Audio Comparer 1.7

The past decades have witnessed the emergence of new technologies that enable storing large amounts of digital data. This capacity, together with the development of highly-efficient compression algorithms, has given us storage possibilities that could only be dreamt of by an average user just a few years ago. A modern computer is now capable of keeping enormous quantities of media information, almost as much as a radio station could store in the past.

Managing so many audio files can become a real challenge if you are one of those people who like to keep their computer “clean” and use disk space efficiently. The task becomes harder if we take into account that the same song may come under different names, tags, file sizes or bitrates.

Instead of just checking file properties, Audio Comparer actually “listens” to audio files and compares them to give you a list of duplicates. Its interface is quite easy, but the developers have made it even easier with a wizard. You can tell the program where to look for duplicates and select one from two comparison modes: searching for exact duplicates and similar audio files. When tested with a large music collection of 18447 files, the software managed to accurately identified 174 duplicates.

The results page shows the items and lets you play them, which is quite useful if you do not trust the software enough and want to check the duplicates before erasing them. It will also help you decide on the version you want to keep. The search process is not fast but that is quite understandable since this software is not just checking file info but listening to the music, as well.