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Filed under: Utilities, Blogging, Freeware, Op-Ed

Appfail: Nero 9 Free - of good reasons to install it, that is

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.

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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

Excellent free burning program ImgBurn turns 2.5


Last year, some of our commenters steered me toward ImgBurn as a Nero alternative, and it's been my CD and DVD recording app of choice ever since. It's an excellent lightweight program, handles just about every kind of disc-related task imaginable, and it's totally free.

Version 2.5 boasts a big list of additions, changes, and bugfixes, though the core functionality remains the same. It still burns discs and creates images as well as any program out there (if not better).

ImgBurn can also run as a portable app, perfect for carrying on your USB flash drive for burning on the go. Portable Freeware offers the following easy steps to convert the installer:
Download the installer and extract (using 7zip or similar) to a folder of your choice. Remove $PLUGINSDIR and [NSIS].nsi. Create an empty file called ImgBurn.ini in the same folder. Launch using "ImgBurn.exe /portable".
The author suggests a paltry $2 donation for those who wish to support the program. If you feel like kicking in a couple bucks, you can do it via Paypal.

Filed under: Audio, Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

5 great free CD and DVD burning apps for Windows


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!

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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Freeware, Troubleshooting

Help! I need a free app to convert DAA and UIF files!

Download Squad reader David contacted us, asking for a solution to his problem and it's one I've dealt with myself: fighting with the proprietary disc image formats of MagicISO and UltraISO.

"I've been looking through the web for some free program to do this for me and I haven't had any luck. UltraISO and MagicISO are great programs, but I just don't have the money to dish 30 bucks on each [one]."

First off, let's be honest. If you're dealing with a UIF or DAA, it's very likely a disc image of a program or game you torrented (this may or may not have been my own experience). If you're extracting, mounting, or burning something like that, you may as well just torrent MagicISO or UltraISO too and be done with it. I'm certainly not going to judge anyone for doing that.

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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Free ISO Creator creates images in three easy steps



I don't do a lot of ISO creation, so when I do find myself needing to compile an image I like a nice, uncomplicated app to get the job done.

Free ISO Creator's self-explanatory interface makes the process about as easy as it can get. Browse for files and folders to add, choose where you'd like your ISO to be saved, and click convert. It's speedy, compiling my test CD in about 12 seconds.

Bootable images can be created, and CD, DVD-5, and DVD-9 are supported, and you can also specify your ISO to be created as ISO 9660 or UDF. I'd get in to more detail, but this is a simple, straightforward app, and there's nothing at all tricky about using it.

Free ISO Creator is a 1mb free download for Windows only.

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, Beta

That took long enough: Windows 7 can burn ISO files


It obviously hasn't been a priority for Microsoft in the past, but it looks like another one of Windows' minor shortcomings has finally been addressed.

Yes, at long last your Microsoft OS will know what to do with an ISO file. While I'm sure none of us are going to forsake our favorite burning applications when and if we do switch to Windows 7, it's nice to see simple, useful features like this being implemented.

The process is so simple, even novice users will be able to burn an image with no trouble. Double-click an ISO, and Windows 7 opens a minimalistic dialog: choose a burner, select whether or not to verify your burn, and burn/cancel.

It works nicely, and it's definitely the kind of simple, functional addition that is making my test drive of Windows 7 an enjoyable one. Look for more Windows 7 updates as we get more time to play work with it!

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Productivity

Create Printed Paper Sleeves for Your Burned CDs and DVDs



The 'net is a great place to get your hands on music and movies, but if you're like me you sometimes have difficulty remembering to label the disc or its container.

Liquid Mongoose
has created a clever web app that will create a custom paper sleeve from any AOL Music album page or Netflix DVD page. All you need to do is drag the bookmarklet link to your Firefox toolbar or add it to your favorites in IE.

Visit the page of the album or movie you want to sleeve, click the bookmark, and go to file -> print preview. Voila! Just make sure your page is set to print at 100% and not fit to page, or the sleeve may not look correct after folding.

CD sleeves contain album artwork and details and a full track listing, while DVDs print a cover shot, synopsis, and rating information.

The template doesn't print fold lines, so you'll want to check out the tutorial video at the bottom of the Liquid Mongoose page. It's a pretty simple operation, and very easy to master. Full props for the application, but the LM logo is a little unsightly. I'll be GIMPing it out until it looks a little better.

Filed under: Features, Windows, Commercial, Freeware, Analysis

5 Apps You Run That Suck, and 5 Replacements That Don't

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.

Read more →

Filed under: Utilities, Macintosh, Freeware

LiquidCD offers full-featured disc burning for Macs

Mac OS X does a great job of integrating CD/DVD burning into the iLife suite and Finder, but LiquidCD unifies your disc-burning needs in one easy-to-use (and free!) program. LiquidCD lets you create basic audio CD's and data CD's or DVD's, but it also adds the handy ability to burn multiple disc image formats like .cue, .iso, and .dmg.

LiquidCD, which is available in 15 different languages, is a great alternative to Mac OS X's built-in burning tools, especially if you want to bypass iPhoto or iTunes so you can burn a simple project. You may have a folder of songs on your USB drive that you don't want added to your iTunes library. With LiquidCD you can plug your drive in, select the songs you want to be burned, and have a CD burning in seconds.

Filed under: Utilities, Macintosh, Shareware

Disc burning on the easy with Disco

DiscoDisco is a relatively new Mac OS X disc burning application that strives for simplicity, functionality, and good looks. It supports common disc burning activities (creating data CDs and DVDs, disc imaging, creating audio and MP3 CDs) but also packs a ton of other handy features: CUE/BIN burning, multiple file system support (Hybrid, HFS+, UDF, Joliet, ISO 9660), disc spanning support, and more. It's unique interface is intuitive, yet minimalist - you insert a disc, it asks if you want to save it to a disc image; you insert a blank CD or DVD, it asks what you would like to burn. My favorite feature is the smoke animation it emits during disc burning. Authored by Austin Sarner (creator of AppZapper), it's currently available as a public beta, but is also available for pre-purchase at a discounted rate of $14.95.

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

burnatonce: Versatile CD burning app for Windows

burnatonce is a Windows front-end for the open source cdrdao and mkisofs CD burning tools. In other words, it's a free, fast, versatile, and minimal way to burn CDs. Though its interface may not be as polished as, say, Nero's, burnatonce has most of the features you're used to, like support for bootable and multi-session discs, audio CD burning from MP3, Ogg, and FLAC files, ISO, TOC, and CUE image support, drag-and-drop, and more. Not bad for a 3.8MB free download.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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