Twin players with cross-fade capability provide good flexibility. Each player has a pitch control, and, with the 10-band graphic equalizer, you can adjust the sound of the music to suit your listening arrangements. The equalizer includes built-in presets, but you can't save your own equalizations. More disappointingly, you can't play music while ripping and encoding.

A welcome bonus is the Music Editor application, which lets you edit music files. For example, you can reduce noise from a WAV file that was recorded from vinyl before you encode it to MP3 or normalize tracks to ensure a consistent volume range. MP3 Maker's CD-burning features are minimalist, but they're effective enough with supported CD-R/CD-RW drives. Detracting from MP3 Maker's features is a complex and counterintuitive interface that's designed to dazzle. Users who are comfortable with misused controls and the occasional word in German need have no fear, but others might want to look to other MP3-creation products, such as MusicMatch Jukebox 5.0 Deluxe. --Guy Hart-Davis

To get started with MP3, this program makes it easy to search for music on the Internet with hooks for popular MP3 search engines (such as Lycos). Once you find the right files, the MP3 Wizard opens up your browser to let you download music files to your disk drive. Besides the MP3 standard, the program reads CDA files from audio CDs and converts them into WAV files. (One thing to be aware of here is that recording quality can't be controlled within the MP3 Wizard itself. You'll need to change this under Windows settings.)

After you have your WAV files, you can add sound effects such as reverb, echo, and flange, as well as "normalize" all your files to the same dynamic range so that you don't have to adjust the volume between tracks. Of course, you'll want plenty of free disk space, memory, and a fast CPU to use this program. (A 233 MHz CPU is the minimum recommended here; the faster, the better.)

One reason to buy MP3 Wizard in particular is its support for downloading music files onto today's popular MP3 players (such as Diamond Rio). The program also supports burning custom CDs with just a click of the mouse. (Both 60- and 80-minute CD formats are supported.) Overall, for those who don't mind experimenting a little, the MP3 Wizard is a capable lower-end tool for building a personal Internet music collection. --Rich Dragan

The Nero burning engine lets you burn audio and data CD-ROMs and make 1:1 CD backups. Make MP3 data CDs for up to 10 hours of listening on compatible players. Add fades, control track gaps, and write CD Text.

With NeroMIX audio player, you can take your listening experience even further. Create playlists from audio CDs, MP3, TwinVQ, WMA, WAV, or MIDI files, and Internet radio stations. Rip audio tracks, transcode from one digital format to another, and even capture those rare tracks from old LPs and tapes via your sound card with the included audio cables.

This handy program is compatible with any MP3 file and supports variable bit rate (VBR) encoded files. You can format your files for recording onto CDs, edit and customize files without compression loss, eliminate abrupt cuts, and splice together your favorites.

The MP3 Editor's simple, clean interface and unlimited undo feature make it easy to use and quick to master. Multiple cascading windows offer quick file access. A range of options lets you play back and loop your MP3 files, adjust fade depth and duration, as well as uniformly increase and decrease volume levels.

The program delivers studio quality audio restoration from Steinberg, the leader in PC-based audio technology. Software includes a high-quality phonograph preamp to make recording your LPs easier than ever. Clean Plus allows you to have as much control over the process as you like--from full automation through complete control over every option.

Other tools include Wavelab Lite 2.5 for ultra-quick music editing, real-time crossfades and mastering effects, IntelliAssistant for fully-automatic handling, and TubeSimulation, which acts as a hi-fi amplifier simulator.

Audio CD MP3 Studio 2000 also supports MP3 files, which achieves much higher compression ratios. It can write MP3s to audio CD, and performs audio processing functions in real time. Rip music CDs to Wave, and then convert to MP3. Use the MP3 and Wave player to play music directly from your hard drive. This program supports most standard CD writers.

Burn CDs using Toast burning software with easy one-step burning, complete with CD labeling and jewel case inserts. Drag, drop, and burn audio, media, and data CDs. Customize audio CDs or MP3 CDs using saved playlists or by selecting individual tracks. The easy-to-read capacity meter tells you when you've filled up your disc with music.

Play MP3s, Windows Media Audio, CDs, video, and more. Create music playlists simply by dragging and dropping music files from your music library. View CD, song, and artist information. Randomly play every track in your library for hours of continuous music. Easily transfer MP3 songs to portable MP3 players.

MusicMatch Radio gives you the power to be your own DJ by letting you create your own radio stations from any track in your music collection or from every song on your playlists or in your library. Listen to over 25 professionally programmed popular-genre stations like Top Hits, Classic Rock, Soft Hits, and more. You can even skip the songs you don't want to hear.

Magix playR jukebox XXL includes a vast sound library with 1,100 sounds and preprogrammed remixes. Add a full range of audio effects, such as reverb, echo, and stereo enhancing. Tweak music using the 10-band EQ or add DirectX plug-ins. Magix also includes a free download that delivers access to a host of Internet radio stations.

At the center of the software is AudioStation 6. AudioStation lets you create a digital music library by converting audio CDs to MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA), or WAV digital formats. You can also add to your music library by downloading digital music from the Internet. Most music files are in MP3 or WMA formats, which are both compatible with AudioStation.

AudioStation plays Internet streaming audio so you can listen to Internet radio stations on your PC. The TurtleRadio Web site makes it easy to create a list of stations by providing a wide variety of streaming audio sources that have been certified to operate properly with AudioStation and AudioTron.