Audacity arrives at the Microsoft Store
For the past two decades, Audacity has been the greatest free audio editor on the market and a pillar of open-source software. Now, an official version is available on the Microsoft Store, which will be effective in combating freeloaders who pose as the program charging for this development that has always been free.
Audacity made headlines last summer not because of its qualities (which are numerous), but because of the privacy problems that arose after it was acquired by Muse Group, a multinational known, for example, for the popular website for guitar fans, Ultimate Guitar.
Despite accusations of becoming "spyware" and breaching the open GPL license under which it is distributed, the application has remained popular, fueling variants that claim to be "official" copies of the legendary audio editor.
It is concerning to see a half-dozen versions on the Microsoft Store that charge money (4.99 dollars) to download and use versions that do not provide any form of code or support that justifies the purchase. Of course, it would be a different story if the development diverged due to the aforementioned privacy concerns. This isn't the case.
According to Martin Keary, product manager for Audacity, the official version "produced by the Muse Group and the Audacity open source community" has now landed in the Microsoft Store: "Because of the outrageous amount of phony Audacity variations accessible on the Microsoft Store, which charge customers for non-functional or very limited programs, I've now (finally) reclaimed the name and released the right-first-time free version."
It is totally free and open-source and comes in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for the Windows operating system. If you operate on a different platform, you can get it for macOS and Linux from its website.
Muse Group acknowledged "unclear phrasing of the Privacy Policy and a lack of context underlying the adoption of the amendments" in order to clarify the main points of concern for users below. But, if you're still concerned about your privacy, you should know that there are alternatives, beginning with DarkAudacity, which is likewise free and open source.
While the Microsoft Store does not have the number of programs that Google Play and the Apple App Store do, it can suffer from counterfeits or imitations, which can dilute the value of the original and severely impact developer income. Audacity is now completely free and does not require any payment.
