What's better than a free trial? Why, when something's free forever, of course!

While I agree with that statement on the Nero 9 Free Edition download page, I'm not going to recommend any of you rush over to download it. Why not? I've got eight reasons.

1. They're asking for your email before giving out the download link.
Not a huge deal, I know, but it's still annoying. I'd recommend using something other than your primary email address on the download page or something like OtherInbox. In addition to the setup file, "you will also begin receiving Nero News with the latest tips, special offers and technology info from Nero."

2. The installer bundles the Ask.com toolbar
Again, not a massive problem - you can always opt out by unchecking the boxes during setup. Regardless, bundled toolbars are always an irritation during installation.

3. Upon completion, the installer asks you to send anonymous data
It's opt-in, but it's the third piece of the "why do they give it away for nothing" puzzle. A new address for their mailing list, possible referral bucks from Ask, and maybe some anonymous usage info from you.

Most of my customers still think Nero and Roxio are the only people that make burning software. Most of you know better - there are tons of good, free burning applications for Windows. Here's a quick list of five that I enjoy using. If your favorite isn't mentioned, share it with us in the comments!

ImgBurn (pictured above)
Since most of my recording tasks involve ISO files or burning entire folders as a backup, ImgBurn has become my app of choice. It's small and easy to use, and I've yet to produce a coaster with it. It's also a great tool for creating ISO files - either from a disc or files and folders on your PC.

ImgBurn also gets bonus points for the random comments that appear in status bar.

See the rest after the jump!

Nero and TiVo are launching a new application called LiquidTV. Basically, LiquidTV is TiVo. But instead of running on a set top box, the software runs on a Windows PC.

Users get all the basic features that come with TiVo, including the abililty to watch live and recorded TV, pause live programs, and record programs for viewing later. You can also burn videos to a DVD or compress them to save space using the H.264 codec. There are preconfigured settings for saving videos for an iPod or PSP or you can choose custom compression options.

LiquidTV plays well with other TiVo boxes you may have in your house, as long as they're hooked up to your home network. You can watch programs recorded on your TiVo box on a computer running LiquidTV and vice versa. You can also schedule recordings on the go using a web interface.

There's no Mac or Linux version yet. And while you do get TiVo goodies like WishLists and KidZone, the software doesn't support some of the more advanced TiVo options like TiVoCast or TiVo HME applications.

If you frequent our site (and you do, because you're cool), you've probably read this article about the 5 most annoying apps on your PC. Well, it's time for another installment - this time with alternatives that offer the functionality you want without the annoying, fetid bloat that you don't. Note: before the gripes start, to compare apples to apples I'm only offering apps that need to be installed - no portable apps, no web apps.

Ahead Nero
There was a time when Nero wasn't an overblown pig of a recording application, but over the years it's been "improved" to the glorious state of excess you see it in today. What sucks about Nero today? Well, let's see. First, it tries to install the Ask toolbar during setup. Then there's the hundreds of megs of DVD templates it piles on (none of them particularly attractive). Last but not least, there's Nero Scout. Has anyone ever found this useful? I don't know about you, but click and drag or browsing for files has always worked just fine for me.

The Alternative: CD Burner XP
I want burning software to burn discs, not transcode video, play media, serve it over my home lan, print labels, and scour my drives constantly for files I may want to burn. Not only is CD Burner XP free, it's also miniscule when compared to Nero, installs in seconds, not minutes, and doesn't bring any excess crap along with it. Launch it, and you're given clear choices: data, music, iso, copy, erase. The dual pane view makes creating compilations drag-and-drop easy, as does the totally slick dropbox.

TiVo, the company that has become pretty much synonymous with the idea of the digital video recorder plans to create a PC version of the software it uses on set top boxes.

The company is partnering with Nero to develop the software. Up until recently, TiVo's Linux-based software was designed to run only on TiVo-branded boxes. But over the past year TiVo has been partnering with cable companies like Cox and Comcast to develop software for those companies' set top boxes. Once the software was portable, perhaps it was only a matter of time before we saw standalone software.

There's no word yet on pricing or availability, so we're not ready to say whether desktop TiVo software will kill competitors like BeyondTV, SageTV, or Windows Media Center. Part of the appeal of these applications has always been that after you initially pay for the software, you get free program guide updates, while TiVo charges you a monthly subscription fee on top of the money you pay for the hardware.

Here at Download Squad we're always installing the latest and greatest version of whatever software we can get our hands on. But you know what? Sometimes there are more problems and solutions in those updates. And sometimes we get nostalgic for the early days of Winamp 2 or Nero 5.

It turns out there are plenty of places to download old versions of newer software. If you've got a computer in the house that's still running Windows 95, we can help you out.

filehippo

Filehippo is a great site for finding freeware applications. Recently updated and popular applications are featured prominently at the top of the site. But when you click on a software title, there's also a little box on the right-hand side of the screen that lets you download previous versions. This is great if you download a new version and later decide to roll back.

OldApps, OldVersions.com and Old-Versions.net

As the names would suggest, these are three sites that feature old versions of software. There's a mix of commercial, shareware, and freeware at each site. So if you're going to try downloading an old version of Cool Edit, thinking you won't need a license key, think again.

OldApps, OldVersion.com and Old-Versions.net all include a nice array of software. Some titles like iTunes are available one each site, while others, like BSplayer are only on one or two of the sites, so you might need to dig around a bit to find what you're looking for. And while each site has a "most popular" list, different programs top the list on each site.

