Posted 03/23/09 at 12:00:00 PM by David Murphy

I just picked up a new netbook the other day.  And you know what that netbook had?  A lot of things, but "optical drive" wasn't on the list.  So there I sat, staring at a stack of CDs all full of my most critical applications, games, and movies.  Then I had a brainstorm: Rather than run down to the local electronics store to buy a lame external optical drive, I figured I would convert all of my optical media and slap it onto one of the external hard drives I have sitting around.

To do that, I turned to a suite of applications to rip, burn, encode, convert, and create all sorts of image files.  It was a daunting task at first, but it sure beat shelling out for more hardware.  Based on my troubles, I've come up with a list of five of the must-have applications for your CD manipulation needs.  And these aren't just a list of applications for new netbook enthusiasts.  These free apps have a universal appeal for anyone who's ever had to interact with their optical drive at any point.  I would assume that this would make up 99% of all computer users--the one percent being anyone who just bought a new netbook without any kind of secondary system in their house.  Whoops!

Click on the link and check out the five free apps for CD manipulation mayhem.  Trust me, it's just that exciting.

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Posted 03/18/08 at 11:49:14 AM by Katherine Stevenson

Back when Roxio’s product was called Easy CD Creator, it was a favorite among enthusiast disc-makers, but over time it became bloated and buggy, allowing Nero to gain traction. Knowing this, it’s hard not to perceive a hint of one-upmanship in Easy Media Creator 10. This suite offers a whopping 29 individual apps to Nero’s 22 (whether that’s a good thing depends on your uses for such a bounty).

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Posted 03/18/08 at 11:48:36 AM by Katherine Stevenson

When you install Nero 8 Ultra, no fewer than 22 individual apps take up residence on your PC. Some cover very specific tasks, such as DriveSpeed (which, as you might guess, tests the speed of your drive). Others are much more ambitious, like Nero Home, a Media Center–like interface that serves as an entertainment hub for music and video playback, TV streaming and recording, and content sharing over a network, all via a large living-room-friendly interface.

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