BIAS Peak LE - 6.1.1

I have used Peak LE4.1 since 2004 on various Macs and have been satisfied since I only need basic features. After upgrading to an Intel iMac it started showing signs of it's age. When I learned the current Peak LE no longer uses a registration code key but instead is licensed for an individual machine I felt very uneasy. My past professional experience with supporting mainframes has shown this to be a very unsatisfactory method(for the buyer) as you are entirely dependent on the software company to cooperate with you. When hardware was upgraded, some companies made me jump through all kinds of hoops to prove we no longer used the old equipment. One company was so difficult to work with I had to get our legal department involved(even though we paid them $250,000 annually in software maintenance). In today's business climate any company can disappear over night and with this licensing procedure you would be out of luck with your next mac.

I finally decided not to risk it and switched to Amadeus Pro for only $40. It has a 'normal' registration code key, is quite easy to learn and meets all my needs.

Peak LE 6 is a huge upgrade over previous versions. I use Pro myself, but even the LE edition offers playlist editing, podcast publishing, Voice Over ducking, time compression/expansion, full Red Book CD mastering (even with CD-TEXT), and higher quality sample rate conversion than most apps around. Apparently, it even include WireTap Pro, which is a $30 value itself. There's no better app for under $100 that offers integrated sample editing. I read a complaint here about their support but completely disagree. There are tons of software pirates out there and it's reasonable that a company would want to protect their software to ensure they can afford to support and develop it. I'm sure if you called them and explained your situation, they would happily give you another authorization if you lost one. Anyway, I've had nothing but great experiences with BIAS and they actually pick up the phone when you call. In this day when everyone is cutting services, it's nice to know that there's someone there to help over the phone – though I have to say, I've had very few problems.

...and the ads are annoying and in poor taste

I use Peak LE 5. Look forward to using the upgraded version. Customer Service is very responsive. Really good product for Sound editing. Add "Soap 2" for noise reduction and the duo make a great pair for creating professional sound recordings.

This has to be one of the most annoying piece of software I've ever used. You pay for the software and then find out you have to activate it.

Once you get past that and are up and running you notice the menus are full of grayed out features saying "PRO Only" and links to their other products.

To me it is very tacky to release a product that is, more or less, just an ad for other products, and charge money for it.

It seems like they are taking inspiration from Quicktime player, where it has pro options grayed out, but at least Quicktime is free so you are not paying to see ads.

I checked to see if there was a way to turn this off and even options in the preference pane kept popping up saying I had to pay for the full version.

I really regret sending these guys any money.