Pros
Free and very versatile.
Cons
Could be more intuitive.
Summary
Up 'till now I've been using file renamer basic (free) and it's done the job well.
This programs give you better control but the learning curve is grater.
Something I rally like is if you have a large batch of files with aspects of the current file name you want to remove but keep the rest, it's easy enough to do. Eg. "canon-camera-iso-800-from-acme-web-site.jpg" Removing the "acme-web-site" part of the name is easy to do.
Pros
None that I can think of.
Cons
Was not able to figure out how to accomplish my file renaming task.
Summary
I gave up and tried the "Bulk Rename Utility". Although the interface looks intimidating at first, it is very powerful and I was able to accomplish my renaming task VERY easily. I'm settling on the "Bulk Rename Utility".
Pros
This works great - I renamed 89 photos easily and quickly from IMG_1234.jpg (sequential numbers from the camera) to 1234chicago.jpg (keeping the camera numbers).
It does much more, but this is what I needed.
Cons
There's a learning curve, but it's not difficult.
Installation comes up with errors and a message that says to manually install, which is very easy - make a folder and copy the exe file to it.
Summary
A simple, powerful utility, easy to use.
Pros
You can change any aspect of the filename, or parts of it.
Cons
It is really complicated to use, and it doesn't install under Windows 7. You have to basically create a folder for it and unzip into that. The executable will be in the folder.
Summary
There are simpler filing renaming utilities out there, but if you have huge libraries to manage and very specific naming conventions you want to use, then this would be the program for you.
Pros
Easy, fast and feature packed for renaming. virtually everything covered except auto-tagging mp3's from meta-data.
Displays a preview of the new file names and highlights ones that will be impacted by your action.
Cons
Can't think of anything here right now.
Summary
I am very particular how my music files are named and tagged. I use this extensively to put those dashes in my file names and ad album and artist information at the head of and in between file names.
Pros
This handles every wildcard you can imagine - remove numbers from names, add numbers, remove characters. Too many options to list here.
Cons
It takes a minute to find the correct option.
Summary
I develop Flash and HTML web site and use this program every time I need to load several files (usually for testing something) - If I write an XML parser I want to make sure it works on several XML files. I rename them 01.xml - 10.xml and run them all. This program makes this step VERY easy.
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