When Avid announced that it would be making a consumer oriented version of Pro Tools available for under $100, I was excited. Pro Tools, if you're not familiar with it, is an industry standard audio production suite used by musicians, music studios, radio journalists, and pretty much anybody else in need of a robust solution for editing audio.

The pro audio software is available for Mac or Windows, and has always required users to purchase a computer audio interface from DigiDesign (a subsidiary of Avid). The new versions are available under the company's consumer brand, Pinnacle. You still need to purchase some hardware, and it needs to be plugged in or the software won't run. But for $100 you can get either a USB mic or a guitar input or for $130 you can pick up a 49-key keyboard. The hardware alone is almost worth the price, which makes the Pro Tools software almost a value-added feature.

But it turns out that value is a relative term. I've been testing Pro Tools Vocal Studio (with an M-Audio USB mic) for the last few days. I'm using it with a Windows XP laptop with a dual core processor, and I've found that the software is resource hog, audio playback is choppy, and you have to deal with a limited feature set.

One thing to note is that Pro Tools has long been reported to run better on Macs than PCs. Unfortunately my primary computer is a PC, so that's what I used to test this software. Your results may vary.

For $60, you could pick up a personal copy of Reaper, an audio editor which offers better stability and more features. But you wouldn't get the USB mic, keyboard, or guitar input or the experience of using the industry standard Pro Tools software. If those things don't matter to you, then you might want to skip the rest of this post and go check out Reaper. If you're still curious, I'll meet you after the page break.

VideoSpin is the free video editor that I kind of wish Windows Movie Maker was. It's easy to use, and it doesn't lock up on me the way Windows Movie Maker likes to after I've made a few splices. I first checked out VideoSpin back in early 2008, but today Pinnacle has released an updated version that adds a handful of new features and support for a bunch of new video formats.

VideoSpin 2.0 includes support for YouTube's new higher quality video player. You can upload your finished videos directly to YouTube in widescreen and higher quality formats. You can also import and export .MOV video files, which comes in handy if you have a digital camera that records in Quicktime format.

The basic video editor is available as a free download, but you can also pay for advanced codec support which will allow you to exprt videos in 3GP or Real Media formats. The SpinPack codec pack also adds the ability to save DivX videos or configure your videos for the iPod or PSP. Of course, you can also just save your videos as MPG or AVI files and then use a free video converter like Virtualdub to save convert your files to DivX or XviD. But VideoSpin is aimed at less tech savvy users looking for an all-in-one solution.

Windows Movie Maker is probably the most widely used free video editor for Windows. And there's a good reason for that. It comes free with Windows XP and Vista. But Windows Movie Maker might not always be the best tool for the job. VideoSpin is a free video editing application that has all the features of Windows Movie Maker and a few more for good measure.

Overall, the two applications have a similar look and feel. Both are designed for use by people who don't have a degree in video editing. You simply locate your video and audio files, arrange them on a timeline, and start snipping or rearranging. You can add a variety of transitions or sound effects to your movie. And unlike Windows Movie Maker, VideoSpin sports a pretty decent title editor. There's also an option to upload your finished videos directly to YouTube or Yahoo! Video.