Over the last couple of days I’ve been spending every spare moment I have testing out a new piece of software - Magix Music Maker 15.

This is a piece of software that promises to make making music easy - and in my case it would need to - I haven’t tried to compose a thing since my Music GCSE (though I’m not sure you could even call that composing…)

The question is does it?

I decided to start off as I do with any piece of software I buy - by not looking at any instructions and seeing if I could work it out myself.

If I could then this software was definitely going to live up to it’s claim.

So Did Magix Music Maker 15 Succeed?

It didn’t just succeed. It surpassed itself. Within a few minutes I’d located the sound clips that come with the software and dragged them into the main editing area to create something that sounded half decent (okay it sounded pretty awful, but that’s what you get when you try to mix all the sounds at the same time…)

I was impressed. Magix Music Maker 15 had passed my first test. Now it was only fair to let it show me how it should really be done, so I spent a bit of time watching the tutorial video and looking at the manual.

What I found out blow me away. I discovered I could record vocals and compose my own bits of music using a midi record function -  and I could even do it using my own QWERTY keyboard (though I wouldn’t recommend it I find it quite fiddly - to get the best out of it it would be worth buying a USB music keyboard).

Then I found the Synthesisers.

I’ll be honest. I don’t usually like all the banging and crashing of drum n bass style music (I believe that is the technical term) but I actually got quite into it, and I was totally blown away by the amount of options and the quality of the sound that these synethesisers produced.

How Easy Is It To Actually Put the Music Together?

There are two modes for the editing window - easy and advanced. I tried both, and found them to be really simple to use, and personally I think you could quite happily stay in the easy mode and never feel you missed out.

I found putting sounds together in either mode easy - it was simply a case of dragging the sound clip in the main screen, where I could position to where I wanted in the tune as well as lengthen / shorten it and fade in and out.

And don’t get me started on how easy it is to then apply effects to these sounds to create something special…

What About When You’ve Finished. What Happens To Your Amazing Piece Of Music?

When you’ve finished your masterpiece, you can move onto the mixer area where you can refine the sound to something that sounds like it’s come out of a studio. Once that is done you can upload it to Youtube alongside a video or export as an MP3 to burn onto CD for all your friends…

Sounds pretty cool doesn’t it. And the good news is this isn’t just hype, this is a piece of software that’s going to allow you to produce music that sounds amazing, and all for under £50!

Still not convinced? I’d recommend checking out this video, you’re going to be impressed..

Magix Music Maker 15 is available for £39.99 at Amazon or for £89.99 with a top quality USB Music Keyboard (limited offer) from Magix

Have you ever had a piece of hardware stop working properly because the drivers were out of date? Did it take you hours of scrolling through forum after forum and Google search listing after listing to find out?

With DriverScanner you’ll never have to worry again, because this new program from Uniblue has been designed to make sure your computer is always up to date.

How DriverScanner manages this is simple - it scans your computer from any outdated drivers that need updating. Once it’s made of the list of the ones that do, it will ask you which ones you want to update. After that’s done it will install them onto your computer, and back them up on an external device to ensure that should you need to install their operating system from scratch, you can load all of their drivers, simply, from a single location.

Available to buy now for £19.99 from Uniblu.

The new Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009 Suite is now available to buy, but is it worth having? I’ve been taking a closer look to find the answer.

The first thing that gets me thinking it is, is what this very affordable package (it retails for less than £30.00) offers, which is everything you could need to make sure your hard drives are backed up and your system is easily restorable should anything go wrong…

But How Easily Is Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009 Suite To Use?

Well it started well with the installation being super quick and super efficient, now it’s time to look at the program itself.

The good news is that this is as straightforward as the installation. The menu is divided into four main sections – Backup and Restore, Maintenance, Rescue and Recover and Wiping. Each of these in turn offer more specific options which will allow you to be more specific about what you want to back-up, restore etc…

Clicking on any of these will then lead you through a step by step process in completing the task, which is very reassuring when you think there might be the chance you could end up wiping your computer instead of backing it up!

The Software Works Well But Can it Really Offer Everything?

I’m sure if you look and think hard enough you could probably think of something, but personally for me the ability to:

• Make backups
• Restore your system
• Control and Partition your hard drive
• Partially restore Windows Vista onto different hardware
• Create an advanced recovery CD

seems a pretty complete list to me!

Would I Recommend You Buy It?

Yes. This definitely isn’t going to be the most exciting piece of software you ever buy but is most likely going to be the most essential and important, and at £29.99 it’s incredible value for money…

Currently available for £25.43 at Amazon.

I don’t know about you but I find every time a piece of software promises to be easy it’s the complete opposite. And with that in mind I wasn’t looking forward to testing out Magix’s Rescue Your Vinyl and Tapes.

