Nero 6 Ultra Edition

Rating:
Summary: Hidden Limitation On Ripping from CD to MP3
Review: Product box leads you to believe that you can rip CD to MP3 and then write a CD with tracks you like. As soon as you start out they inform you that in order to rip more than 30 tracks you will have to give them more money. I could find no mention of this annoying restriction until the software was installed.

Rating:
Summary: Good burning software and lots of extras
Review: To earn my recommendation, Nero 6 needed to be great at burning Data DVD-Rs and CD-Rs and in the few weeks I've had it, it *has* been great for that. The interface to the main burner is (as usual) a wizard or 'full' interface. Both are fairly intuitive and easy to use. It's clear how you create a multi or single-session disc, ISO image, disc copy etc. And as far as I have used it in the short time I've had it, the burns are clean (no coasters) and burning runs easily concurrent with other low-resource applications. It's very fully-featured in terms of it's data capabilities but of course doesn't support creating video DVDs without the additional appropriate video creation software.

There is a lot more in the Nero 6 Ultra package, however, then just burning software. There's a decent backup/resore utility, CD/DVD cover designer software, image drive allowing you to mount CDs or DVDs as if they were in a drive (I was unable to play games without the CD which were mounted with this utility, but this is probably because the games were originally installed from a physical CD drive).

As a former audio engineer, I was also nicely surprised to find a sound track and wave editor combo complete with multi-track effects chains. Basic compared to professional editors, but very nice to see and have if you are creating audio CDs.

The CD-DVD speed test utility is also simple but nice, of more interest is the Drive Speed tool, which can actually help you adjust the operation of your burner and other optical drives in terms of their spin times and read speeds.

Overall, Nero 6 Ultra is a great product.

Rating:
Summary: Essential piece of software
Review: I have only one word for Nero: wonderful! Nero 5 was ok but version 6 is simply wonderful. With more features than you could ever possibly need, it's extras are a great improvement over version 5 which was basically an experts version, this one is for the rest of of us, but still contains the geek's version if you want it. Very reliable, and simply the best CD/DVD recording software out there. Buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Nero ROCKS! Best program for faithful CD burning!
Review: I've tried both this program and Roxio's latest Easy CD Creator Platinum edition. Both have their pros and cons, however, in this reviewer's opinion Nero has the competition beat hands down.

The biggest thing Roxio has going for it is the extremely user-friendly interface. It's basically CD & DVD burning for dummies. Roxio also has a very simple to use utility for mixing songs on a CD that works great! Roxio's DVD authoring software is actually pretty great too... and, again, easy to use.

Nero has a bit of a learning curve because it is loaded with so many features and settings, but it is (by far) well worth the patience! In the long run you will be much happier with Nero because you can do almost anything you want and it burns PERFECT CDs every time. EVERY TIME! I don't know what some of the other reviewers were talking about when they complained of buggy behavior and difficulty installing and un-installing. I have never had a single problem with any of these situations.

My biggest disappointment with Roxio's Easy CD Creator is that it does NOT support overburning of CD's and the amount of editing capabilities is limited. Like I said before, Nero takes some getting used to, but once you do, the editing option are really pretty cool! I burned my share of frisbees with Roxio and that's always discouraging. By far it's one of the most common complaints I've heard of Roxio users.

Nero, on the otherhand, does allow over-burning (program recommends a setting or user can set it to whatever they want) and tons of editing features! Not to mention, I have never burned a frisbee with Nero. NEVER! It's really that good! Nero also burns FAST and makes perfect CD to CD copies! It also has a great backup program. The DVD authoring utility, while a little more complex than Roxio's, does work quite well. Great program!!!

Some users have complained about Nero's InCD program. Personally I don't use it, but I have used it before. It's true that it seems to have chellenges in Windows XP, but I have gotten it to work and work fine! I think it has something to do with how Windows XP handles packet writing. I have not used Roxio's equivalent to this either so I can't adequately compare the two on this point.

Nero's latest release is also far easier to operate compared to older versions, but all the stability and functionality of the older versions remain intact. Old fans of Nero will have no argument with the new layout. In fact, there are two interfaces that users can toggle between; an expert mode and a beginner mode. Vetrans of Nero will feel right at home with the expert interface, while newbies will take right to the beginner interface. Not to mention the fact that Nero has also included a nifty Start Smart guide (similar to Roxio's control panel), which makes it so easy to get right where you want to go. And who uses manuals these days anyway? Play with the program for several minutes and you'll be burning CDs in no time. The layout is not the most user-friendly, but it is intuitive and if you have a clue about anything you'll catch on in no time.

