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We were walking back from lunch the other day with a fellow audiophile who announced that he was selling his audio-component–quality hard-disk–based recorder without ever having used it.

We asked, "What about your plans to convert all of your LPs to uncompressed audio files?"

"We had a baby, which pretty much took care of all that theoretical spare time I was going to spend marking tracks and de-clicking songs," he responded.

If his eBay auction hasn't ended already, MAGIX audio cleaning lab 10 just might automate the process and put his conversion scheme back on track. MAGIX audio cleaning lab 10 offers a variety of functions, including a few that sound too good to be true. "Hardcore analog fans don't have to worry about turning their favorite vinyls into cold digital CDs. MAGIX audio cleaning lab's features such as Tape Simulation avoid that malady with warmer, more powerful analog-like sound. The Chorus Filter even makes thin MP3s sound like they came straight from a stereo," according to the press release. Macl 10 also includes a bonus function (available upon registration) called "Analog Distortion" Tube Amp, which adds distortion to the "clinical pure sound" you unleash it on. (MAGIX does warn consumers that this one requires caution.)

However, other features seem more likely to satisfy audiophiles. There's Spectral Cleaning, which claims to "remove background noise or comments from recordings of Internet radio or classic live concerts without affecting the music," and several restoration applets, such as manual click removal, DeHisser 2.0, and DeNoiser 2.0, which employ "a wizard that immediately locates and fixes disturbing noises."

Additional functions include the ability to record up to seven CDs worth of treated material onto a single DVD and a program that will create new "surround transitions." (No, we're not quite sure what that means either, but it promises to "generate a sound never experienced before.")

We don't mean to be snarky about a product we haven't auditioned yet—well, not too snarky. If the Spectral Cleaning application works as advertised, it does seem to be exactly the tool we (and our friend) have been looking for. The best part about it—and the biggest reason we want to try Macl 10—is that Spectral Cleaning and the noise reduction programs offer graphic portrayals of the signal that the consumer can then manipulate as little (or as much, of course) as necessary.

MAGIX audio cleaning lab 10 will be available on June 16 for $29.99.