Audio Guys: get in here please!

[nissangirl74]

Need your advice. Greg's mom wants an audio program that she can overlay onto a slide show of vacation pictures. There are over 700 pictures, so she wants about two hours worth of music (which she already has downloaded to her computer). She is using Smilebox, which won't allow her to use more than one song,because she has over 400 pictures, and she had an issue with another program that I can't remember. ANYWAY, she did some research and found a free download called "Audacity". I was wondering if anyone had heard of it, used it, liked it, hated it, etc. Any feedback is appreciated!

kthxbai

[Red coupe]

Its a pretty well known program if its the same one I have used...

I didn't demand much of it, but it worked well for cutting up sound files.
It doesn't do video type stuff though... Is she just hoping to make a long wav/mp3 file out of all the single ones?

[nissangirl74]

Yes. She didn't want one song to play over and over. She'd like to take the ones she has and merge them together.

[Red coupe]

It may be a little complicated since IIRC it can do so much more then what she needs, but if she isn't one to be scared off by extra buttons she need not use, it shouldn't take much more then copy and paste or insert if the program has it.

It will definitely be more then capable of what she needs if she has no problem using it. (Not hard, but open source programs tend to not be as graceful or pretty and that can hurt usability for people who get overwhelmed with computers)

Kinda like the audio version of GIMP.

Another, easier option may be to see if something like Windows media player or winamp or something like them offer photo gallery slide shows to your own music.
I bet at least one of the big multimedia programs will mix your music and your pictures... Though it will likely not do it the same every time if that is important. (random song and/or picture order)

[AppleBonker]

I've used Audacity and love it. However, as stated above, it's a bit more powerful than what she needs. Off the top of my head I cannot think of anything simpler, but I'll keep my eyes open.

[Encryptshun]

I mean this in all seriousness -- what about MS Powerpoint? You can use the media animation setup to create a playlist and time it to autoscrolling through the pictures.

Downside is that it will be a gargantuan file. Upside is that it will be really easy to use.

[audtatious]

How about Windows Movie Maker? load in the pix and then load in the tracks. It's easy and it's free.

[Looneybomber]

Is she using smilebox because she wants to share the vacation with friends at their own computer?

The reason I ask is smilebox may have a limit as to how big an audio file can be. I've never used it, but I've used other similar programs years back that had limitations like that, but it may not due to decreased prices in storage and bandwidth.

[Otto.]

How about Windows Movie Maker? load in the pix and then load in the tracks. It's easy and it's free.

This.

I don't think Audacity does anything other than audio. Windows Movie Maker handles pictures, video, and audio well (all at the same time) and it's pretty simple to use.

[nissangirl74]

Thanks guys! I sent her all of your comments, hopefully that will help her make a decision. I told her to let me know if she has any further questions and I'd post them up.

[RCA]

Also if she plans on making a MP3 file with audacity, she will need to install a patch that allows for encoding to MP3. I consider myself "techy" and spent about 20-30mins looking for and installing the patch. Not sure how good Greg's mom is with computers, but this might be a snag.

I ran into this about 5 months ago. Things might of changed in new versions of Audacity but that was my experience.

[svard75]

IMO Best Easiest Product I've ever used. http://www.cyberlink.com/products/power ... en_US.html