Customer Reviews
Slow but functional 
2008-07-17
As others have noted, this is an add-on with a fairly limited purpose -- it converts video from one format to another. I've found that most of my computers have multiple players on them (Real Player, Quicktime, Windows Media Player, etc.) so I'm not entirely sure that I will need to convert very often, but every now and then there's something that might be worthwhile. I tried converting AVI and MPEG files back and forth, and things proceeded uneventfully but slowly, on both my Mac OSX and my Windows XP. I think for those with a superfast processor and lots of RAM, this might be okay, but otherwise, plan to use it while leaving the computer alone for a while.
Roxio Crunch 2008-06-19
I got this product as part of the Amazon Vine/Early Reviewer program. As a recent convert to Mac and Iphone, I wasn't initially sure how much use I would have for the Roxio Crunch program. Since you can't convert DVDs that have copy write protection, the only use I can find for it is to convert my home movies into a viewable format for my Iphone. And the only person I know who wants to watch that stuff on an Iphone is my 5-year-old son. The only benefit I can see from this product it that I don't have to tote a portable DVD player on the plane for my son anymore - for now he's happy watching "crunched" reruns of his birthday party on the Iphone.
The Roxio Crunch program downloaded easily enough onto my Mac, however it is very, very slow (as noted by other reviewers). Overall, I am really glad I didn't pay for this product, as it is very limited in what it can do, and what it does isn't that great.
Helpful and useful tool, but nothing extraordinaire 
2008-04-17
This is software following the tradition of Nero.
Just remember it won't let you do anything with video footage from commercial DVDs.
If you feel the need for organization. 2008-02-21
This product does exactly what it says and in a smoother than average manner. If you are already using Roxio products to burn and archive, then I'd definately use this. However, there are many free programs/shareware that do the same things this does. Albeit, in a less organized fasion and with a steeper learing curve.
No Go 
2008-02-15
Normally I don't review this way, but because so many people are venturing into the wonderful world of the Ipod I thought I give the heads-up. I can't get this program to run on my Mac. Yes, I have the right system requirements, and I promise I'm not a total moron who forgot to turn the computer on or something. Also, being a woman, I did read the instructions. No dice. I tried it on another one of my Macs, nothing. So either some copies of the program are flawed, or it is me, in which case beginners beware because I am not a beginner and the only way I'm getting a crunch out of this program is if I eat it.
Wish I'd read your reviews before buying . . . 2008-02-10
Roxio Crunch helps you easily convert your DVDs, movies, and TV shows for use with Apple TV, iPod, and iPhone. Powerful award-winning compression and conversion technologies work together to bring content from almost any source in to the living room or the palm of your hand.
Roxio Crunch is a one-stop shop for all of your video conversion needs. Batch export will make your life even simpler: converted video will be automatically added to iTunes for syncing. Don't just convert it, Crunch it! Roxio Crunch includes both Mac and PC versions. Preview DVD-Video titles prior to export Custom MPEG-4 and H.264 quality settings Capture screen shots of DVD video during preview Supports the widest range of video file formats available including QuickTime files and popular non-QuickTime video file formats such as DivX and MPEG-2 files Mix and match content with both 16 - 9 widescreen and 4 - 3 fullscreen aspect ratios Convert video to high quality MPEG-4 or H.264 formats and save hard disk space Device optimized video quality presets for iPod Device optimized video quality presets for Apple TV Device optimized video quality presets for iPhone Compatible with QuickTime 7.1.5 or higher and iTunes 7.1.1 or higher
Crunch by Roxio 2008-02-10
Roxio Crunch Win/Mac works, as far as converting video to an iPod formate--however, it can NOT rip DVDs that have copy protection, which most movie DVDs have. You will not be able to transfer your movies from DVD to your iPod.
I was very disappointed that Roxio did not make this clear in their product description.
Crunchy product: Roxio may I have a refund? 2008-01-21
Bought off of Roxio site cause I needed the download version. For Windows. Product is gawdawful. Tried doing batch conversion to Apple TV formats (standard, high and highest), and 90% of files would not open. Due to 'Error -2014: this movie has invalid duration" or something like that. Thought at first this was a quicktime problem, but i dont think it was. I bought QT Pro and it can properly convert AVIs to Apple TV (only think is it doesn't do batch jobs -- which is why i forked out for this Crunchy product). Two thumbs down!
Terrible Product 
2008-01-03
I was disappointed with Roxio Crunch compressor/recompressor for iPod, iPhone, and AppleTV. It wasn't what I expected. It does several things that annoy me.
(1) It doesn't compress dvds for personal use. This is a legal problem, not Roxio's. I use Handbrake.
(2) It doesn't compress homemade movies with music bought from iTunes. The error message says use an Apple product. This is really frustrating.
(3) While it has some simple options for recompressing such as "automatic", "high", and "fastest" quality, I don't like the outcome. I found the "high" and "automatic" quality to be quite poor. The "fastest" quality is better, surprisingly. Not just a little better but a lot. Why is "fastest" better than "high" quality? I dunno. It does not seem intuitive.
(4) I use "custom" quality. For custom quality, the options become quite complicated. Fortunately, I have a background in compression, so I am able to understand most of the options. I would recommend that you have a decent background, too, if you want to buy/use this product.
(5) Roxio Crunch is a derivative product of Roxio Popcorn. I know this because when I get errors, the error messages are written for Popcorn and mention Popcorn by name, not Crunch. So it's confused.
(6) I was going to recommend Popcorn, but I noticed that it is getting panned, too.
The product does have some merit. I have recompressed video avi files from my Canon camera into iPod videos. I liked that.
I have a iMac running Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5. If you are not using the same system, your experience could be different.
I wish I hadn't bought this product. I would recommend Handbrake (which is a free download that generally works better). If you are still interested in Roxio Crunch, I would buy it on Amazon as it does seem to be selling for a good price (currently, $33 and change). I bought the product at an Apple store for $50 the other week.
Good luck.
Product does what it should just fine 2007-12-13
Roxio's 'Crunch' video conversion software does exactly what the product box claims it can do - "helps you easily convert your DVD's, movies, and TV shows for use with Apple TV, iPod, and iPhone." What is somewhat misleading though is that if you carefully examine the fine print on the box you will learn that Crunch does not convert copy protected or encrypted DVDs. This is totally to be expected and personally I have no problem with such a restriction, but based on several user reviews posted here it seems that many were mislead on this point and it should be noted more clearly that this product is not an 'out of the box' solution to converting commercial DVDs for view on your iPod devices.
That being said, if you are in need of a software solution to convert a myriad of video formats (e.g. - AVI, DV, QuickTime, Mpeg 1-4, DivX, Xvid, etc.) for use and view on your iPod/iPhone/AppleTV devices, Roxio's Crunch is an elegant and streamlined solution to do just that. Installation is a cinch and the program's interface is simple and intuitive for anyone with a better-then-average grasp of Windows or Mac UI's.
My main gripe though is that the outputting process is a bit slower then I would've liked. Granted, my computer isn't exactly a speed-demon but she's no slouch either. If the output rate could be improved in future updates I'd definitely bump my rating up to 4 stars.
