CD Burning Software: Nero or Roxio?

I'd like to get a good burning program... one in which I can select which items I'd like to remove and leave the rest untouched... one which is very user friendly given the fact that I'm not technically savvy... one in which I can move things around and place them in different folders after burning them (or is that even possible?). Thanks.

 

Moving files around on the CD is only possible if you use re-writable CD's.

As for burning software that's mostly user preference. I've been using Roxio for years and find it easy to use, others swear by Nero. There are other programs available as well.

The only thing I can suggest is to go to their web sites and read all about them, down load trial versions or free versions and see which you like best.

 

Fair enough. I suppose it only makes sense to give both a try out and see which I prefer. I was trying to avoid having to later remove the unwanted program from my hard drive and so I was hoping to go to school on the experiences and preferences of others.

I know that a friend of mine has Roxio and before he even starts burning he has to spend at least half an hour formating the cd. Is this standard practice (I'm a newbie to this sort of technology)? Is it the same for Nero?

 

Hi Peter (and thanks for the information although I'm not sure what packet writing means)

So are you saying that if I were to buy Nero and want to burn CD's (rewriteable) that I could simply put them into the CD writer and burn without having to format anything? If so that is wonderful. And the CD's... would any writeable/erasable cd's suffice? As you can see, I'm not very up on these things. I still do things the floppy way (*gulp).

Is the documentation reasonable...or what I mean is, could a newbie like me readily understand the burning process?

 

I have never had a problem with Roxio and XP. Neither before installing SP 2 or after. It is easy to use and has never, in my case, produced a coaster.

 

Hello James,

You might want to read thru this thread http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=33715&highlight=burning Many aspects of burning was touched on in this thread.

Also want to remind you that XP has built cd burning capabilities - It's just not pretty Bring up the Help&Support applet in the start menu and search for "burn ".

I'm thinking of getting a DVD burner and looking at software which is why this caught my attention.

Regards - Charles

 

Both are good. But Roxio Easy DVD & Media Creator 7 is better. (IMHO )
Roxio is a larger suite, and therefore will use up more disk space, but shouldn't be an issue these days. Roxio have had only one free download update (50 odd megs I think?) since the release of the programme. This update takes the version to 7.0.430.0. I guess they are due (overdue?) for another update as this came out in April? Nero 6/6.6 seem to bring out updates every month. Nothing wrong with that I guess. But if you can't help yourself (like me ) it gets annoying to be always downloading 50-60 MB of updates every month. I like to have the latest software, so my problem I guess. But with Roxio you have only one update file, unlike Nero where you are required to download 4 or 4 separate update files every month or so. A real pain!

Over many years of using Ahead and Roxio software I have found that the packet writing software used in Creator 7 (Drag to Disc) is less problematic than Nero InCD. It seems to be more stable on different discs and recorders when formatted on one recorder, and recorded/deleted/used on another and any other combination thereof. InCD is VERY fussy, although version 4.3.xx is reasonably good. The forerunner to Drag to disc, DirectCD 3, 4 and 5 were resonably good, but drag to disc is even more stable. Earlier versons of InCD 2 and 3 were not too good.

The DVD copy utility in Roxio 7 is far better than the equivalent in Nero. You are offered more options for what video clips and what audio options you wish to retain for the copy, including a very easy automatically launched compression option (yes or no) to fit a longer DVD onto one DVDR/RW disc as well as a simple but usefull bar graph indication of the end products video quality as compared to the original disc. Nice stuff!

HTH

 

The only trouble Roxio had with WinXP was with ver. 5 which they don't even sell anymore. They did create a couple of patches for ver 5 to update the burners it would recognize, I downloaded those and installed them and have had no problems at all.

When I installed my DVD burner Roxio recognized it right away and works well with DVD's as well as CD's.

As I said before it's really a matter of personal preference. You'll hear some people swear by Nero and some that swear by Roxio. Look at both sites and see which you think will be easier for you. Then after making your decision if you have questions just come back here and someone will be more than willing to help out.

Paul

Looks like I should invest in ver 7, sounds great...

 

Thanks Paul - I've been going back and forth between Nero and Roxio. So Roxio it is. Now all I've got to do is convince my Family that what I want for Xmass is this really neat software that burns...

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Kevin,
Works for me, and I've tried it on 2 different PC's and a laptop, pre and post XP SP2. Works fine as well on W2K according to a collegue using it for basic editing and transfer at work.

 

...and Xmas is only 1 month away, Charles.

