Burning Software

[kevinturcotte]

What's a good, free, burning software that will work with Vista?

[davring]

Good and free? Tough request.

[kevinturcotte]

It doesn't need to do anything fancy like Nero. I just burn data and ISOs.

[funhouse69]

I don't have Vista but I was under the impression that the new Windows Media has the ability to Burn. What specifically are you looking to burn?

According to this you can burn right through Media Center.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/9ee6cb78-bd7e-4de3-a154-82d40c4289e01033.mspx

Most CD / DVD Burners come with software although it might not be compatible with Vista. For me Nero is by far the best one but I know it is a personal preference.

[kevinturcotte]

My burner came with a Nero Trial, and I prefer Nero, but I don't care to shell out $80 for it.
95% of what I burn is just data-backup stuff. Not usually media files though.
I occasionally burn ISO files.
I don't use Media Center at all.
Also, I'd like to ability to set the burn speed.

[funhouse69]

My burner came with a Nero Trial, and I prefer Nero, but I don't care to shell out $80 for it.
95% of what I burn is just data-backup stuff. Not usually media files though.
I occasionally burn ISO files.
I don't use Media Center at all.
Also, I'd like to ability to set the burn speed.

I think you might want to check out Media Center otherwise it might be time to shell out some money. Unfortunately Nero isn't cheap although I have seen it from time to time on sale or with Mail In Rebates that bring it down to next to nothing. Sometimes however that is a competitive upgrade.

Another option would be to check out Download.com and see what they have on there. I did a quick search and came up with a good amount that support Vista but none of them are free. Some however are under $30 and usually have the Free Trial Period.

[nihaoyall]

I wasn't looking for Vista compatibility (still use XP Pro), but I recently tried many of the freeware burning applications I could find. After using Nero, all of them seemed very lacking or crude. I did purchase a shareware package (cheap) called DeepBurner Pro that worked reasonably well. It wasn't as polished as Nero but after a short learning curve I was able to get it to do what I wanted, for the most part. But I still yearned for the depth, polish, and functions of Nero. Finally, I got an email from Ahead Software (developers of Nero) offering it for half price. So, I paid about $40 for the Nero 7 Premium package and am now a happy camper.
Getting on Ahead's mailing list proved beneficial in that regard. They don't spam me continuously, either (unlike some software houses).

[Mark Holtz]

http://www.imgburn.com/
http://infrarecorder.sourceforge.net/