I Have a Burning Passion For Nero
Written: Nov 26 '00 (Updated May 05 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use for anyone, Wizards, makes many kinds of CD's, not a resource hog.
Cons: When I find one I'll put it here and in the review
The Bottom Line: I think this is geometrically better than Adaptec's EZ CD creator just because it isn't such a resource hog, among other things.
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| JMB623's Full Review: Nero Burning ROM |
So you finally got a CD-R or CD-RW, and like most of us you found the software bundle a big disappointment. What you got is most likely an old version of Adaptec's Easy CD Creator. You immediately went to Adaptec's site and found it was two versions behind, and that you'd have to pay for the latest one. You also found that when you were burning a CD it was hogging so much of your system's resources that you couldn't do anything else. Not exactly La Dolce Vita, but common.
What's a mother to do? You want something that's not only easy to use, but that also leaves a few system resources available to do something else while the CD is burning. There are a lot of choices, but you don't know which program will meet your needs. Well try Nero Burning ROM on for size. Wizards, it has Wizards, lots and lots of Wizards. If you are somewhat skilled and experienced you can do it without the wizards.
I am describing what happened to me when I bought my Plextor 4X8X32 CD-RW a few months ago (check out my review of this excellent machine). Eeks, another Epinions advisor, advised me to try out Nero. I downloaded it from the developer's web site, www.ahead.com. The installation is done with a simple double-click on the file and by following the screens. Be sure you have no Windows programs running during the installation.
It s explorer-like graphical user interface (GUI) allows you to drag and drop the files you want to put on the CD from the right pane (file browser and source display) to the left pane (destination). There is a ruler scale showing the total space on the CD, and as you use it up how much is left. You can opt to burn the whole CD in one session or to do it in multiple sessions. There are a number of advanced settings that you can ignore if you use the wizards. When it starts burning the screen shows your data buffer so you can be sure you're not going to have an overrun (using up the data buffer before the CD is finished). You shouldn't have this problem using the wizards if you choose a write speed suitable to your source's speed.
The significance of the write speed is that you can't write at say 8X if your source is a Zip disk. Zip drives are not fast enough to prevent an overrun at that speed. In general, on most systems it will be safer to write at 2X from a Zip disk. The better way to do it is to copy the contents of your Zip disk, or other slow source, to a temporary folder on your hard drive and use that as the source. You can write at whatever is the maximum speed of your CD-RW from your hard drive. When you're done simply delete the contents of the temporary folder and save the folder for the next burn session.
Nero provides all the information you need to make CD's. It asks what kind of CD you are making, including ISO, UDF, ISO/UDF, hybrid, boot, video, super video, copying, and mixed mode. There is a data field to create a description of the contents and enter the date it was recorded. There is nothing complex about following the screen dialog boxes since they're logical. The tool and status bars are clearly laid out, and the status bar has nearly everything on the menu bar drop downs with icons and tool tips. There is some learning curve for newbies, but at prices as low as $.20 each in bulk for CD-R disks (stacks of 100), you can afford to make a few teensy Frisbees. I recommend practicing on CD-R's since they're cheaper than rewritable disks.
In addition to being generally easy to use, you'll notice that your computer can do something else while the CD burns. I think you'll like that, though with current speeds it doesn't take much time to finish a CD. For any CD creator software you're going to have to be sure you have some memory. You can do OK with 32 Mb, but with less than that you'll have trouble with any CD software, and most likely will have no resources left.
Ahead Software updates Nero every few months, and until there is a version change rather than an update (4/30/01:version 5.5.18 is the most current) they are free. You can keep if for 30 days as fully functional, and if you like it you get to pay $50 for the key. The latest version 5.0 of EZ CD Creator is more expensive than that (about $100), as are the best of the CD burning software programs. You've got nothing to lose giving it a 30-day free test run. Nero is among the best of the best for non-professional users at any skill level. There are better more expensive programs for propellerheads and chipheads, but any of them would be the Photoshops of their genre. Some are specific to making only MP3 CD's.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
JMB623
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Member: Joel
Reviews written: 98
Trusted by: 213 members
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