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Best Free CD / DVD Burning Software
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Introduction
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When looking for the best free software program for either CD (Compact Disc) or DVD (Digitally Versatile Disc) I think it is worth the effort to precis your needs. Keep in mind that CD & DVD burning programs are designed for you to author CDs and DVDs for music, photos, movies, games, data, or other digital file and that will hopefully stimulate your creativity.. As well as CD burning software and DVD burner software, this category also includes Lightscribe software which enables you to produce laser-etched labels with text or graphics, as opposed to stick-on labels and printable discs. With new software (particularly new free software) don't be afraid to experiment and try try a few different options before you decide on the right one for you. Hello, my name is Dale. I am the New Editor in this Category. I ask that you please be patient with me, as i am still learning the ropes. I do hope, and will try, to do the best job that i can, and help everyone to the best of my ability. I am in the process of getting it re-done somewhat, and touched up a little bit. Also, be advised, that i am in the process of preparing other Reviews for various other Programs to populate the list with. Thank you so much for your time and patience, and i look forward to working with each and every one you.
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Discussion
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ImgBurn includes support for:
ImgBurn has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task: Read - Read a disc to an image file. ImgBurn's advanced features may confuse you if you just want to do a basic burn. The welcome menu provides quick access to some common tasks, but other basic features such as erasing a re-writeable disc are not immediately visible. Playing around with ImgBurn for a while. Exploring the menus will certainly reveal most of what you need. However, if you simply aren’t interested in advanced functionality you may wish to check out my other recommendations. Although ImgBurn is primarily aimed at advanced users, I still feel that it is deserves top spot in this category.
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. BurnAware offers enough features for most burning projects. Features of BurnAware Free
Supports
Changes in BurnAware 3.0.6 :
Big picture - CDBurnerXP is a quick and easy solution for creating audio CDs,Video Discs (DVD and Vlu-Ray) and has extra features for ripping your audio CDs and finding track info on the Web. It adds sessions to multisession discs, burns on-the-fly, verifies burns, erases rewritable media; creates audio discs, creates video DVDs; command line version; LightScribe cover printing support with very basic designer supporting custom background images; enables access to drives for restricted users; multilingual; some advanced features and options. I like CDBurnerXP's clean user interface. The four-paned interface makes it easy to find what you are looking for. You can then drop-and-drag files to your chosen media. Also the audio player, which is included, helps you ensure you have captured the tracks you want. You may find the dropbox window handy as it allows you to browse your files using Windows Explorer and then quickly drop-and-drag files to your burn list as you go. Judging from other user reviews, some people had trouble with CDBurnerXP when burning data DVDs although I did find I was able to use this function without too many hassles. Once again, CD BurnerXP supports common types of optical discs like CD, DVD, and Blue-Ray discs including double layer mediums. You will find creating Audio CDs, Video Discs, DVD or Blue-Ray, very easy. I found dealing with re-writeable media is also very comfortable with this program. ISO files can be created and burned as well with support of converting BIN/NRG file formats into ISO.
Editor's Advisory Note: CDBurnerXP is now bundled with OpenCandy. See this article for more information.
InfraRecorder is a respectable burning program, but it has a few disadvantages as well. It does not support Blu-Ray discs or HD-DVDs. It also does not include many advanced options for tweaking the burn process to perfection like ImgBurn. Its interface isn’t as nice as that of BurnAware Free, and it doesn’t have any extra features like CDBurnerXP. Aside from these possible downsides, it feels like a solid program that definitely deserves a chance at becoming a part of your favored software collection.
Anybody who is struggling with the ever increasing complexity of CD and DVD burning applications then Ashampoo 6.77 may be the answer you are looking for. If you want a program that focuses on burning discs quickly and easily with quality and a minimum fuss then this could be the program may well suit your needs. This version retains all the advantages of previous versions as well as adding multi-disc file backups and restores on CD, DVD and Blu-Ray. The program creates compressed backup archives with powerful password protection as well as splitting archives automatically across multiple CDs, DVDs or Blu-ray discs. I loved the fact it restored the archive contents to their original locations Ashampoo Burning Studio 6.77 FREE also features , an integrated audio CD ripper which stores your audio tracks as WMA or WAV files with an option across all formats to set the number of copies you want to burn. All discs can now be verified without ejecting first.
