Comparison of 4 freeware CD burning progs.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark S.
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark S.

Hello All,

I have noticed in ACF that one of the frequent topics is about FREEWARE
CD burners. Here is a comparison of four of them...

burnatonce http://www.burnatonce.com/ Version 0.99b October 28, 2003
CDBurnerXP Pro http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ Version 2.2.1 March 02, 2004
Easy Burning http://www.paehl.de/cdr/index.php Version 1.65 March 07
20047
Deep Burner http://www.deepburner.com/ Version 1.1.0.114 March 04,
2004

All four of these CD burners will work on Windows 98/Me/2000/XP.
They all have these same features in common:
They are all freeware with no spyware or nags. Don't need to register.
Burn Data CDs, DVDs and Audio CDs. Burn CDs from ISO images. Erase CDs.
Burn single or multi session CDs.

So, What more could you want in a Freeware CD burner?
Maybe you want to make a CD that you can boot from. "burnatonce",
"CDBurnerXP Pro" and "Deep Burner" will do this, but "Easy Burning"
doesn't.

"Deep Burner" has an procedure built in to make your CD autorun. Themes
for viewing and label templates for printing are also available for this
program.

"Easy Burning" can check for errors in file names.

"CDBurnerXP Pro" will create CD covers.

"burnatonce" which is listed on the Pricelessware web site
(http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/PL2004SYSTEMUTILITIES.htm#A193) needs
a much more detailed explanation than what I have written about the three
other burners. BAO will do something that none of the three others will
do, and that is; to verify the integrity of you data on the CD. This
can be right after you burn it or a couple of years from then. It does
this by creating a checksum for every file on the cd and placing these
checksums into one file on the root of the CD. This feature can be
enabled or disabled. BOA can create ISO images from folders. And as
mentioned previously, it can create bootable CDs. It will also do 'On
the Fly' CD to CD burns.

The main drawbacks I found to BOA were the following:
The write button in the main window performs two functions, 1.) If there
is "no image loaded" then the write button is used to select the loaded
image and 2.) If there is an image loaded the the write button starts the
writing process.
Within the Read/Copy menu is the words "Read to Image." This took some
time for me to understand because normally we 'write to' and 'read
from.' What "Read to Image" really means is "Create Image."

Over the course of the last two days I have used all four of these CD
burner programs on my Windows 98SE system. I have an internal IDE burner
and an external SCSI burner. All programs recognized and worked with
both CD Rom burners. If there are other freeware CD burning programs out
there, that don't have spyware in them, then I would like to check them
out also.

Hoped this summary has helped someone out there in www land.

Mark S.
 
Mark S. wrote in
Over the course of the last two days I have used all four of these
CD burner programs on my Windows 98SE system. I have an internal
IDE burner and an external SCSI burner. All programs recognized
and worked with both CD Rom burners. If there are other freeware
CD burning programs out there, that don't have spyware in them,
then I would like to check them out also.

Hoped this summary has helped someone out there in www land.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Mark. You saved me some time and effort with your report.

One note on DeepBurner, I found that the last two versions (110.112 and
110.114) apparently have a bug in the burn engine that aborts a burn
when writing to a USB burner. The support people are aware of the
problem already.
 
The main drawbacks I found to BOA were the following:
The write button in the main window performs two functions, 1.) If there
is "no image loaded" then the write button is used to select the loaded
image and 2.) If there is an image loaded the the write button starts the
writing process.
Click to expand...

BAO was a great favorite of mine until recently when I got a DVD burner.
Then I found out that you must download a "plugin", and configure it,
including entering a key code into the system variables. You must then
download the ASPI layer from a 3rd party and trick it into installing. This
is because BAO can not use the native Windows XP burning extensions like the
other programs you mentioned.

jameo is supposed to be working on a new release of BAO. I hope he can make
it burn DVD's more seamlessly in Windows XP.

Thanks for the review!

Bob

Remove "kins" from address to reply.
 
BAO was a great favorite of mine until recently when I got a DVD burner.
Then I found out that you must download a "plugin", and configure it,
including entering a key code into the system variables
Click to expand...

Isn't that just for DVD+ burning? AFAIK BAO does DVD- out of the box.
Another remarkable feature is that it supports cue/bin burning.
 
