The PeC Review: Audacity Makes Audio Editing a Snap

Audacity is an excellent, free, open source audio editor that makes it a snap for ecommerce merchants to develop customer-engaging podcasts for any online store.

More and more online shopkeepers are turning to rich multimedia content to inform (and even enthrall) Internet shoppers. For example, according to a survey of the e-tailing Group‘s top 100 online stores, audio use grew 29.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same 2007 quarter. Some merchants are including audio product descriptions or other audio features. Audacity is an excellent tool for recording ecommerce-focused audio, and earns five out of five stars in this The PeC Review.

Free and Full Featured

Audacity is free to download from SourceForge.net, so it is as inexpensive an audio editor as you can find. But don’t imagine that just because it is free that is a bland and featureless editor. Audacity has more features than some expensive sound recording software.

Audacity can be used to record all sorts of podcasts with just a microphone and a computer, easily removing noise and pops or correcting verbal miscues. It will also convert analog tapes and records into digital recordings; edit existing MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files; and it allows you to cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together, changing the speed or pitch of practically any recording. And if you needed more proof, audiophiles can even use the drawing tool to adjust individual waveforms.

A Supportive Open Source Community

Audacity has been downloaded at least 3 million times. And, as with all popular open source projects, there is a strong volunteer development community that keeps Audacity updated and develops new modules. Some modules make the software work better to quickly remove static, hissing, humming, etc., and others add effects like echo, phaser, wahwah, or reverse.

Sound Quality

Audacity allows users to record sounds and to edit them at 16-bit, 24-bit and 32-bit quality. So if you have a good signal coming in, you’ll get a great signal coming out.

Easy and Intuitive Interface

Audacity takes less than a minute to figure out. It really is that simple. Clear icons that look like what you might see on a DVD player or stereo control the basic functions and a simple file menu system provides access to Audacities advanced features.

Output as MP3

Although you will have to download a .dll file before you can output MP3 files from Audacity, the setup is simple. In no time you will have professional quality streaming audio for your ecommerce website.

Summing Up

If you are planning to add streaming audio (like talking product descriptions or other features), you’ll have a hard time finding a better solution than Audacity, which is why I give it five out of five stars in this The PeC Review.