Fission ($32) “is a streamlined audio editor designed to get you editing in minutes, not hours. It works with both mono and stereo MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless and AIFF audio, enabling you to instantly trim and split files with no quality loss!”
The fact that it comes from our favourite developers (Rogue Amoeba) means that you know it will be well designed and developed. It is.
From their web site: “Use Fission to…
…losslessly edit mono and stereo MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless and AIFF files. No re-encoding or switching formats means perfect audio quality for your files!
…Break a long recording up, by using split to create multiple files.
…remove unwanted audio, like commercials, from audio you want to keep.
…fade audio in and out to create a pleasing listening experience.
…create MP3 and AAC ringtones for your cell phone.”
They state that Fission and Audio Hijack Pro go hand in hand, and indeed have a discounted price for Fission of $18 if you already own Hijack Pro.
I am a bit of a ludite when it comes to audio and editing. Tim is always on at me to get my act together and start recording some reviews for him, and when we do our weekly segment for his show he is always fiddling around with some control or other, to such an extent that I am actually starting to feel a little guilty about it. I recently did an interview for a promotional podcast where I was sat twiddling my thumbs on my end of the Skype call while the guy interviewing me “hijacked me”, and I have just reviewed a great book on podcasting which had some great looking “audio gadgets”. All this is building a level of momentum that I am not sure that I can fight against for much longer, especially now that I have “dipped my toe in the water” with Fission.
The funny thing is that I have always loved the idea of editing and “messing about” with audio and video, and a lot of the stuff that I review is all about how to do this type of thing. In many ways I should be an expert by now. It is one of the biggest reasons why I bought a Mac in the first place after all so maybe this will finally push me into it?
Anyway, I loved Fission:
As you would expect from these guys it was well laid out, and intuitive to use with some great features. My current favourite is the ability to create ringtones for your mobile (cell) phone from your existing music library. I also used to start a library of some of the interviews that I have done, although I have yet to work out what I will do with them.
All in all an excellent product that I really enjoyed and highly recommend.