Mark said:
Hello All,

I have noticed in ACF that one of the frequent topics is about
FREEWARE CD burners. Here is a comparison of four of them...

burnatonce http://www.burnatonce.com/ Version 0.99b October 28,
2003 CDBurnerXP Pro http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ Version 2.2.1 March
02, 2004 Easy Burning http://www.paehl.de/cdr/index.php Version
1.65 March 07 20047
Deep Burner http://www.deepburner.com/ Version 1.1.0.114 March 04,
2004

All four of these CD burners will work on Windows 98/Me/2000/XP.
They all have these same features in common:
They are all freeware with no spyware or nags. Don't need to
register. Burn Data CDs, DVDs and Audio CDs. Burn CDs from ISO
images. Erase CDs. Burn single or multi session CDs.

So, What more could you want in a Freeware CD burner?
Maybe you want to make a CD that you can boot from. "burnatonce",
"CDBurnerXP Pro" and "Deep Burner" will do this, but "Easy Burning"
doesn't.

"Deep Burner" has an procedure built in to make your CD autorun.
Themes for viewing and label templates for printing are also
available for this program.

"Easy Burning" can check for errors in file names.

"CDBurnerXP Pro" will create CD covers.

"burnatonce" which is listed on the Pricelessware web site
(http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/PL2004SYSTEMUTILITIES.htm#A193)
needs a much more detailed explanation than what I have written about
the three other burners. BAO will do something that none of the
three others will do, and that is; to verify the integrity of you
data on the CD. This can be right after you burn it or a couple of
years from then. It does this by creating a checksum for every file
on the cd and placing these checksums into one file on the root of
the CD. This feature can be enabled or disabled. BOA can create ISO
images from folders. And as mentioned previously, it can create
bootable CDs. It will also do 'On the Fly' CD to CD burns.

The main drawbacks I found to BOA were the following:
The write button in the main window performs two functions, 1.) If
there is "no image loaded" then the write button is used to select
the loaded image and 2.) If there is an image loaded the the write
button starts the writing process.
Within the Read/Copy menu is the words "Read to Image." This took
some time for me to understand because normally we 'write to' and
'read from.' What "Read to Image" really means is "Create Image."

Over the course of the last two days I have used all four of these CD
burner programs on my Windows 98SE system. I have an internal IDE
burner and an external SCSI burner. All programs recognized and
worked with both CD Rom burners. If there are other freeware CD
burning programs out there, that don't have spyware in them, then I
would like to check them out also.

Hoped this summary has helped someone out there in www land.

Mark S.
Click to expand...

Mark,

Thanks for your review. Have you forwarded your comments on BAO to the
developer? If not, you should do so. Perhaps he or she can make the user
interface more user friendly. It would not be hard to do.

I am also curious. Do you have a favourite to recommend?

Rob
 
SNIP

Thanks for your review. Have you forwarded your comments on BAO to the
developer? If not, you should do so. Perhaps he or she can make the user
interface more user friendly. It would not be hard to do.

I am also curious. Do you have a favourite to recommend?

Rob
Click to expand...
Hello Rob and Paul,

Good suggestion. BOA (author: Jamie Osborne) has a forum. You have to
be a member of the forum for a week before you can post. Since I can't
find Jamie's email address, I guess I'll have to wait a week since I
joined the forum today!

I can't say that I have a favorite to recommend. I haven't burned an
audio CD in several years (the comparisons were done with data CDs).
Because of the number of features which BOA has, this is the one that
I'll be using.

To Answer Paul's Question...
Do any of them have the ability to make VCD's?
Click to expand...
No, BUT someone earlier today posted a link to an older version of
VCDeasy which is freeware. I downloaded it but haven't done any more
with it, yet. There is also VCDGear more info
http://www.vcdgear.com/what_is_vcdgear.html
or home...
http://www.vcdgear.com/

Mark S.
 
Hello All,

I have noticed in ACF that one of the frequent topics is about FREEWARE
CD burners. Here is a comparison of four of them...

burnatonce http://www.burnatonce.com/ Version 0.99b October 28, 2003
CDBurnerXP Pro http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ Version 2.2.1 March 02, 2004
Easy Burning http://www.paehl.de/cdr/index.php Version 1.65 March 07
20047
Deep Burner http://www.deepburner.com/ Version 1.1.0.114 March 04,
2004

All four of these CD burners will work on Windows 98/Me/2000/XP.
They all have these same features in common:
They are all freeware with no spyware or nags. Don't need to register.
Burn Data CDs, DVDs and Audio CDs. Burn CDs from ISO images. Erase CDs.
Burn single or multi session CDs.

