Software Advice

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Acolyte

Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
97
Dear All,

I find myself in need of some new software to burn CD's. I have been using Ahead Nero to copy my audio CD's for car copies, while driving, but I hate this software. Today it pooped itself (again) and destroyed another CD. So I really want something different. Ahead Nero is extremely sensitive and has trashed a number of CD's. Something downloadable for free would be nice. Any ideas?

Cheers, Acolyte.
 
Nero is considered the cream of the Crop. Free versions of Nero aren't as good as the real purchased software.For free, Deep Burner isn't bad.

www.deepburner.com

I personally think you are more likely to have a bad hard disk or memory than a bad Nero.

Phil
 
I'm with phatch on this one. Nero is easily the best of the burning utilities I've used. You may have a hardware problem.

--Bob Q
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. I don't think I have a hardware problem. It may be that Nero is just a bit unstable. I have successfully burned a few off, but I couldn't have any other software open at the time, which is a real pain in the proverbial. I'll give it another try that way.

Cheers, Acolyte.

PS Of course if I partition my hard drive I can run Nortons disk doctor on the non-Windows part and see! Aren't computers lovely!
 
I don't have any problem using the came-with-the computer Windows Media Player for such tasks. There are a few upgrades and add-ons you can get from MS to make things handier.
My rig also came with the free Roxio CD burner, but it's really crappy.
 
What kind of media are you using? I've had an unusually large number of defective TDK CDRs. Since switching to Maxell, it's all good. I've owned EAst CD Creator Platinum, Deep Burn and Nero, and I like Nero the best. Perhaps you have some bad blanks?

John
 
I agree with everyone else here that Nero is most likely not the problem, I've always had good luck with it. A couple of good free programs, for just burning audio CD's Feurio is hard to beat, probally the best burning program for audio, for anything else try Burrrn. You could also try searching the forums on hydrogenaudio.com for some other advice.

hope this helps.

Jamie
 
Besides, it would be really odd if you had a modern recorder (modern as in not 5+ years old, so that it supports BurnProof or whatever the manufacturer of your CD recorder calls the technology that prevents CDs from being ruined even when/if buffer underruns) and it was software ruining your CDs. It's far more likely you either have old (and possibly unreliable gear, recorder and onwards), unstable OS (i haven't seen Nero crash *once* in my life) or low quality CD media.

If i were you i'd try to resolve those problems because a free burner is just as likely to destroy your CD media.
 
Acolyte said:
Thanks for the replies, guys. I don't think I have a hardware problem. It may be that Nero is just a bit unstable. I have successfully burned a few off, but I couldn't have any other software open at the time, which is a real pain in the proverbial. I'll give it another try that way.

Cheers, Acolyte.

PS Of course if I partition my hard drive I can run Nortons disk doctor on the non-Windows part and see! Aren't computers lovely!
Click to expand...

If you can't have any other programs open while burning it is probably either your burner (no buffer underrun) or that you need more (or more stable) ram or that your hard drive or processor can't keep up with multiple processes.

Also look into getting a newer and paid version of nero. I've had much more success after getting the newest version.

N2
 
ErikD said:
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

This is waht I use. It works for everything I need, and it is FREE. :D Free burner = more money for knives.

I have never tried it for copying CD's though as I use an iPod. HTH.
Click to expand...

I've used CDBurnerXP. It's OK. Has some irritating issues. It automatically assumes max possible drive speed even though I've never seen 52x media. It never remembers different settings in my experience.

It could only burn WAV to audio Cd. At least the version I used had those failings but that's a few years ago.

Phil
 
Acolyte said:
Thanks for the replies, guys. I don't think I have a hardware problem. It may be that Nero is just a bit unstable. I have successfully burned a few off, but I couldn't have any other software open at the time, which is a real pain in the proverbial. I'll give it another try that way.

Cheers, Acolyte.

PS Of course if I partition my hard drive I can run Nortons disk doctor on the non-Windows part and see! Aren't computers lovely!
Click to expand...

In using Nero on an older system, I couldn't do anything else during burning either without creating another polycarbonate coaster. But that would be a way outdated system by today's standards. Seems my burner was 12x at the time and my CPU even lamer.

A newer system should be able to multitask a burn.

Phil
 
I prefer Easy CD Creator.

Still, your problem is likely with the computer rather than the software. Make sure you have plenty of RAM, the Temp folder is empty, the hard drive has been recently defragmented, and all background programs are halted.

Best Luck,
Bob
 
If you have a problem and seem to be burning too many "coasters", slow the burn speed down. I slow mine down to 32X-36X, the time factor is only an extra minute or two from maximum. If that doesn't work, don't do anything else while you burn, like listen to music, play games, etc.
 
I use a copy of Nero that came with a Memorex CD burner...it was updatable from the Nero site...it seems to do ok. One thing I did notice was that there was no option for ripping to .mp3. I don't believe Roxio does that either. I use Win Media Player 10 for that. I think Media Player 10 can probably handle all our needs but it is only available for XP i think?

John
 
Unfortunately my Windows Media Player is corrupted and closes with an error message as soon as I try to run it. I have reinstalled it but no luck there either. I think it may have been corrupted during an update. I have a fair bit of RAM, and have successfully burned some CD's but have made plenty of "coasters" (of several brands). I'll try defragging, emptying Temp and slowing it down. Thanks for all the tips guys.

Cheers, Acolyte.
 
Acolyte said:
Unfortunately my Windows Media Player is corrupted and closes with an error message as soon as I try to run it. I have reinstalled it but no luck there either. I think it may have been corrupted during an update.
Click to expand...
I had this exact problem with "clocking" issues with my processor. As soon as I slowed it down, the crashing stopped! This seriously frustrated me for a couple months!

Also, I use Nero with zero problems...and quite enjoy it. I just can't run other programs while burning, or I have problems with the copied disk.
 
Run Nero 6.0 with all the extras, about as foolproof as it gets.

I've coastered 2 cd's out of the last 100+, both when my computer was running slow from spyware... got 6 suckers cleaned out and not a problem since.

Crank up your virtual ram a little, helps for speed issues. My computer is overclocked enough that even with only a p4 and 1.1ghz processor I haven't managed to freeze it. 42 program backnet and idling around 4-5% cpu usage, usually a total of 55-60 items running at a time(between downloads, music, chat, internet and scanning).

I can fire up and burn on nero without shutting anything else down.
 
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