Rating: 
Summary: Buy Nero instead.
Review: I gave this program to my Dad when I got Nero Burning ROM with my new writer. I don't miss it at all...
Rating: 
Summary: CD Burning
Review: I bought this software to use with XP and my edition is "rev c". I loaded the CD and then downloaded the patches from roxio before rebooting. So far so good. I especially like the ability to burn the photos so that the CD opens with a slide show when loaded.
I'm looking forward to using more features................
Rating: 
Summary: This software is dreadful
Review: I purchased a copy of Platinum 5.1 and after 2 days of attempts and about 4 hours of technical support I was told that the software couldn't be installed on my PC (which met the required system configuration) and that they often had problems with installation on Windows Me. However I was entitled to a refund. Unfortunately I would have to send the software to America to be able to action the refund which would probably cost me as much as I paid for the software in the first place! Do not touch this product unless you know it works on your PC. In addition, don't assume that because you've had a previous version you will be able to upgrade. Version 4 standard works fine on my PC but Platinum 5.1 won't even install!
Rating: 
Summary: Easy or not
Review: My first impressions, I haven't had a chance to really get deep into playing with it:
Even though ECDC has many new options, it really lacks in documentation, particularly in the troubleshooting area. One thing I can't understand is why a CDRW created on one computer don't work on another computer that also has ECDC 5 installed. The troubleshooting guides included and online don't address this issue.
As for customer support, I sent in an email to their tech support well over 2 weeks ago, and to this date (4-1-02) have not received a reply.
Another annoying little detail is the project selector that resides in your tool bar running in the background. There's no option to stop it from loading during a bootup. I had to edit my registry manually to keep it from starting. However, there are more configuration settings in this version than in the past.One good thing I noticed, after upgrading from V3.5c, if you select the "Do not show this again" for the popup window telling you a CD was ejected, it will continue to work even after a reboot. Before you had to select it every session. Even though Scandisk and Undelete is located in the project selector, there are no shortcuts created in the startup menu. I find this to be annoying since I don't want the project selector running full time. I manually created these two shortcuts. For you people that haven't done so yet, go to their website and download the updates. It fixes some bugs and identifies more CDRW drives.
Rating:
Summary: Good software, but not what I need :(
Review: It was EZ 2 install - went right in. A very elaborate and sophisticated program, especially considering what it does, yet rather EZ 2 use. I was able to figure the basic functionality and use it without touching the manual (I hate manuals - never read 'em!). And it all worked - did everything it was supposed to. However, the quality of the output files was unacceptable. I believe this is a characteristic of the MPEG format, and NOT anything at fault with this software. My primary interest is (was?) to convert large AVI files (600+ MEG; I am creating Animated Fractal videos) into smaller files for CD distribution; I was considering Video CD format. The resulting output files from this software were much smaller, yes, but also much less in quality than the original AVI. There is a nifty feature to create a self-displaying executable file from any video clip also, but it too lacks quality. Sooo...I guess I am stuck with AVI for now. And as it happens, my TV-DVD player is one of those that will not read Video CD format! As for system requirement, I used a P4-2GHz, 512Meg Ram and converting these large files took only 10-30 minutes.
Rating:
Summary: BAD....Very BAD program.
Review: Run like hell away from this program. I have not been able to
successfully burn a data CD yet. It keeps crashing my computer. It starts out ok and then freezes after about 25% of the process. It ruined many CD's and each time I had to shut down my PC by pulling the power cord. I could not reboot normally. Yes, I followed the instructions accurately. By the way, I am running windows XP. You have been warned. RUN LIKE HELL away from it.
Rating:
Summary: So many XP Problems!
Review: If you want to learn everthing there is to know about XP then this product is the one for you. I had so many problems and with no customer support, that I truly became an expert in how to remove software from my computer. Finally I tried NTI's CD MAKER 2000 and NERO. Both products actually worked with no problems, unlike ROXIO. I went with NTI CD MAKER 2000, just liked to user interface, price and customer service a bit better than NERO, but I really like things simple.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of features- a bit complicated if you use XP
Review: We were forced into dumping our Easy CD Creator 4 when we upgraded the computer to Windows XP. If you've done the same I can imagine we share the same frustration at the amounts of money we've both spent in follow-up upgrades moving to the new Windows Operating System. As the other writers tell you, if you're installing onto Windows XP, you also need to download an updated version from the website in addition to your new $100 software (do you sense a "hint" of irritation there?). Let me say right off-- If you are not using XP, and have the option go ahead and stick with the old version 4.0-- there is not that much difference between the two. Having gone through all that, let me say the program otherwise is great. It has everything you need to rip CDs, create MP3 files, create new audio, data, photo and video CDs-- including a verion that can beplayed on many DVD players. It's a beautiful piece of software that everyone should have on their system.
Rating:
Summary: WORST SOFTWARE IN THE MARKET TODAY
Review: Aside from the fact that this software is handicapped due to all the viruses that render the sucker completely helpless, is an expensive way to find out that this software does not provide the utilities it's supposed to provide. The software does not record... let me reiterate, the software does not record Music CDs as it is supposed to. In addition to not being able to record, this software, has many problems such as the fact that if you add a shortcut to your desktop, the menu comes out in a screen that gets cut off. What I mean by this is that the menu does not show all the options through the shortcuts. Therefore, you can't put a shortcut on your desktop because you can't use it. Futhermore, if you have Windows XP, you have to download additional utilities to have it function with windows xp. Two additional drivers need to be downloaded and installed because it it isn't compatible. So I did what every human being with reason would do: Call technical support. As you know it, their tech support does not provide an online cutomer service due to the cost that they need to incurr to help every single person out there with their terrible software. When I called tech support -- which by the way, you have to call during THEIR business hours which is like a 3 hour window -- the techie cannot help you solve the problem. Instead, I was instructed to call someone else, later on. When you actually find the time to get away from your boss for some two hours (somewhat difficult for people that really work), you are given random instructions, to delete, reinstall, delete other applications, etc. In essence, if you have other software in your computer... then forget about it. Be ready to be completely annoyed and frustrated, and waste $100.00 of your money in a useless software that does not work. The next option would be to report their products to the Better Business Bureau, or some agency that will help you get your money back.
Don't buy this software, it's useless!!
Rating:
Summary: I downgraded back to Easy CD Creator 4
Review: I used Easy CD Creator 4 for a long time since it comes with all Dell computers. Then, at some point, I decided to upgrade to version 5 Platinum. After 4 months, I unistalled version 5 and returned back to the good old version 4 for the following reasons: 1) Version 5 platinum tends to crash when writing CDs; in my experience, it damaged about one CD out of every 5 that I burned. The program would start writing, and then would give an error message that an internal error has occured, thus rendering the CD useless. The error message is so generic and obscure that I could never figure out what was the reason of the problem.
2) After you use the CD-writing program or the CD-copier, the Direct-CD driver stops working, cannot be unloaded, and prevents Windows 2k from shutting down properly.
3) The interface is more confusing than in the version 4. Many features are duplicated in an "easy" and "advanced" versions of essentially the same thing. The program seems to be working slower than version 4 (it appears that it reads from CD-ROM with the same speed as it would write on it). Retrieval of the track lists from the Internet does not always work. I tried installing all patches available on the web, but without success. The only two things which I really liked about this program is the built-in mp3 encoding/decoding, and a significantly improved jewel case creator. But these features are useless if the program crashes all the time!
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