Editing Audacity (audio editor) (section)

==Reception==
As free and open-source software, Audacity is very popular in education, encouraging its developers to make the user interface easier for students and teachers.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Technology for Teaching: Audacity. Free and open-source software |journal=Music Educators Journal |volume=98 |issue=2 |year=2011 |pages=39–40 |issn=0027-4321 |doi=10.1177/0027432111428745 |first1=Nick |last1=Jaworski |first2=Matthew D. |last2=Thibeault}}</ref>

Audacity won the SourceForge 2007 and 2009 Community Choice Award for Best Project for Multimedia.<ref>{{cite web |title=SourceForge.net: 2007 Community Choice Awards |url=http://sourceforge.net/community/index.php/landing-pages/cca07/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120140929/http://sourceforge.net/community/index.php/landing-pages/cca07/ |archive-date=January 20, 2008 |access-date=January 19, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=SourceForge.net: 2009 Community Choice Awards |date=March 30, 2009 |url=https://sourceforge.net/blog/cca09/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123104658/http://sourceforge.net/blog/cca09/ |archive-date=January 23, 2012 |access-date=February 4, 2012}}</ref>

Jamie Lendino of ''[[PC Magazine]]'' recently rated it 4/5 stars Excellent and said: "If you're looking to get started in podcasting or recording music, it's tough to go wrong with Audacity. A powerful, free, open-source audio editor that's been available for years, Audacity is still the go-to choice for quick-and-dirty audio work."<ref>{{cite web |title=Audacity – Free, open-source audio editing |last=Lendino |first=Jamie |url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358860,00.asp |date=April 6, 2022 |access-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-date=July 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719162717/https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358860,00.asp |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[CNET]] rated Audacity 5/5 stars, calling it "feature-rich and flexible".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://download.cnet.com/Audacity/3000-2170_4-10058117.html |title=Audacity |date=November 8, 2008 |work=[[CNET]] |access-date=September 1, 2013 |archive-date=August 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817220632/http://download.cnet.com/Audacity/3000-2170_4-10058117.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Preston Gralla of ''[[PC World]]'' said: "If you're interested in creating, editing, and mixing you'll want Audacity."<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/231663/audacity.html |last=Gralla |first=Preston |title=Audacity |journal=[[PC World]] |date=October 22, 2008 |access-date=September 1, 2013 |archive-date=August 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817085520/http://www.pcworld.com/article/231663/audacity.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Jack Wallen of ''[[Tech Republic]]'' praised its features and ease-of-use.<ref>{{cite web |title=Giving Audacity its due: An audio editor with serious functionality |url=https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/linux-and-open-source/giving-audacity-its-due-an-audio-editor-with-serious-functionality/ |last=Wallen |first=Jack |work=[[Tech Republic]] |date=July 18, 2011 |access-date=September 1, 2013 |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224103337/http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/linux-and-open-source/giving-audacity-its-due-an-audio-editor-with-serious-functionality/ |url-status=live}}</ref> 

In ''[[The Art of Unix Programming]]'' (2003), [[open-source software]] advocate [[Eric S. Raymond]] wrote of Audacity: "The central virtue of this program is that it has a superbly transparent and natural user interface, one that erects as few barriers between the user and the sound file as possible."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch06s01.html#audacity |title=Studying Cases |website=www.catb.org |access-date=March 21, 2014 |archive-date=March 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312035327/http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch06s01.html#audacity |url-status=live}}</ref>

Some reviewers and users have criticized Audacity for its inconvenient UX design, unsightly GUI and comparative lack of features compared with Adobe Audition. Matthew McLean wrote: "Audacity looks a bit more dated and basic, but this will be appealing to many folks who're just starting out".<ref>{{cite web |title=Audacity Vs Adobe Audition CC {{!}} Where Should I Record & Edit My Podcast?| last=McLean |first=Matthew |url=https://www.thepodcasthost.com/editing-production/audacity-vs-adobe-audition-cc-where-should-i-record-edit-my-podcast// |date=June 1, 2017 |access-date=February 15, 2018 |archive-date=February 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216110351/https://www.thepodcasthost.com/editing-production/audacity-vs-adobe-audition-cc-where-should-i-record-edit-my-podcast/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=7 reasons I'm switching from Audacity to Audition (and why you shouldn't) |last=Lewis |first=Daniel |url=https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap106-7-reasons-im-switching-from-audacity-to-audition-and-why-you-shouldnt/ |date=December 3, 2012 |access-date=February 15, 2018 |archive-date=February 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216025942/https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap106-7-reasons-im-switching-from-audacity-to-audition-and-why-you-shouldnt/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In May 2021, after the project was acquired by [[Muse Group]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rothman |first=Philip |date=April 30, 2021 |title=Muse Group formed to support MuseScore, Ultimate Guitar; acquires Audacity |url=https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/muse-group-formed-to-support-musescore-ultimate-guitar-acquires-audacity/ |access-date=May 3, 2021 |website=Scoring Notes |language=en-US |archive-date=May 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503004437/https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/muse-group-formed-to-support-musescore-ultimate-guitar-acquires-audacity/ |url-status=live }}</ref> there was a draft proposal to add opt-in [[Telemetry#Software|telemetry]] to the code to record application usage. Some users responded negatively, with accusations of turning Audacity into [[spyware]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner |url=https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/07/04/open-source-audacity-deemed-spyware-over-data-collection-changes |access-date=July 5, 2021 |website=AppleInsider |date=July 4, 2021 |language=en |archive-date=July 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704234215/https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/07/04/open-source-audacity-deemed-spyware-over-data-collection-changes |url-status=live}}</ref> The company reversed course, falling back to error/crash reporting and optional update checking instead.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/audacity/audacity/discussions/889 |title=Actions we propose to take on PR #835 #889 |access-date= May 14, 2021 |author=Tantacrul |work=[[GitHub]] |date=May 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210514192055/https://github.com/audacity/audacity/discussions/889 |archive-date=May 14, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Another controversy in July 2021<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Speed |first=Richard |title=Apologetic Audacity rewrites privacy policy after 'significant lapse in communication' |url=https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/23/audactiy_apology/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=theregister.com |language=en |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715071018/https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/23/audactiy_apology/ |url-status=live }}</ref> resulted from a change to the privacy policy which said that although personal data was stored on servers in the [[European Economic Area]], the program would "occasionally [be] required to share your personal data with our main office in [[Russia]] and our external counsel in the USA".<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 6, 2021 |title=Audio editor Audacity denies spyware accusation |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57721967 |access-date=May 28, 2022 |archive-date=August 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808212715/https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57721967 |url-status=live }}</ref> That July, the Audacity team apologized for the changes to the privacy policy and removed mention of the data storage provision which was added "out of an abundance of caution".<ref name=":1" />