 

You might want to take a look at GoBack (was from Roxio but Symantec owns it now). Does running images of your system and with a simple pick of the time and a reboot, any changes since that time vanish.

I like to play with lots of software and most does not stay but I don't trust the dang uninstall programs so I just note the time I do the install(s) and then when I'm done testing/playing, I GoBack to just before I loaded the stuff.

Works nicely if you happen to pick up a virus too. The GoBack image won't be affected and you can just roll back to a before-infection state.

 

I agree with Newt regarding GoBACK. GoBack is a lifesaver. If you have eough RAM and HDD space, go for GoBack asap. Been using it since first developed by Adaptec, then Roxio and now unfortunately Symantec. Had no problems with GoBack v3.21.106 on my 98SE/XP Pro dual boot machine with 1 gig RAM and dual monitors on Matrox VGA, but like an idiot I upgraded to Symantecs new GoBack v4 about 2 weeks ago.

My problem was that I could not even highlight the downloaded file in Windows Explorer (98SE) to allow me to copy it to another location because I got a BSOD instantly! ( my first BSOD's of 2004) . I contacted Symantec support who took 11 (eleven) days to respond to my query. And all I got in the end was an automated answer that meant nothing - telling me about low resources etc!. I think that anyone using GoBack is at least a little more computer literate than the average user.

I figured it out in the end - used Safe mode with NAV disabled to copy the GoBack download. Installed it on my laptop under XP Pro ( laptop had GoBack 3.21.106 as well) and it works faultlessly.

Why does it seem that Symantec is killing all the "good stuff " out there with atrocious tech support ? I remember PC Tools in the 80's(Central Point),Ghost by Traveling Software (Binary Research), Clean Sweep (Quaterdeck) and recently Powerquest's Drive Image and GoBack(Originaly Adaptec/Roxio). These were all hijacked by Symantec who now have tech support persons who are barely able to tell the time of day, let alone troubleshoot these advanced applications.

Thank goodness for forums like these and the "old timers" who have the experience and are willing to share with us (in less than 11 days and for free!)

Thanks guys for a wonderful forum.

Len

 

Easy DVD & media Creator 7 has a new update available (apparently) taking the version # to 7.1.1.189. I don't know what the fixes/improvements are. Only available from the update link in the software suite, and as yet not available as a separate download. But that will happen anytime.

 

Just my 2 cents worth...

I've tried Roxio & Nero, and I seem to favor Nero...Roxio came with a ton of fixes in a readme file, and it did not jive with my OS (W98se) at all.

 

Hello JM,

Lot's of software doesn't fit well with 9X OS's anymore. For me, it will be on XP.

Regards - Charles

 

Yes, 98 is outdated...People around here have been slow to change over to XP, due to problems with it...But I'm about to make the change over to XP myself here shortly.

 

BOY!! Did you ever express my feelings. Every time I get a good package, Symantec seems to buy the company and I get shafted with support. I used Partition Magic, and loved it until I used GoBack for a while. When I had a problem with BoGack I could no longer re-install it because of the changes that PM made to my boot, could not re-install after removing the partition and have no way to contact Symantec for any reliable help.

I think my next step is to format my boot disk (not the one with all my apps on it), re-install XP and then hope the GoBack goes in. I really miss it. There is absolutely NO WAY I would ever buy anything from Symantec. I just hope there is enough good software available so that I can really avoid that company!!

 

Nero or Roxio? My experiences - still looking

Have been using Roxio version 5 on WinXP and it works fine.
The problem is I have a DVD burner and I want more DVD authoring tools.
I string together mpeg movie clips and photos into a DVD show so I need to be able to burn a DVD.
Decided to upgrade to the Roxio version 7.....big mistake.
After installation my system crashed right to a blue screen, had to get it up in safe mode and started tweaking things to get back some usage. Had many more blue screen moments trying to get the software to work right. There are some things I like about Roxio but the bad greatly outweighs the good. Finally had to uninstall the package and got my money back, (took about two months and several emails to Roxio).
After this I suffered from strange software problems and finally bought a new hard drive and rebuilt all my software. I blame it all on ROXIO.
I reloaded ROXIO 5 and that is what I mostly use now.

Downloaded trial of Nero and Pinnicle but couldn't do some things that Windows Movie Maker and Roxio could do in DVD authoring.

Tried MyDVD from Sonic, it doesn't even run, goes right to an error no one can figure out.

Trying ONES for a little better DVD burning, works pretty good, but still no DVD authoring tools.

Still looking for a good DVD authoring package that will do what I need and not break my wallet, haven't found one yet.

Don't buy any software that you can't try before you buy.