The ultimate aim for a good format conversion program, surely, is to take any hint of hassle out of transforming a file. It's the kind of application that many are crying out for, not least with the plethora of media players (both portable and PC-based) that come armed with proprietary formats, and media files that don't always flit between them well.

Format Converter 360 is quite an expensive tool by comparison with something like Nero's Move It, with a selling price of £49.99 at the time of writing. But it is a powerful one. When you load it up, it guides you with simple, clear presentation, kicking off by asking you whether you want to convert video or audio, and then your target format of choice. It defaulted to audio conversion, so we chose MP3 (although it's good to see OGG supported).

Next, we had to tell it the source of our files, which allowed us to isolate an individual file or point the program in the direction of a folder. Here we could also rip an audio track from a DVD, and once we'd chosen, we then were questioned as to the quality of the output we required. Here you can control bit rate and sample rate, and the next screen allows you to select where you want to save the file. And then it's off to the conversion. A nice touch is that you can tick a box which will allow you to leave the machine to its work, with your PC shutting down once everything is done.

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Moving over to the video side, this time you start by choosing your video player's details. So you tell the program whether it's an Xbox 360, iPod, Archos, Nintendo or even GP2X you want to target. There's a broad list of supported devices and we chose in the end to make a DivX file. Here, again, you can select a file or directory, or pick a DVD you want to rip.

We selected a DVD, and the program pulled up all the material on the disc for us to choose from. Again, you're given control over the output, with pulldowns for resolution, video bit rate, frame rate and audio bit rate. Then, once you select your output folder, you hit the Start Conversion button.

Interestingly, our test version of the program didn't respect copy protection. We set the program to take a 44 minute episode off a DVD, choosing which audio and subtitle track to take, and it was a very lengthy process. Granted, the end file was good quality, but it took its time getting there. But there wasn't a blip of a copyright warning, which is rare, and may change in time.

Thanks to plenty of power underneath the bonnet and a friendly menu system, Format Converter 360 proves itself to be a useful utility, and one that goes about its work with little fuss and enough clarity. Do note that it's quite a pricey application, even though you may find it invaluable.

A tool that does its specific job reliably and without causing you trouble as it does so. It's not cheap, but messing around with freeware alternatives may cost more in terms of your time.