Nero Move It - PC review

Full Review

At one time, everything we owned, whether it was a photograph, a song or even video clip, was a physical item. In this age of digital this is no longer the case, as downloads and digital cameras have become the norm.

Collecting, storing and sharing all this multimedia is a task in itself, so Nero has brought together a collection of tools that allow you to organise, edit and convert your files to fit whatever projects you're working on. So, whether you simply want to copy files to your MP3 player, or upload them online to social network sites, such as MySpace and YouTube, this program handles them without you needing to worry about conversion settings.

At its heart is a simple interface that lists all the drives and devices attached to your PC down the left-hand side of the page. Each one has its own icon, and you can even load up your favourite websites, such as MySpace. The first time you run the program it needs to identify and catalogue what's actually on each drive, which can take a little time. However, once this has been carried out it's a fairly easy program to use.

It allows you to rename, copy and categorise your media and when it comes to copying files to external devices it makes them the right size and format to run without problems. As you would expect, it supports all the current crop of devices, including iPods and PSPs.

On the right-hand side of the screen is a similar row of icons. When you select a file from the left-hand collection and a directory on the right, the program simply converts and copies it over. In its most simple form this is the pleasure of Move It as it takes all the guess work out of converting media for different formats.

It's not just about cataloguing your media files, as you'll also be able to play and view them, which makes it far more versatile than it may first seem.

One of the neat tricks is that you can take media from one portable device and have it converted to another one without it needing to be copied to your PCs hard drive in the first place. What's more, even if your MP3 player isn't connected to your PC, you can queue content for it that will be automatically sent the next time you synchronise it. Those who like to tag photos and video clips will get the most from the software, as simple but effective meta data can be added.

The program itself is a fairly small install and even when files are being copied or converted you can carry on using the program without it visibly slowing down. That said, we did find it was rather labour intensive, especially when logging what was on our various devices.

Verdict

Nero Move It isn't an essential tool by any means and it's not without its problems. However, once you've set the software up it's simple and easy to use. If you're keen to keep track of your media, this is a great commercial option.

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