CD & DVD Burning Software

The state of modern Compact Disc (CD) and Digital Versatile Disc burning software is VERY SAD. For such a simple task there is an array of clungy, bloated, and unstable commercial software products, most notably, Roxio and Nero.

• Windows XP, Windows Vista

The integrated CD burning capabilities in Windows XP do not perform every task the third–party applications do, only the most commonly needed ones. There are still certain tasks such as full CD duplication for bootable CDs and creating CDs from images (such as an .ISO file) that will require a third–party tool.

Windows XP supports the creation of audio CDs through the Media Player. But you can initiate it from Windows XP folders too. If you have a folder open with media files such as .WMA, .MP3, or .WAV, select the files to record and then click Record to audio CD in the task bar. Windows Media Player opens with your selected files in the list of audio files to be recorded. You can continue to add files, either from Windows XP folders or through the Windows Media Player interface. When you're ready to record your audio CD, click the Copy Music button in Media Player. It converts the audio files to the required format for audio recording in a temporary location, and then begins the CD recording process.

* audio with Windows Media Player

• Windows XP, Windows Vista
• Freeware

ISO Recorder is a tool (power toy) for Windows XP, 2003 and now Windows Vista, that allows (depending on the Windows version) to burn CD and DVD images. Since the very beginning ISO Recorder has been a free tool (for personal use). It is recommended by MSDN download site. The installer is an msi file. It adds a burn option to the standard windows explorer shell menu.

ISO Recorder can be used in combination with Microsoft Windows XP Built-In Burning Software to provide a more complete set of capabilities from directly from the Windows XP operating system without the need for 3rd party burning software.

• Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista

This bloatware now includes over 18 applications bundled together. Nero tries to be all things to all people, with a bunch of unnecessary utilities that most people already use more advanced specialized applications for. If you just want to burn CD's and DVD's you will find Nero to be way too much. Rather than focusing on core feature refinement and improved stability, the developers have completely lost focus and are all over the place creating applications and utilities.

Nero does not explain that they DO NOT USE the Archive Bit for determining Differential or Incremental Backups, which means every backup job requires a new full backup. The software is not fully debugged, and each update to patch known bugs decreases overall performance. For the simple task of burning CD's and DVD's the application uses far too much memory and system resources.