Nero is also totally stable and does the job wonderfully! I don't care what the nay-sayers say here. I believe I am (what you could call) an experienced user! I have used both programs quite extensively (on multiple systems) and Nero is still my absolute favorite! It's not buggy like users of Roxio's program (myself included) have frequently complained about. Roxio has improved their program considerably compared to older versions and it is more stable and burns faster than older versions. In fact, specs show that Roxio beats Nero just by a fraction on burn speed. I do agree that non-savy computer users will also appreciate Roxio's almost idiot-proof interface, but I still must recommend Nero over the competition. It is, by far, the most complete, most stable, most feature-laiden CD burning program available!

I wish Nero had an OEM version like Roxio does, but even at $80 bucks, it's still worth every penny!!! GET IT!!! If you want to burn perfect CDs EVERY TIME, buy Nero and forget about Roxio!

Rating:
Summary: New release fixes bait and switcheroo...
Review: ...I noted in my last review.

With version 6.3.1.6 the Dolby decoders for AC3 (2Ch and 5.1) are now includeded with the Nero package. The only one NOT included is the MP3 encoder. There is still a 30 song limit for that and then you have to pay $20. I realize that the certain Frauenhauer Institut patents have to paid for, but they charge only pennies per MP3. Given the fact that other encoders, such as WinMedia are free or cheap (Winamp at $14.95 for the complete pkg), there can be no explanation other than greed for this.

But, as I said, the good news is that the RETAIL and not the OEM version (to MY knowledge; if you know different please let me know).

Now that I've had a chance to use Nero Vision and Recode and their excellent media player, I have to say they were fairly easy to learn quickly and I was able to burn a VCD copy of one of my daughter's favorite DVDs (she's tearing the darn things up!) on the first attempt with no problems. If you've largely been using free products for this, then it may take some getting used to.

But at least Ahead finally got a clue and stopped the bait-and-switch nonsense. Now you don't have to pay another $60 plus dollars to get your $80 package to run. If they fix the MP3, the package will be nearly flawless.

One drawback for those with slower, previous generation processor, I'm running a 2.8gHz P4 HT--which is basically a dual processor system--and the encoding process of NVE and Recode was CPU intensive. My system with is 800MhZ front side bus and muscular CPU could handle it. Trying to do it with a PIII 500 might prove a problem.

Just a thought.

Rating:
Summary: Nero Should Be Burned!
Review: I read the bad reviews prior to purchasing the full version of Nero Ultra 6. Why didn't I listen? Because, there were a few good reviews from people who sounded like they were experts and indicated the bad reviewers just were not capable of understanding the software. I understand the software...I understand that it does not know how to recognize a CD from a DVD. I also understand that it will burn an entire DVD full of data and say mission accomplished...no problems. But, when you spot check the DVD you find some of the files can not be opened. This is a really bad thing. Especially if you've already removed these important files from your hard drive. When a person burns data on a CD or DVD to free up space on their hard drive, they need to have confidence that all the data was recorded properly. After burning several DVD's (these aren't cheap) I have confidence that Nero will NOT record all the data you feed it, but will tell you it did. Still want to buy this product? Please listen to me...I've worked with a lot of software over the years (including Nero 5.5 which had bugs), and I know how to properly utilize the programs if they CAN be used successfully. I'm reasonably sure now that the positive reviews of Nero Ultra 6 Edition were written by representatives who receive a paycheck from Ahead Software.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Support, Conflicts and Slowness Plaque Nero
Review: I purchased Nero 6 Ultra Edition with high hopes. Unfortunately the software has many application conflicts running on Windows 2000 (current service pack), inablity of InCD to format or erase CD-RWs, and suffers from poor technical support.

Nero support's attempts to help me were good at first. They even sent me software to help resolve the conflicts with applications and direct writing to my my Plextor CD-R drive. Unfortunately even the software they sent to assist me didn't operate as they indicated it would. After a few back and forths, Nero support essentially threw up their hands and gave up.

So I removed Nero 6 Ultra and installed Roxio Easy CD Creator. Now not only are my conflicts gone, but Windows Explorer file copies to CD-RWs have gone from six minutes (Nero 6 Ultra) to 30 seconds (Roxio Easy CD Creator).

Nero can fiddle all they want, but I will stay out of Rome!

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Roxio Creator 7
Review: I found DVD compatibilty issues with Nero during playback that Creator 7 did not have. There are also a lot more features and an easier user interface in Creator 7.