So, What more could you want in a Freeware CD burner?
Maybe you want to make a CD that you can boot from. "burnatonce",
"CDBurnerXP Pro" and "Deep Burner" will do this, but "Easy Burning"
doesn't.

"Deep Burner" has an procedure built in to make your CD autorun. Themes
for viewing and label templates for printing are also available for this
program.

"Easy Burning" can check for errors in file names.

"CDBurnerXP Pro" will create CD covers.

"burnatonce" which is listed on the Pricelessware web site
(http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/PL2004SYSTEMUTILITIES.htm#A193) needs
a much more detailed explanation than what I have written about the three
other burners. BAO will do something that none of the three others will
do, and that is; to verify the integrity of you data on the CD. This
can be right after you burn it or a couple of years from then. It does
this by creating a checksum for every file on the cd and placing these
checksums into one file on the root of the CD. This feature can be
enabled or disabled. BOA can create ISO images from folders. And as
mentioned previously, it can create bootable CDs. It will also do 'On
the Fly' CD to CD burns.

The main drawbacks I found to BOA were the following:
The write button in the main window performs two functions, 1.) If there
is "no image loaded" then the write button is used to select the loaded
image and 2.) If there is an image loaded the the write button starts the
writing process.
Within the Read/Copy menu is the words "Read to Image." This took some
time for me to understand because normally we 'write to' and 'read
from.' What "Read to Image" really means is "Create Image."

Over the course of the last two days I have used all four of these CD
burner programs on my Windows 98SE system. I have an internal IDE burner
and an external SCSI burner. All programs recognized and worked with
both CD Rom burners. If there are other freeware CD burning programs out
there, that don't have spyware in them, then I would like to check them
out also.

Hoped this summary has helped someone out there in www land.

Mark S.
Click to expand...
Mark.maybe you might know the answer before i download..
Im a little confused by the documentation regarding adaptecs ASPI layer
version 4.60 which is apparently required to run burnatonce.
(The url below is not an automatic download)
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/driverdetail.html?
filekey=aspi32.exe

Im using 98se have easy cd creator 4 installed ,and windows media player 7
installed.Apparently i shouldnt install that aspi layer with those
programmes installed.Does that mean that burnatonce will work with aspi
layers i already have that were installed with easy cd creator4 and wma7 ,
or would i need to uninstall those ...in stall the new aspi layer then
burnatonce?
tia
me
 
Mark.maybe you might know the answer before i download..
Im a little confused by the documentation regarding adaptecs ASPI
layer version 4.60 which is apparently required to run burnatonce.
(The url below is not an automatic download)
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/driverdetail.html?
filekey=aspi32.exe

Im using 98se have easy cd creator 4 installed ,and windows media
player 7 installed.Apparently i shouldnt install that aspi layer
with those programmes installed.Does that mean that burnatonce
will work with aspi layers i already have that were installed with
easy cd creator4 and wma7 , or would i need to uninstall those
...in stall the new aspi layer then burnatonce?
Click to expand...

I'm not Mark, but I might be able to help anyway. :)
With Win98 and Easy CD Creator 4 you should already be using ASPI
version 4.60.
Download the program below and it will tell you which version you
have-

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/driverdetail.html?
filekey=aspichk.exe

or

http://shorl.com/fagodrikoronu

Although they look like it, these links are not direct downloads.
 
I'm not Mark, but I might be able to help anyway. :)
With Win98 and Easy CD Creator 4 you should already be using ASPI
version 4.60.
Download the program below and it will tell you which version you
have-

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/driverdetail.html?
filekey=aspichk.exe

or

http://shorl.com/fagodrikoronu

Although they look like it, these links are not direct downloads.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for info ...seems my aspi was,nt correctly installed so
ive just installed the correct version and burn at once.
Thanks again
me
 
Paul said:
On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 23:02:00 GMT, Mark S. wrote...


Pity
Click to expand...

Well when creating VCD's, folks usually want to add special effect
transitions, music for certain parts of the VCD etc. Personally I think
that it better done with software specially designed for such a task.