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Ashampoo Burning Studio
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Full featured CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burning suite that enables you to create data, music, video and audio discs | |
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Tries to install toolbar. Need to deselect if not wanted | |
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www.ashampoo.com | |
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http://download.cnet.com/Ashampoo-Burning-Studio-Free/3000-2646_4-10776287.html?part=dl-61683&subj=dl&tag=button | |
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16.39 MB  6.80  Unrestricted Freeware  Windows XP/Vista/7 |
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64 Bit version available  Portable version not available |
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Requires registration within 10 days | |
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This software category is in need of an editor. If you are interested in taking it over then check out this page for more details. You can then contact us from that page or by clicking here. |
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Comments
CDBurnerXP has just mythological reputation on the Internet as reliable perfect etc. burner. The reality is that it is unreliable buggy unlogically organized. It freezed my computer, destroyed a few cds before I finally decided to unistall and forget about it till next year when I will try a better version (if comes out).
there are more freeware nero alternatives
http://www.bildirgec.org/yazi/nero-ve-alternatifi-ucretsiz-7
site is in turkish but we do care about the programs :)
wow im really surprised to not see starburn up there omg that program is excellent and I sware it has all the core features you need without the hefty price.
Technically it can... But not in a single click. I personally work more with image files so ImgBurn suits my needs perfectly. You don't need to be sarcastic when it is obvious you know nothing about the specific program. ImgBurn is the successor of the good old but now discontinued DVD Decrypter. It uses an improved and updated version of its burning engine excluding the decrypting features. It is also actively developed by the original author.
This is a great article as usual. Thanks for the great list to investigate. I have a couple of favourites myself...
DVD shrink - fantastic for taking a dvd movie from a dvd disc to your computer to burn. (which you have mentioned) How to use dvd shrink
DVD decrypter - Which does the same thing as Dvd shrink but is better at bypassing the copyright protection. (maybe thats why you didn't mention it) How to use Dvd decrypter
With these programs you can backup your wedding DVD or even a movie you have purchased. But just be aware that every country has a different copyright law. Check yours out before making copies of anything. (except your wedding video)
I think I misunderstood the deal with Ashampoo Burning Studio. I searched for the free one and found version 6. I'll will get 2009 and update the article if necessary. Sorry for any confusion.
I've had good luck with using InfraRecorder portable's interface to choose files and create a .iso image -- but it then couldn't recognize my FireWire burner. ImgBurn portable, however, recognized my FireWire burner and burned the ISO with no problem. Since both are portable and free, I keep both on my flash drive just in case.
No, I'm afraid they don't. But while I agree that creating a menu is important for creating a video DVD, that is not the same as burning a DVD. Burning applications are intended to get the data onto the disc, not create the data. What you need is a program like DVD Styler. I have to say, though, that I've never seen a decent free program to make DVD menus.
Ever heard about portable applications? They WON'T require anything: not .NET, not JRE, not any other crap. If two programs are doing the same thing, but one is portable and the other isn't, i'll always go with the portable one. Why mess with the registry/system files when you don't have to?
Why not keep your system as clean as possible?
.Net applications can't be considered portable!
Read here:
http://portableapps.com/node/9406
And especially here:
http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/dotnet_portable_apps/
"Overall, your chances of encountering a PC equipped with the proper version of the .NET Framework are relatively low. Most pre-Vista PCs in public locations (net cafes, coffee shops, libraries, hotel business centers, school computer labs, etc) simply won't have .NET installed. Of course, your personal results may vary greatly as you may be using a Vista PC at home or you may have the .NET Framework installed at work due to corporate applications that require it. Overall, however, applications based on .NET simply can't be considered portable due to the fact that the files they need can't be bundled portably and won't be on most PCs you encounter in the wild."
I've heard a lot of similar problems with CDBurnerXP lately, so that's why I dropped it down to third. If Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009 turns out to be all that people say, I'll probably even remove CDBurnerXP from the list.
I burned a DVD from a VIDEO_TS folder a couple days ago with BurnAware, and it did a perfect job on a DVD+R. Hopefully it'll work out for you.
a good article you wrote there,and after reading it,i downloaded imgburn and infrarecorder,and i should say i liked both.thanks for mentioning them.
but on your view about cdburnerxp,i would say that we want to read how the software performed in your tests,and was it able to fulfill all the needs of successfully writing a cd or dvd.we want to have an opinion based on your testing,and not what people said about it,or based on comments.maybe the people who complained were not able to use it properly.we want a honest opinion of YOU.if it performed well,rank it higher.just dont rank it lower just because of other people opinions.i have been using cdburnerxp with no problems till now.
one person asked if multisession was available in a software or not.you replied you did not had enough experience with that.being an editor,a useful answer was expercted from u.u should have knowledge of the software u reviewed.
dont feel bad,shared what i thought.
One feature I used to use a lot was to clone a CD, to create a backup of expensive CDs like games and CAD apps. They had extensive, complex protections that meant the burner app had to use 100% cloned raw data, most burners couldn't do that and the result was a dud CD as they just copied the user data.
