I have just gotten Soundbooth CS4 as part of the Web Premium Suite. As a voice artist, I'm forever looking for the perfect sound editor for my particular needs. Having gone through many, I've found Sound Studio 3 to be the best for ease of editing. The problem with comparing apps like this is that different editors use it for different purposes (as the Macworld reviewer wisely notes when considering the target market for Soundbooth. Still, working with Soundbooth for a few days, I find that simple commands I use a lot are nested way down a few clicks and presses further than I'd like to go. This is not being picky, as there are certain things you may use continually. Two examples: increasing/decrease the "volume" of a wave or section of waves requires access through a small floating window. The problem is the window is fixed center in the screen and although it can be moved, each time you use it it returns way up towards the top of the screen again.

One nice feature that's similar in Garage Band (the slowest, clunkiest editor -- e.g. trim trim cut slide for every edit, ug!) is a thread like

The other Soundbooth problem for me is the nested Silence command. Also, creating a specific length of the silence, or a selected are for silencing is clunky.

I'll be back later once I use this a little more.