Tunebite 5 Review: A DRM Removal Tool

Tunebite 5 Platinum Version:

Tunebite 5 is part of RapidSolution Software’s Audials One software and is a multi-format audio and video tool. It’s biggest selling point though is the rather large ace up its sleeve – the ability to remove DRM protection in a legal way; otherwise known as the analog loophole.

Is Tunebite 5 an indispensable audio and video tool that everyone should have in their toolbox? This full review puts it through its paces.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface.
• Good file format support.
• Generous selection of integrated tools.

Cons:

• Only 2 websites at present can be used to capture audio streams.

Tunebite 5 – Getting Started

System Requirements:

• Operating system: Windows XP / Vista
• Minimum Processor: 1 GHz
• Memory: 512 MB RAM
• Software: Windows Mediaplayer 9+ / iTunes 6+

Interface: Once up and running, you will be presented with a clean and logical layout that has obviously been designed with simplicity in mind. Most of Tunebite 5’s functions are accessible from the main screen making the whole experience hassle-free and efficient.

Configuration: Clicking on the options button, located on the main screen, will bring up a wealth of configuration options for such things as, high-speed dubbing; input and output folders; streaming audio; transcoding; mobile device sync settings and more.

Tunebite 5 - Converting

(C) 2007 Mark Harris - Licensed To About.com, Inc.

Media file Conversion: Tunebite 5 has a nice drag-and-drop area on the main screen for you to place media files onto; alternatively you can use the add icon to queue your files. Tunebite 5 did a good job of auto-detecting the DRM and DRM-free media files that were dropped onto it – all that was required was to select a format to convert to via the drop-down menu. Incidentally, if you need to tweak any of the transcoding settings to suit your own needs then you can make your own custom audio profile. Another nice feature is the option to automatically add cover art, ID3 tags and lyrics after the conversion process.

• Output Audio Formats: M4A, MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA, WMA Pro
• Output Video Formats: 3GP, MPEG4, WMV7, WMV9, XVID

Built-in Player:Once the conversion has completed you can use the built-in player to check that all the files are playable. Also included are various other playback options such as; skip to next track; playlist shuffle; volume control etc.

Edit ID3 Tags: This is a handy feature to manually edit the basic metadata of music files as well as import cover art and lyrics.

Conversion Quality: Listening to the converted test files using the various file formats yielded excellent results.

Tunebite 5 - Additional Tools

Capture Streams: There are 2 web sites that Tunebite 5 can record audio streaming from. These are musicload.de and Yahoo! LAUNCHcast radio. Clicking on the capture streams tab at the top of the Tunebite 5 main screen will bring up the recording options. To test out Tunebite 5, I pointed my web browser to Yahoo LAUNCHcast and activated stream capture. The first thing that impressed me was how smart the software was - it only started the recording process when the music started. As soon as the first track finished Tunebite 5 automatically imported the correct cover art, ID3 tag information, lyrics and correctly named the file. This tool is impressive but I wish there were more websites that it worked with.

Ringtone Maker: Fancy making your very own MP3, AMR or MMF ringtones? Tunebite 5 provides a ringtone creator that is wizard based, this makes the whole process very straight forward. You have the option to use pre-existing MP3 files; rip a CD track or even record from other sources such as microphone, line in etc. Once you’re happy with your master piece you can transfer the ringtone via WAP or download it.

CD Burner: Integrated into Tunebite 5 is a CD writing tool that makes it possible to write data CDs (MP3 files etc.) and audio CDs that you can play in most CD capable players. Again, a wizard helps you through the process of burning your collection for safe keeping.

Tunebite 5 - Conclusion

(C) 2007 Mark Harris - Licensed To About.com, Inc.

Is it Worth Buying?
RapidSolution Software’s Tunebite 5 performed solidly throughout testing and coped with everything that was thrown at it. The quality of the generated music and video files was excellent; the transcoding speed was also impressive using high-speed dubbing. I like the feature set of Tunebite 5 - everything is tightly integrated and works well. My only gripe with the software is the excellent audio stream capture tool is worthy of more than just 2 compatible websites. If you are frustrated by the restrictions of DRM or you need to convert your music and video into other formats, then Tunebite 5 is an essential program to keep in your toolbox.