Promising to help you convert your tapes and vinyl easily, I was ready for hours of fiddling that resulted in nothing.

I was wrong. With this package I was recording within an hour.

So How Does the Magix Rescue Your Vinyl and Tapes Work?

There are two main parts to the package  - a piece of software and a high-quality Phono Pre-Amp complete with wires to connect to your stereo and computer.

The first thing I did was install the software. Once that was done (which was extremely quick), I opened up the Magix Audio Cleaning Lab 15, the program that you use to record the software.

I took a while to explore Magix Audio Cleaning Lab 15 and was impressed. This software is very simply laid out and will allow you to get recording straight away with little to no knowledge. If you want to do more you can, but you don’t have to. A winning formula in my mind.

So how do you go about recording?

The first thing you need to do is connect the Phono Pre-Amp to your tape player / record player via the phono outputs at the back. The wires are coloured coded to match the sockets making it easy to get it right.

Once you’ve done that you it’s just a case of taking the other set of wires from the Phono Pre-Amp to the computer, making sure that you’ve plugged them into the right side of the Pre-Amp (I may have accidentally done that on purpose).

You’re now ready to record, which isn’t hard to work out - it’s the big button that says record on the screen. Press that and you’re away.

My Overall Thoughts

If Magix was sitting right in front of me I’d give them a huge thumbs up. They’ve created something very impressive with this software. It’s been designed to be simple enough to not intimidate the techno-phobe whilst offering a host of possibilities to the more experienced who wants to do something a bit more special…

Available for £39.99 from Amazon / £49.99 from Magix

Are your shelves and cupboards packed full of tapes and LPs that you keep promising yourself you’ll convert so you don’t end up losing them forever?

With Magix’s Rescue Your Vinyl and Tapes Software you can have them converted and stored as MP3s on your laptop in hours.

This software comes complete with everything you need including the Vinyl to MP3 software, MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 15 deluxe and a top quality phono pre-amp for hooking up directly to your PC.

Why have Magix included MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 15 deluxe?

Magix have included MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 15 Deluxe to make sure the tracks you convert are of the highest quality possible. All you need to do is “Record” and the integrated recorder records everything that you can hear via the sound card.

And the best bit is it automatically detects and seperates individual pieces of music so you’ll not going to end up listening to a 2 hour long track when you actually only wanted to listen to one track off the LP!

So how much is it going to cost you to convert all your tapes and vinyl to MP3? £200, £100?

Actually it’s not even half of that. Magix are currently offering this amazing software for only £35.99 at Amazon!

Want to know what it’s actually like to use? Check back in a few days and I’ll have a full review for you!

Before you complete your next masterpiece make sure you check out proDAD GmbH’s free downloadable Adorage and Vitascene starter kits.

These two fully functional products are full of effects, transitions and plug-ins for use with popular NLE applications, such as Adobe, AVID, Corel, Canopus, Magix, and Sony, that will turn a an average film into something that looks like it came out of a movie studio.

What’s the catch? There isn’t one, proDAD GmbH are hoping you’ll be so impressed by these starter kits that you’ll go on to buy their larger packages, but if you don’t want to, they’re not going to force you to!

You can download the Adorage Starter Kit at www.prodad.com/starter/adorage.html or the Vitascene Starter Kit at www.prodad.com/starter/vitascene.html

Do you love everything about your iPod apart from one thing - the limit it puts on the files you can add to it?

If you’re nodding yes then you might want to take a look at i-Studio 3.

I-Studio 3 is going to change how and what you store on your iPod forever.

With i-Studio you can directly rip audio and video files straight from DVDs and CDs straight to your iPod. And that’s not all. It will also record internet radio for you to listen back to.

But just how easy is it to use?

Well I’ve taken a look and I was impressed at just how simple the whole process was.

It really is just a matter of selecting the music track or video you want to make it’s new home on your iPod, clicking a button and then tapping your fingers, or making a quick cuppa whilst you want for it to complete.

But that’s just music and video. Internet radio is surely going to be harder to get from floating around the big wide web onto your iPod.

No. Actually that’s pretty easy too. All you have to do is select the internet radio option in i-Studio 3, then choose the station you want to record and it will sync it to your iPod for you to listen to when you want.

And I’m not the only one to be impressed. If you’re into your underground internet radio stations then Unknownfm.net is a name you’ll recognise. And these guys love it. In fact the top dj at the station, DJ Reality, can’t stop singing it’s praises

“I don’t usually do all this technical stuff, but i-Studio is so easy, hit record or schedule a time and take quality tunes anywhere you go!”