Rob
 
On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 19:46:21 -0500, Rob wrote...
Well when creating VCD's, folks usually want to add special effect
transitions, music for certain parts of the VCD etc.
Click to expand...

Not me. I just want to be able to play mpg's in a DVD player on the TV.
Personally I think
that it better done with software specially designed for such a task.
Click to expand...

For that purpose, I would agree.
 
Mark said:
Hello All,

I have noticed in ACF that one of the frequent topics is about
FREEWARE CD burners. Here is a comparison of four of them...

burnatonce http://www.burnatonce.com/ Version 0.99b October 28,
2003 CDBurnerXP Pro http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ Version 2.2.1 March
02, 2004 Easy Burning http://www.paehl.de/cdr/index.php Version
1.65 March 07 20047
Deep Burner http://www.deepburner.com/ Version 1.1.0.114 March 04,
2004

All four of these CD burners will work on Windows 98/Me/2000/XP.
They all have these same features in common:
They are all freeware with no spyware or nags. Don't need to
register. Burn Data CDs, DVDs and Audio CDs. Burn CDs from ISO
images. Erase CDs. Burn single or multi session CDs.

So, What more could you want in a Freeware CD burner?
Maybe you want to make a CD that you can boot from. "burnatonce",
"CDBurnerXP Pro" and "Deep Burner" will do this, but "Easy Burning"
doesn't.

"Deep Burner" has an procedure built in to make your CD autorun.
Themes for viewing and label templates for printing are also
available for this program.

"Easy Burning" can check for errors in file names.

"CDBurnerXP Pro" will create CD covers.

"burnatonce" which is listed on the Pricelessware web site
(http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/PL2004SYSTEMUTILITIES.htm#A193)
needs a much more detailed explanation than what I have written about
the three other burners. BAO will do something that none of the
three others will do, and that is; to verify the integrity of you
data on the CD. This can be right after you burn it or a couple of
years from then. It does this by creating a checksum for every file
on the cd and placing these checksums into one file on the root of
the CD. This feature can be enabled or disabled. BOA can create ISO
images from folders. And as mentioned previously, it can create
bootable CDs. It will also do 'On the Fly' CD to CD burns.

The main drawbacks I found to BOA were the following:
The write button in the main window performs two functions, 1.) If
there is "no image loaded" then the write button is used to select
the loaded image and 2.) If there is an image loaded the the write
button starts the writing process.
Within the Read/Copy menu is the words "Read to Image." This took
some time for me to understand because normally we 'write to' and
'read from.' What "Read to Image" really means is "Create Image."

Over the course of the last two days I have used all four of these CD
burner programs on my Windows 98SE system. I have an internal IDE
burner and an external SCSI burner. All programs recognized and
worked with both CD Rom burners. If there are other freeware CD
burning programs out there, that don't have spyware in them, then I
would like to check them out also.

Hoped this summary has helped someone out there in www land.

Mark S.
Click to expand...

Mark,

Can one install ALL these programs on one PC. In other words, do they
co-exist nicely on the same PC?

Rob
 
Mark,

Can one install ALL these programs on one PC. In other words, do they
co-exist nicely on the same PC?

Rob
Click to expand...
Hello Rob,

I had all four installed at the same time and no problems at all on
Win98.

Mark S.
 
Rob wrote in said:
Can one install ALL these programs on one PC. In other words, do they
co-exist nicely on the same PC?
Click to expand...

You mean: Burnatonce, CDBurnerXP Pro, Easy Burning and Deep Burner?

See - I managed to fit all 4 names on a single line! No need to
quote some +60 lines from the previous message just to add a simple
question. Please snip.

Answer: I would think so, as long as you don't run them all at the
same time, at least not have them all try access your cd/dvd burner
simultaneously.

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
I have noticed in ACF that one of the frequent topics is about
FREEWARE CD burners. Here is a comparison of four of them...
Click to expand...
burnatonce http://www.burnatonce.com
CDBurnerXP Pro http://www.cdburnerxp.se
Easy Burning http://www.paehl.de/cdr/index.php
Deep Burner http://www.deepburner.com
Click to expand...

AFAICT, only burnatonce and Deep Burner support burning OGGs to audio
disks.

Burnatonce is buggy and hard to use, so I can't recommend it. I have not
tried Deep Burner, but will do.
 
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