GiliSoft Audio Converter Ripper 9.3.1

Overview

Not everyone has a reason to convert an audio file from one format to another, but those who do need to use a tool that is powerful, flexible, fast and easy to use. One of the tools that meet those 4 requirements is Gilisoft’s Audio Converter Ripper; this handy tool can convert audio files between a variety of formats and also extract audio from video files, at the same time giving you the ability to make many configurations.

Installation

The installation of this program doesn't differ from any other usual program’s installation. Basically it’s just a matter of clicking “Next” a few times, since it doesn't have any settings other than the typical shortcut and installation directory ones. The software is clean from all kinds of malware (viruses, spyware, Trojans, etc.) and doesn’t include additional advertised software.

Supported operating systems are Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8.

Interface

The program’s interface looks nice, although it could make its font smaller and more elegant, but it’s functional. There are two buttons at the top of the window, one for adding new files to convert and one for trimming the currently selected one. Then at the middle of the window is the list of files to be converted and next to it is an area with playback buttons for previewing the selected file. The bottom part of the window has the settings you need to make before starting the conversion process, including the output file format and output folder. After clicking the big “Start” button at the bottom right corner you can see the progress bar filling up as the operation takes place.

Pros

Gilisoft Audio Converter Ripper supports converting between a lot of formats: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, FLAC, OGG, APE, AIFF, AC3, M4A and AU. In addition, it can extract audio from video files of many formats: AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4, FLV, MKV, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, AVCHD and others. But its features don’t stop there; it can also load audio CDs and rip their contents into one of the supported formats.

You can preview the imported media files using the built-in preview screen.

Output format settings can be configured. Actually, you can configure audio quality (Low, Normal and High), the number of channels (1-Mono or 2-Stereo), bitrate, sample rate, audio codec and volume.

Cons

No cons were found in this program.

Alternatives

A very popular alternative that can rip CDs, DVDs and convert their contents is FormatFactory (free), which supports conversion to many file types. Another very good choice is fre:ac (free) and is mainly preferred due to its ease of use. Those programs and GiliSoft Audio Converter Ripper have similar functionality (except Format Factory’s feature that can rip DVDs too). Other alternatives are dBpoweramp (paid) and CDEx (free).

Conclusion

GiliSoft Audio Converter Ripper is an easy to use program with a simple interface that has to offer everything a fully-featured ripper-converter has to offer without becoming too plain or too complex. It’s average program for the average user, which is not bad anyways.