Though this multifaceted burning tool won't win any beauty awards, it has almost everything Windows users need to create CDs and DVDs. One of the most glaring holes in Windows XP is a good DVD burner program, and CDBurnerXP Pro fits the bill well. Despite a slightly confusing interface, this freeware tool should not disappoint users who take the time to familiarize themselves with its functionality.
The core of the program's feature set consists of three main tasks, which are prompted via a wizard upon start-up: writing data CDs and DVDs, creating CDs for audio playback, and ripping music from CDs, or editing ID3 tags. Canceling the wizard results in a rather blank blue screen with only a few selections in the toolbar. To work on a new project, you'll need to select one of the options, which can be brought back via the "New document" icon in the upper left. Unfortunately, you can't even open an existing project without selecting one of the wizard options first.
The program supports both burnproof and on-the-fly disc writing, as well as bootable ISO files, but it cannot burn double-layer DVDs, a feature promised for version 3.5 and still in alpha development. While it may take users some time to learn how to use it effectively, CDBurnerXP Pro is a competent tool and a great value.
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Just about every computer available these days comes with a CD/DVD burner as part of the package. Whether your primary use for this drive is to make mix CDs for the car, backup data, or burn DVD backups for your movies, you need a good program with the right type of features for the job. Though Windows offers some burning features, you're not going to get the options you'll find in a stand alone app.
There are many paid CD and DVD burning apps to choose from and some of the most popular in this category--like Nero and Alcohol 120%--are probably recognizable by most Download.com users. The only prohibitive trait about these apps (besides cost) is usually they take up too many system resources and offer superfluous features that you may not need for simple burning. I happen to like these apps and some of the extra features are quite useful, but what if you just want something quick and dirty for burning on the cheap?
I did a little research and picked out some top free CD/DVD burning apps that you can download and use for free if you need to get started right away.
The four-paned interface makes moving your media around a snap.
(Credit: CNET Networks)CDBurnerXP is a quick and easy solution for burning audio CDs, creating data disks, and has extra features for ripping your audio CDs and finding track info on the Web. A four-paned interface makes it easy to find and then drag-and-drop files to your chosen media and an included audio player helps you make sure you get the tracks you want. A handy dropbox window lets you browse your files using Windows Explorer and quickly drag-and-drop files to your burn list on the fly. Judging from the user reviews, some users had trouble with CDBurnerXP when burning data DVDs, but I was able to use this function without problems. The developer site offers a list of compatible drives if you have any issues.
Sometimes an easy way to burn media is all the feature set you need.
(Credit: CNET Networks)JetBee is another free app for burning CDs, DVDs, BlueRay, and HD-DVDs and offers the option to include these burning commands to your right-click contextual menus in Windows. The two-paned interface is simpler than CDBurnerXP, but good enough for most simple burning projects. This is probably the most bare-bones of the bunch as far as extra features, but if you want a quick-burning program to make backups or audio CDs for free, JetBee does the job nicely. As someone who burns primarily audio CDs, I was a little annoyed I had to drill all the way down from the top level for music files, but this might not be a problem for other users.
The launch page takes all the guess work out of your burning project.
(Credit: CNET Networks)BurnAware Free Edition is probably the prettiest in the interface department for this collection and offers a step-by-step procedure for your burning projects. A launch window lets you choose the type of project you want and leads you through the process to completion. Navigating your directories is easy with BurnAware's file management system and adding files is as simple as highlighting them and hitting a button. Though you don't have the option of a floating window like CDBurnerXP, BurnAware offers enough features for most burning projects.
Sometimes you just need a simple program for your burning needs and don't need all the extra features of a paid app. For a quick and easy free solution, try one of the apps above. As always, if you have a favorite that is not listed here, let me know in the comments!
Along with "What's the best free video-editing software?" one of the most frequent questions I receive from CNET Download.com users is, "How can I put my photos on a DVD that anyone can watch?" For everyone whom I wasn't able to respond to personally, here's a quick overview.
First off, the most important issue is the DVD player for which you're creating the slide show. Many DVD players nowadays don't need a specially formatted disc to view digital pictures, and some have built-in slide-show features for viewing JPEG images. The best way to find out is to actually try it. Burn a DVD full of digital images (I personally use CDBurnerXP), fire up your DVD player with your new disc, and see what happens.
If your player can read JPEG and AVI files from a regular data DVD, you're on Easy Street. There are numerous free digital-photo-management apps that will create AVI files of your images for burning to DVD. Google's Picasa is an excellent choice. Windows Movie Maker (included free in XP and Vista) is another solid free solution for creating AVI slideshows.
The rub, of course, is that not all DVD players can read AVI or JPEG files. In order to view your slide show on these less-helpful DVD players, you'll need to convert your AVI slide show to a VOB file, and, for maximum compatibility, you'll probably want DVD information files (IFO) and their sometimes necessary backups (BUP).
It's difficult to find VOB encoding in a free DVD slide-show burner. In fact, I don't know of one. If you do, please tell me about it. Luckily, there are several afforable commercial apps that can perform the nitty-gritty work of burning DVD slide shows.
The most famous and most powerful software is likely Nero, which includes a massive amount of slide-show-authoring options for photo DVDs. If you don't need all of the audio and video functionality included in the full suite, Nero PhotoShow Deluxe offers a cheaper alternative for creating DVD slide shows.
Another popular option is VSO Software's simply named PhotoDVD app. The interface and features are sparser than Nero; it's simply a bare-bones program that gets the job done. Nero has a 15-day trial for PhotoShow Deluxe, while the free PhotoDVD trial lets you create slide shows with up to 100 images.
What do you all use to create slide shows for watching on your TV via DVD? Can your players handle JPEG and AVI files, or have you been forced into the wild world of video conversion? Tell me about it in the comments.
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