It would be nice to know if there's a freeware app that does this.
chris.p
lifehacker recently did one of their 'Hive Five' calls for best burning software. The five most popular choices were then subject to a vote. ImgBurn was #1 with 27%, 1713 votes. Nero was #2 at 23%. CDBurnerXP was #3 with 16%. Full results are at http://lifehacker.com/5100069/five-best-cd-and-dvd-burning-tools.
Based on this poll and also on my past readings, I tried ImgBurn yesterday for the first time. I am impressed so far. It is lightweight in resources consumed, yet heavy in features. ImgBurn is not just for burning images, as this website suggests - it can also burn files from the hard disk. ImgBurn can also create audio cds via the use of cue sheets. A portable version is available, but not from the official ImgBurn website.
Ashampoo Burning Studio Free is best.
I used to be a huge fan of CDBurnerXP ,but since the last TWO updates,I can't even get it to burn an AUDIO CD properly,let alone a DVD.I've tried to burn 8 or 10 cds with it (after the 3rd try I got wise and used SIMULATE BURN first before destroying more CDs!!) and get an error every time.I then used Ashampoo Burning Studio 8 to burn the same files,and every cd was perfect,no errors,no problems.Whatever has happened to CDBurnerXP,it's become useless as far as I'm concerned.
you may try ashampoo burn studio 6 free edition. i've much satisfied with this one.
Help a girl out, please..
ok here it is in a nutshell, the best dvd softwear for burning torrent files, no rocket science,just need something compatible with, the disks themselves, my dvd burner philips dvd+/-rw 8x ide pbds sullivan tobago dual layer [so dell says] we will see. oh yes the program needs to b e compatible with all file types too. right now I don't care about copying movies, whats the point?
Does anybody know the best CD burner program out there with which you can control the burn speed.
I have fairly recent CD/DVD R/WR burner that spins so fast when it burns, I think some of the tracks are not easy to read. I get read errors. It can't find some of the files. I think a slower burn speed would fix the problem.
I'm on XP Media Center, SP2, NetFramework 2, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2G HD, 2G Ram.
Can I control Win. Burner?
When I look at the CD tracks, they don't look as visible as they did on my old burner, which was a quite a bit slower burner. Would that make a difference? Comments please.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. - Dz
http://www.cdburnerxp.se
ImgBurn is the best lightweight CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray burning application according to my experiance.It is feature rich,reasonably fast and does not create any problems.ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats and can burn Audio CD's from any file type.The Automatic Write Speed feature gives you good control over burn speed settings for each of your drives.Read more at Great free software utilities
it would be great if cd burner xp replaces the not for good windows cd writing tool integrating to common folders.
Try Amok ( http://amok.am/en/freeware/amok_cd-dvd_burning/ ): it is free, burns everything (icl. ISO, CUE, BIN), no registry base entries, supports SCSI, IDE, EIDE, USB and Firewire CD or DVD writers, etc.
Also my favorite. Only a flaw, every time trying to make multiple copies with it, it would always repeatly ask you to insert original one and create a buffer image -- is there some setting to control this?
Try Starburn free.
I found Ashampoo 6 free recently, too. Yep, very nice. Looks to do pretty much everything, AND with a simple interface. I know ImgBurn can do a little more, and with a difficult interface, but few people need that little more.
I also like InfraRecorder quite a bit.
I unchecked it when installing, and it wasn't installed, but maybe you accidentally missed the checkbox or something. I do agree that it's annoying, though. Maybe I'll mention that in the article.
give me a brak. at least people have some basic knowledge here before someone spit on some others app. just look other comments and now you cray to me who insulting who? is just so stupid someone claim that is downloading some burning app. and then say how s***y it is and not checking some basic things like checking the burning speed, defragmented hard drive (can have huge efect on burning speed no matter how god pc you have) etc..
yes those kind of people are rookie to me. just check your settings first have regulary fragmented hard drive, close other app. befor burning etc.. do that firs then we will have some fair arguments then. if is someone insulted im sorry then ok.
Any virtual recorders.
Some software wants to create CD's/DVD's directly but I do want to test this before wasting resources.
So if some sw could emulate a burner with a valid disk (like Alcohol but not for mounting existing images), this would be nice.
Pieter
ImgBurn does not cd/dvd copy disc-to-disc. You have to create an iso to hdd then burn that iso to disc, then go back and delete the iso off the hdd. What silly unnecessary steps. This is 2009 for cripes sake, not 1989! Does anyone know how to copy disc-to-disc?
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