adaptec toast 4 deluxe - Toast 4 Deluxe cd software - Software Review - Evaluation

Emedia Professional, March, 2000 by Stephen F. Nathans

Other new audio features adding to Toast 4's consumer cachet are support for MP3 to CD-DA conversion, Liquid Audio support, and access to CDDB, the massive online CD track information database. The "Goodies" folder, as with previous versions of Toast, includes Toast Audio Extractor, now in version 1.1. While not as fast a digital audio extraction utility as the blazing rippers you can download here and there for use on the PC [See Starrett's "Ripping Off Recordings", July 1999, pp. 34-46] there does seem to be about a 20 percent speed improvement over version 1.0. The package also includes template-based CD labeling software and a handy HP applicator.

power to the powerPC

Any aspect of the current Toast will run on a late-model PowerPC. And the recorder support seems rock-solid, and will surely be as easily updated as earlier versions of the software via the Adaptec Web site. Toast and Spin Doctor were both effectively tested on a Performa 6360 PowerPC using a TEAC 8X24 CD recorder, and worked to their best results there. Of course, it's not easy recording at 8X with a 166mHz machine, and it only works reliably with small chunks of data files.

But if you've still got that connection to the glory days of Mac CD recording--any reasonably fast PowerPC or 266 PowerMac G3 with a good old SCSI connection--and can do any of the work you need to do there, make that your recording station and do the rest on a cheap PC, at least until FireWire proves its mettle, and installing ATAPI drives in the new G4 convertibles amasses a solid success record. Or if your production needs are low and you can afford to do your occasional burns on your lunch hour, hold your nose and take the USB CD-R plunge. Whichever path you take, Toast 4 will make a trusted and able guide.

adaptec toast 4 delux

synopsis: Toast 4 continues to corner the market on Mac CO recording, and it's a great corner to be in. In addition to the familiar, powerful GUI which handles just about any recording functions, Toast 4 is the first edition of the software to incorporate the CO Copy utility inherited from Toast originator Astarte. Toast 4 also learns benefits from Adaptec stablemate Easy CD Creator via the welcomed addition of CD Spin Doctor, Creator's popular consumer recording tool. (Professional tasks continue to be covered by Adaptec Jam.) Toast 4 also incorporates USB and ATAPI support, accommodating the interface restrictions and configuration shifts of the latest iMac, G3, and G4 systems of Apple's post-SCSI age.

for more information, contact:

Adaptec, Inc.

691 South Milpitas Boulevard, Milpitas, CA 95035; 408/945-8600; Fax 408/262-2533; salesbtc@btc.adaptec.com; http://www.adaptec.com

Stephen F. Nathans (stephenn@onlineinc.com) is Editor of EMedia.

Comments? Email us at letters@onlineinc.com or check the masthead for other ways to contact us.