What Is Roxio Up To With Popcorn 2?

[hermie54]

I mean, first there was Toast 6 and along came Popcorn. Fine. But then Popcorn got rolled into Toast 7 and we were asked to upgrade. Also fine.

 

So why, instead of releasing the long overdue update to Toast 7 (afterall it's still not "finished", people need 7.0.1 for audio and 7.0.2 for video for instance) they put Popcorn 2 on the shelves and even offer an upgrade price for Toast 7 users.

 

What are those Toast 7 users supposed to do? Spend more money on Popcorn 2 to perhaps find out later that this new version is going to be rolled into Toast (8?) too?

 

Just wondering. As usual no pre-release info about Roxio's warpath, but I suppose an upgrade email will arrive in a few months time.

 

Oh, does anyone know what Popcorn 2 is based on? As far as I know Popcorn 1 was a modified DTOX1 engine, so perhaps the new one has a tuned DTOX2 inside?

 

Rather confusing, Roxio's ways...

[patje57]

Popcorn 2 has far more options than Toast 7 and Popcorn 1. For example, subtitles, audio and video can allow be selected/deselected and custom DVD created.

 

As you know, Toast 7 only allows the main title and audio, but you can't fine tune it.

 

Popcorn 2 also allows users to keep the menus and extras, but disable the audio and languages from the DVD. Again, this was not in Toast 7.

 

Popcorn 2 export to iPod and PSP is also much easier to use and faster than Toast 7. In Popcorn 2 all you need to do is drop in the VIDEO_TS folder and then you can select the title and audio track to export.

 

Toast 7 requires one to use the media browser to extract the title. This takes more hard disk space and the user can not select the language to use. Popcorn 2 allows one to do these things.

 

The transcoding engine also seems to be faster the Toast 7.

 

Well, looks like to get the feature set that should have been in Toast 7, Roxio wants us to come up with more $'s again. They're getting better and better in finding ways to create additional turnover, but keep forgetting to deliver quality products.

[freshburn]

Why should it be in Toast 7? Toast 7 has all the Popcorn 1 features. I guess they could have made Toast 8, and charge $100 for it. I personally like the $30 upgrade and I prefer to use Popcorn for DVD compression anyway. That leaves me Toast for burning data and audio when I need to and I don't have to wait since I have multiple burners.

 

As for Toast 7 and Popcorn 2, both have worked great for me so far.

[fingerman]

>but keep forgetting to deliver quality products

 

Is there something specific that isn't working as you would like or expect?

 

but keep forgetting to deliver quality products.

 

Is there something specific that isn't working as you would like or expect?

[patatrox]

>>I mean, first there was Toast 6 and along came Popcorn. Fine. But then Popcorn got rolled into Toast 7 >>and we were asked to upgrade. Also fine.

>>So why, instead of releasing the long overdue update to Toast 7 (afterall it's still not "finished", people

>>need 7.0.1 for audio and 7.0.2 for video for instance) they put Popcorn 2 on the shelves and even offer

>>an upgrade price for Toast 7 users.

 

And we'll continue to release updates as needed. Releasing updates such as 7.0.1 and 7.0.2 to fix problems caused by changes to OS X and QuickTime was and continues to be right thing to do.

 

In fact we're going to keep going, there will be a universal binary / compatibility update to Toast 7 in the near future and development on Toast 7 continues.

 

Like other companies, we update our product line. Toast 7 was released about 8 months ago... Popcorn 1 around December 2004. The product releases have not been excessive, nor have we abandoned previous releases or tried to force anyone to update.

 

Simply put, we're not updating for the sake of updating. We've released a product that offers new and richer features. We've added some attractive features to this new Popcorn release, not to mention taking full advantage of the Intel based Macs. The upgrade for Toast 7/Popcorn 1 users is an instant 40% off, and not a rebate.

 

I think we've released a great product here, with functionality that both new and existing users have asked for.

[hermie54]

Hi patatrox, glad to see you're still around!

 

Thank you very much for chiming in. Can you please elaborate about the path Roxio plans to follow regarding Toast 7 and Popcorn? Are they going to go through a divorce or do they stay together and will the new version eventually take over the functionality from Popcorn 1 in Toast 7?

 

Meaning is there a valid point for Toast 7 owners without an iPod, PSP or whatever to buy Popcorn 2? Better engine, perhaps? Personally I'd prefer it to be rolled into Toast, leaving me with 1 app instead of 2. But if for that to happen will take years, the outlook changes again of course.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't really know what to think about this release for people who already bought Toast 7 and aren't running an Intel Mac...

[freshburn]

Popcorn 2 has far more options than Toast 7 and Popcorn 1. For example, subtitles, audio and video can allow be selected/deselected and custom DVD created.

 

As you know, Toast 7 only allows the main title and audio, but you can't fine tune it.

 

Popcorn 2 also allows users to keep the menus and extras, but disable the audio and languages from the DVD. Again, this was not in Toast 7.

 

Popcorn 2 export to iPod and PSP is also much easier to use and faster than Toast 7. In Popcorn 2 all you need to do is drop in the VIDEO_TS folder and then you can select the title and audio track to export.

 

Toast 7 requires one to use the media browser to extract the title. This takes more hard disk space and the user can not select the language to use. Popcorn 2 allows one to do these things.

 

The transcoding engine also seems to be faster the Toast 7.