Rating:
Summary: No issues burning audio CD's under XP
Review: I download (legally) a lot of live music recordings (mostly Grateful Dead). I needed software that would play nice with Windows XP and that would allow me to say "no" to two-second gaps between tracks. So my needs were pretty basic. Perhaps I was lucky, but I've used this product without incident since early February 2004. In that time I've burned roughly about 200 audio discs without a single coaster. The only reason I do not give it five stars is because I haven't had occasion yet to exercise anywhere near the full capability it's supposed to have. No, I did not get a cut from Ahead Software.

I use "SmartStart" - I find the interface intuitive and easy to use.

I've never reviewed a book, CD, video or software product here before (although I've bought all the above from Amazon), but was inclined to do so now because I had a good experience (so far) and the comments on this product seem to vary a lot.

It's working so well, I've never gone to the Nero site to get updates - I'm afraid they'll screw it up.

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile upgrade for the DVD tools
Review: I used the retail version of Nero 5.5 for 2 years. The learning curve on Nero 5.5 was rather steep (compared to EZ CD Creator), and I ended up just using it to burn CD's and VCD's while using other software for MP3 encoding and video/audio editing.

I recently bought a DVD burner and now need DVD-savvy software. The DVD and video tools in NeroVision Express (NVE) that came with Nero 5.5 didn't impress me. I have Magix Video Deluxe 2.0 for video editing, and it came with DVD burning tools, but it was so buggy at dealing with large MPEG files that I desperately had to look elsewhere. So I have been trying out Nero Ultra 6.3.1.15 for the past week strictly on the DVD functions, since I know that CD (and VCD) functions worked flawlessly in Nero 5.5. The basic Nero Burning Rom user interface in 6 Ultra isn't much better than 5.5, although it's prettier. The Nero StartSmart interface is a lot better than Nero Wizard. It took a few minutes to get used to StartSmart, but now I'm sold on it.

NeroVision Express 2 (NVE2) is quite an upgrade over NVE, especially since the DVD encoding tools don't require an extra-cost add-in. I was able to pull in large (1 Gb) files with only a few seconds delay for loading each file (Video Deluxe can take up to 10 minutes each), split/crop them inside NVE2, add chapter markers, and create decent DVD menus.

I made a 2 hr 10 min (4.2 Gb) DVD using a mix of clips from 8mm video via an ATI All-In-Wonder analog capture card, MiniDV, and photo slideshow output from Video Deluxe (it has a lot more transition effects than NVE2, and still works pretty well for small files of up to a few meg). I was able to burn them to DVD+RW and DVD-RW with only minor startup issues on a 1.1GHz Athlon and NEC ND-1200AD DVD dual-format burner with Windows 2000. The 4.2 Gb file took 15 hours to encode to DVD format files on the hard drive. But actual burning takes 25-40 minutes depending on media type. There was little online or help documentation to explain the benefits of encoding to the hard drive, but it will save time if you need to burn the same project multiple times. Most notably, I am able to do almost everything using the tools in Nero 6 Ultra - something not possible (or at least with satisfactory results) with Nero 5.5.

Nero Cover Designer is quite handy. It's powerful enough for the enthusiast, with basic text, image, and database tools. But it's not for professional graphic artists who need borders around text, translucent fills, or aligning objects with each other.

Small problems I ran into with the DVD creation process:
1. One bug I found in NVE2 was not being able to splice more than one movie clip back-to-back with one another on-the-fly - it allows you to do it, but produces an obscure error at the start of the burn process. The workaround was to add each movie clip separately and list them as separate movies (with their own chapters) on the DVD menu, or use NVE2 to combine multiple clips, export them to a single clip, and then use only the new combined clip.

2. Another more annoying bug with NVE2's DVD encoding is that audio will sometimes lose sync with the video by a few seconds. I'm not sure what exactly causes this or how to fix it, but I can live with it for what I'm doing.

3. Nero Cover Designer has an annoying bug in the user-defined Paper Stocks utility where you are not allowed to specify paper orientation, yet it defaults in portrait (which is useless for doing something such as a custom DVD insert stock). You can't modify the predefined stocks either.

These are relatively minor problems. It was very stable, and never crashed Windows. I'm satisfied enough that I will spend the money to upgrade from 5.5 to 6.3 just for the new DVD features in NVE2. But if I was just burning CDs, VCDs, and MP3s, I'd stick with Nero 5.5. I would have given it 5/5 stars if it didn't have the audio/video sync problem.