get frustrated at new users who just jump on and ask a question that's been asked and answered already (in some cases, MANY times).
If you have a fairly new computer and are running Vista or 7, you should have a good experience. We wouldn't recommend putting it on an older computer running XP.