Looking for a good CD/DVD burning utility, but short on cash? Yesterday we mentioned that CDBurnerXP had been updated to include Blu-Ray and HD-DVD support among other things. And in the comments one reader pointed out another excellent (and free) disc burner.

InfraRecorder is an open source utility that doesn't skimp on features or accessibility. Once installed, you'll notice you can either launch InfraRecorder or InfraExpress. The latter version features a slimmed down interface with wizards for burning data, audio, and video discs. It's sort of InfraRecorder for dummies. The full feature gives you a ton of options that might confuse folks used to using Nero Smart Start.

Here are a few of the things you can do with InfraRecorder:

• Create data, audio, video, and mixed-mode discs
• Record dual-layer DVDs
• Four methods for erasing discs
• Record disc images (ISO and BIN/CUE)
• Scan SCSI/IDE bus for devices and capabilities
• Create disc copies using temporary disc image
• Import session data from multi-session discs and add more sessions

It doesn't look like there's support for Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, but the product is still under development and new features are being added all the time.

It's been a busy week here at Download Squad headquarters. And we assume you've had a busy week too. So if you've fallen behind on your tech news, here are a few things you might have missed during the week ending September 29th, 2007.

Download Squad interviews Evan Jones of 360desktop - Video

Ever get the feeling that there's just not enough space for all the shortcuts, temporary files, and widgets you need to live a contended life? 360desktop lets you use a panoramic photo as a desktop background. Since panoramic photos don't fit too well on a 1024 x 768 pixel monitor, 360desktop creates more virtual desktop space by letting you scroll beyond the edge of your monitor.

Is the Nokia N800 really an iPhone killer? - Video

Download Squad's Ted Wallingford has been spending some quality time with his Nokia N800, and he has the video to prove it. Sure, the N800 isn't technically a phone like the iPhone, but put that puppy near a Wi-Fi hot spot, fire up the VoIP and anything's possible.

Dear Facebook: May I have my life back please? - DLS commentary

Download Squad's Gordon Finlayson has a few questions about Facebook developers. So he sent e-mails to a handful of said developers. And he was labeled a spammer, his account was banned, and Facebook lawyers told him the immortal soul of his firstborn child was now theres. OK, we made the last part up. But Finlayson does have some interesting thoughts on Facebook's over-aggressive anti-spam policy.

Dev Chair: Keep sharp, stay valuable

Resident developer Alex Hung offers up some valuable advice for honing your skills even when your current job is far too easy for you. Only the strong survive, and one day you're going to be looking for another job. So why not contribute to open source projects, take evening classes, or actually show your bosses that there might be a better way of doing things.

ZoneAlarm ForceField protects your browsing session - DLS interview

Most of the threats to our computers come from the web. So while firewalls, anti-virus, and anti-spyware applications are great, sometimes what you really need is a way to protect your browsing session. At least, that's the premise behind ZoneAlarm's latest security offering.

Preview of Nero 8 - DLS interview

Nero is set to release the latest version of its popular CD/DVD burning suite next week. We got a chance to ask Nero technical director Craig Campbell a few questions about what sets Nero 8 apart from Nero 7. In a nutshell: a few performance enhancements and a whole bunch of visual tweaks.

Here are a few more of our most popular articles from the week:

• DreamScene animated desktop for Windows Vista launches
• Facebook IM launching soon
• Is Gmail getting a facelift?
• Windows extends XP sales
• Excel can't do math (unles 850*77.1=100,000)

Nero 8 is due out next week, although if you look around, you might be able to find a download link today. The latest version of Nero's popular CD/DVD burning suite includes support for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD videos, uploading videos to websites including YouTube, and MySpace, and a new disc recovery tool that lets you salvage data from corrupted CDs and DVDs.

Probably the most striking thing about Nero 8 is how clean and simple the user interface is when compared with Nero 7. We caught up with Nero technical director Craig Campbell at ShowStoppers in New York, and he told us that the company has put a lot of work into improving the interface. But there are also some improvements under the hood. Campbell says Nero 8 loads faster, and is optimized for dual-core and quad-core processors.

A full version of Nero 8 will set you back $100 if you buy it in a box, $80 if you download it from Nero's website, or $60 if you're upgrading from Nero 7.

Sure, Nero 8 is due out on October 1st. But if you can't wait to get your hands on the next version of this popular CD/DVD burning application, you can download a trial version at Softpedia today.

What's intriguing is that word on the street is that there's a full version of the software floating around the BitTorrent networks already. There's a good chance it's the same version you can download legitimately from SoftPedia. So if you want to avoid the $80 license fee, it might not be too hard to find an active serial number.

Not that we'd condone or even recommend pirating the software. All we're saying is that if a legal download site like Softpedia is going to release your company's software weeks ahead of schedule, you'd best have a system in place to sell people registration codes. Because right now, it looks like you can download a free trial, and you can pre-order Nero 8 from the official website. But you can't legally buy the program until October 1st, which could lead some folks to find alternate methods of unlocking the product.

[via Technoworld]

Nero has announced that it will release the next version of its popular CD/DVD burning suite on October 1.

Nero 8 will include a new interface for burning and ripping audio and video discs. The software is optimized for Windows Vista, and includes support for creating Blu-Ray and HD-DVD video discs.

Other updates include:

• Upload videos to Youtube, MySpace, and My Nero with one click
• Nero RescueAgent lets you restore deleted files and recover data from damaged discs.
• Run Nero DiscCopy gadget from the Windows Vista sidebar to copy discs with one click

Nero 8 will cost $100 if you buy the retail box. Or you can save $20 by downloading it from Nero's website.