It all sounds pretty impressive, but are you going to end up with files on your iPod that you can’t find because they’re not indexed in the same way?

That’s going to be the one fault of this software isn’t it…

Actually no. iStudio saves the files with any meta data it can get hold of that ensures when you get into iTune, it and your iPod will know exactly what these files are and you’ll know exactly how to find them!

It sounds like an impressive piece of software that does some amazing things, so it’s likely to cost isn’t it. At least three figures… Well no. You can actually get this i-Studio 3 for only £24.99 from PX software or for a mere £21.98 from Amazon.

Should you buy it? If you want to be the open in charge of the content you have on your iPod, then I’d say it was a necessity.

You’ve obviously not tried Reallusion iClone 3.0 Pro.

Like you, I have tried many pieces of 3D animation software and been disheartened by each and every one. In fact I’d come to the conclusion you just couldn’t do 3D animation software on a budget. iClone 3.0 Pro proved me wrong.

This software is quick to install and quick to master (which is greatly helped by the addition of a manual and shortcuts poster within the software box) and full of surprises.

You start off in the editing section. This section is described as allowing users to

set the stage with 3D actors, record or import voices for automatic lip-sync and facial animation, select and edit props, add rich scenery and atmosphere with special FX, select and edit actor motion with IK/FK, and frame their shots with multiple fixed and animated cameras

It sounds impressive. It also sounds like the kind of thing you read on other software and then discover means you can change next to nothing.

With iClone 3.0 Pro, what sounds impressive is impressive. Within minutes you can have changed the look and style of 3D actors into something completely different from what they first were. You’ve also dropped in in scenery that blends with the actors perfectly and recorded your own voices for the characters.

So the Edit mode works, and works well but in order to get stunning 3D animation the Director’s mode has to work just as well.

Does the Director Mode Live Up to Expectations?

The simple answer is yes. This really is a piece of software that delivers. I was expecting to be able to do the minimal in this section, but just like in the Edit mode I had full control. I was the puppeteer controlling the actors and what I wanted was what I got.

Is iClone 3.0 Pro for everyone?

Usually when I come across something that impresses me so much it’s a piece of software that has a very definite niche. iClone 3.0 Pro is different. It’s different because it’s a bit of software that’s accessible to people on some many different levels.

If you’re new to 3D animation and film-making, iClone 3.0 Pro is the software for you. It’s easy to get started with and soon instils confidence in you.

If you’re experienced in 3D animation and film-making iClone 3.0 Pro is still going to have more than enough to satisfy you as you use more advance and indepth features to create truly mind-blowing animation.

Want to order a copy of iClone 3.0 Pro for yourself? Ordering is easy and only a click away at Amazon where it’s available for £100.99.

As you may have guessed I didn’t do any of these (and I’m sure my bank manager and other half thank me for that) and there were two main reasons for that.

The first was I really didn’t know enough about it to get started.

The second was being totally and utterly put off by having to put a business plan together.

If you have ever thought about starting your own business then the term business plan is one you’ll know all too well. It’s the document that stops people laughing and has them nodding and offering to invest you.

A business plan is the one thing that has the potential to change your whole life so it has to be good. Very good.

It was this business plan that always put me off. I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t know what I should write, what I should and how on earth I should write.

If I’d have had Palo Alto’s Business Plan {Pro Version 11 Software it would have been a completely different story.

This business plan software is absolutely amazing and will make the whole process a doddle.

The program starts by asking you if you want to start a new plan, open an existing or check out over 500 samples.

Personally I found the sample section invaluable. This covers a huge range of businesses from pet photography to restaurants and product development companies and really allows you to explore a business plan and steal some ideas of your own.

You can open these and edit them to suit your needs but personally I’d recommend using a fresh new business plan (and yes that’s someone who’s scared of them saying that). The reason why is Business Plan Pro Software makes it so simple and will guide you through each stage even the financial parts.

It is those financial parts that daunted me the most in the past and impressed me the most in this software. Business Plan Pro Software guides you through this stage in meticulous details, explaining to you what sections are and if you need them. It will then help you fill in your tables with your figures and produce graphs and charts automatically.

I won’t lie to you and tell you you’ll have your business plan done in minutes, you won’t but with Palo Alto’s Business Plan Pro helping you you’re going to have a very impressive document that is sure to get you all the funding you need.

A very impressive piece of software that I’d definitely recommend.

Business Plan Pro Premier Version 11 is currently available for £99 (a discount of £30) at Amazon.

This software is easy to install and will allow you to backup and restore your computer in seconds should the worst happen and the best thing is it’s completely and utterly free!

Find out more about Paragon’s Drive Backup 9.0 Express at the Paragon website.