I like Toast because it's stable, and lets you burn almost any conceivable CD format. Ooops, no, wait. That DOESN'T include all the ISO formats, though one is lead to believe it does. This really p____d me off when I was still using OS/2. It's less important now. Its audio functionality is much improved over v3. It can burn true Redbook disc-at-once CDs, and will even write index marks if you create them with another program.

I don't like how it freezes my system while burning. Perhaps it has no choice due to the MacOS...??? It allows SCSI block copies, but only between devices. It won't create an image from SCSI blocks (i.e., you can't use this function if you just have one drive).

It's a stable enough program to not have ruined any CD-Rs yet. Unless you count the aborted MP3 burns (slightly corrupted MP3s that were played fine by other programs, but got cut off when burned by Toast). This has been fixed in the latest update - it informs you if there are any "bad" MP3 files BEFORE burning starts. Another MP3 problem is that it only burns then in track-at-once mode. This is usually ok, but leaves you with an imperfect CD that may cause inter-track clicks in some cases. Another BIG pain: If you open a Toast file for an audio CD, and it can't find one of the source audio files, you lose all the subsequent files in the track list!

One of my biggest beefs is the data (in)abilities. Namely, the inability to refresh a file list. Say you want to create a standard backup set - certain directories for instance. When you come back next week to burn an updated CD, you're out of luck. There's no way to make Toast update the CD contents to reflect the current directory contents! OK, I know it's not a backup program, but it bloody well should have this incredibly basic function!

Finally, one of the bundled programs, Spindoctor (let's you record (e.g.) a whole LP or cassette side, then mark the track gaps, and export the whole mess to Toast), doesn't work, at least not in my system. If you're willing to use the Mac's crummy built-in audio input, maybe it does work, but use another Sound-Manager-supported device for better quality, and the audio gets all broken up. Too bad. This would be a useful program otherwise. BTW, as I recall, the customer support was pretty poor too, though they put out a very good email newsletter...


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