Ellora Assets Corporation, best known for its freeware video downloading and converting tools under the Freemake banner, has released a companion audio conversion product. Freemake Audio Converter 1.0.0 is designed to both convert audio files between different formats, plus extract the audio soundtrack from over 200 different video formats, too.
Freemake Audio Converter supports a wide range of audio formats, including industry standards MP3, WMA, AAC, M4A and OGG, and is also capable of combining two or more audio files into a single file.
The program sports a similar user interface to companion products Freemake Video Downloader and Freemake Video Converter, allowing users to select audio or video files either by clicking the Audio button or by dragging and dropping the selected files from an Explorer window into the program’s own window where they can be renamed prior to conversion if required.
Once selected, the user can choose whether or not to join the selected files together by flicking the appropriate switch, then select the output file by clicking the various buttons offered at the bottom of the screen.
Things can get a little confusing here if the user wishes to convert audio files for playback on a portable device such as iPod, PSP or MP3 player, as it’s not made clear which format is best for which device. Freemake supplies this information via the program’s product page, which reveals M4A format is a good choice for Apple iOS devices, for example.
Once the output format is selected, the user can choose an appropriate quality level from the drop-down menu, or create a custom quality setting of their own. Freemake Audio Converter displays how much space the selected files will take up on the drive according to the currently selected quality level. Once done, click Convert and the files will be converted and copied to the specified folder.
Freemake Audio Converter 1.0.0 is available as a freeware download for PCs running Windows XP or later, and requires the .NET Framework 4.0 client is installed (this is included with the download package). Future plans for the software include the ability to both rip and burn CDs.