Audacity 3.5 adds cloud project saving for collaboration, backup and file versioning
Muse Group has released a major new version of its free, open-source audio editor for Windows, macOS and Linux. Audacity 3.5 adds cloud project saving support, plus adds automatic tempo detection, pitch shifting and more.
The headline new feature in Audacity 3.5 is a new cloud-saving feature, which works in tandem with Muse Group’s free audio hosting platform at audio.com. Users simply select 'File > Save to Cloud…' to save the current project. On first use, they will be prompted to link Audacity to a free audio.com account -- which can be created during the linking process.
Audacity 3.2 is a major update to the free audio tool that adds realtime effects for non-destructive editing and more
Audio editing tools -- much like photo editors -- can be both incredibly expensive, and tremendously complex. Audacity has long served as an alternative to such apps, and with the release of Audacity 3.2 it just became even more powerful.
The developers are not hiding their light under a bushel, describing this update as a "gigantic release". This latest build sees the addition of support for realtime effects that allow for non-destructive editing of audio files. But there is more, including improved VST3 support and the option to upload and share content to audio.com.
Best Windows apps this week
Four-hundred-eighty-eight in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.
Adoption of Windows 11 appears to have slowed down in the past two months according to recent usage statistics by third-parties.
Audacity says it is 'deeply sorry' for privacy policy fiasco, publishes lengthy update and explanation
The development team behind Audacity learned the hard way that people do not take kindly to the introduction of telemetry, particularly when communication is poor.
Over the last few months, there has been a very public debacle involving Audacity's proposed changes to its privacy policy. It resulted in the software being branded "possible spyware" and led to explanations, apologies and backtracking. Now the team behind the open source audio editor has published its updated privacy policy along with a lengthy explanation about various elements of it and an apology for the "significant lapse in communication".
Audacity responds to concerns about its controversial privacy policy
Following yet another vocal backlash against a new privacy policy, the makers of open-source audio editor Audacity have responded to concerns, blaming "unclear phrasing" in its policy update.
While a previously proposed policy change was not implemented because of the negative response from users, it does not seem that this latest change will be halted. Instead, the developers say that it will be rectifying what it regards as poor wording, and goes to some lengths to explain the reasons for the changes in an attempt to justify them. While the type of data collected is nothing particularly out of the ordinary, the arrival of telemetry is not something that is welcomed by fans of open source software.
Audacity branded 'possible spyware' after controversial privacy policy update
Popular open source audio editor Audacity has become rather more familiar with controversy recently than it is probably comfortable with. Concerns built up following the software's acquisition by Muse Group and subsequent changes to telemetry and privacy settings. With the latest changes to its privacy policy page, the controversy continues.
Having already faced a fierce backlash and backing down a little in its plans, Audacity now finds itself hit with the label of "possible spyware" by an independent publisher covering open source software. FOSS Post even advises users to uninstall Audacity as soon as possible.
Audacity bows to public pressure and says it will NOT collect telemetry data from users
Perceived invasions of privacy never go down well, as many software developers have discovered. Microsoft has received quite a backlash in response to telemetry in Windows 10, and the recent announcement that the audio editor Audacity was planning to do the same prompted a fierce reaction from users.
Audacity's new owner, Muse Group, has bowed to pressure from users and privacy advocates, announcing that the planned telemetry collection will no longer be going ahead. The company is blaming "communication mistakes" and public "misunderstanding" for the negative response to its previous data collection announcement.
Audio editor Audacity has the audacity to add telemetry collection -- and users are not happy
Whatever the reasons behind it, the inclusion of telemetry collection in software never goes down well -- as Microsoft knows all too well from the reaction to Windows 10 telemetry. Now, open-source audio editor Audacity has taken the decision to add such data capture into the software.
The development team stresses that telemetry exists solely to "identify product issues early", but there has already been quite a backlash. The sharing of data with Google and Yandex has not gone well.
Audacity 3.0.0 is here with support for a brand-new project format
While Audacity has been in receipt of pretty regular updates, it is quite a while since there were any major changes to the free audio editing software. All of this changes with the release of Audacity 3.0.0, however.
To kick things off, there are bug fixes -- lots of bug fixes. In fact, there are more than 160 that have been addressed, ranging from minor problems to "really juicy high priority bugs". But Audacity 3.0.0 is about much more than just fixing bugs. There are improvements across the software as well as a completely new project format.
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