When I logged onto Twitter today I saw the alarming news that “Audacity is now a Possible Spyware, Remove it ASAP“. The TLDR: Audacity’s new corporate owners updated their TOS a few days ago to allow them to collect/harvest user data (the article above has good detail about the issue…give it a read). Needless to say, a good many folks in the Open Source community are less than pleased. So, I’m here to try and pull together a definitive list of alternatives. Also, I have a long-standing interest in finding alternative programs to expensive and proprietary ones (ie: Adobe). Here’s my list of these to date.
In this list below, the only one I’ve personally used is Adobe Audition, so the rest are a collection of options that I don’t know anything about. Please use them with caution and a dose of due diligence.
Paid Alternatives (in no particular order):
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- Adobe Audition: this is first on my list since it’s the only one I’ve used before. Every other one on this list has been recommended by other folks. As it’s an Adobe product, it’s not free. But if you’re already subscribed to Creative Cloud, it’s built to the package.
- Goldwave: Looks like it’s $19
- Reaper: $60 for a discounted license
- Hindenburg: 30-day trial, not sure the final price
Free Versions
- Ardour: versions for Linux, Windows, and MacOS
- Ocenaudio
- WavePad
- AV Audio Editor
- Wavosaur
- DarkAudacity
- Cakewalk
Do you have any experience with these? Are there any ones you recommend that I’ve missed? Any of them you’d recommend over the others? Please leave a comment below.
