Rating: 
Summary: Great when it works!!!!
Review: I have been using this software for a few months and loved it until I ugraded my CD Burner to an AOPEN 2440 CD Burner. The CD CREATOR PLATINUM just does not recognize the new hardware, so I returned the new CD Writer drive and bought an LG 16x 10x 40x which is a great CD writer and actually comes with the CD Creator 4 software. Even though CD Creator 4 works with the new burner the Platinum version doesn't and I haven't been able to find a way to use it since I have the new hardware. MAJOR COMPATIBILITY PROBLEMS, and neither the Hardware companies nor the software companies have a FIX.
Rating: 
Summary: Be sure to look at the REAL problem
Review: I purchased the 5 version, and installed it on Win98 SE without any problems. Part of that is because I keep every MS (The Thug) product OFF of my machine as possible. MS products do not seem to co-exist with other MS products very well, much less an intruder.
The burner runs well, and the results have been AOK. For those of you the are stuck with or that actually went after the latest MS stuff, you have my sympathy. Win98 SE is currently selling VERY well, and Rixio will most likely come out with a Linux version (soon?) (maybe?).
Rating: 
Summary: Slow, problematic, windows xp nightmare
Review: The famous roxio or Adaptec and some people might know develops vet another crashing software program. Similar to previous verions of easy cd creator this software is NOT STABLE even if you install all the patches. The older version came with my burner and i thought maybe this would be the best but i was wrong. I have found that it is much slower than all other burning software that i tried, and takes way to much resources to run. Its a hog. It does not work well with windows xp (with all patches installed) Get Nero!! (its cheaper and better)
Rating:
Summary: If you have XP, Easy is GARBAGE, GARBAGE, GARBAGE!!!
Review: This is without a doubt the worst software upgrade in the history of CD software, from a software company whose cred was shaky to start with. I just upgraded to XP and subsequently had to upgrade to Roxio's Sleazy CD Destroyer 5 (Easy CD Creator 5) from version 4. While 4 has been *OK* for the past few years I have been running it, I can't say enough bad things about version 5 with XP. The software doesn't work... the patches for XP don't work... MS still won't put their seal of approval on it for good reason. It blew up numerous times for no apparent reason, it has no new functionality over v4, locks your system up repeatedly and slows it down to excruiciating levels, AND the UI is more poorly designed than in version 4.
And you wonder why this product is 33% off retail?
Rating:
Summary: Beware: Installation problems in Windows XP
Review: I recently upgraded from Windows Me to Windows Xp. Before this upgrade, I got to know that Xp wouldn't support ECDC 4.0 version that I had running on my computer. I uninstalled this version and then upgraded to Xp. I bought the new ECDC 5.0 version and tried to install it. Before doing that, I downloaded the Xp upgrade patch and the ECDC 5.03 upgrade patch. ECDC 5.0 install gave me an error message that it couldn't find any "supported drives". I went ahead with the installation anyway. Later, I tried to install the patches by following the instruction given on Roxio website. Both these patches failed to install. I tried un-installing & re-installing a couple of times but to no avail. Then I found a document on Roxio support website to cleanly un-install & re-install the ECDC 5 software. This included booting into a "selective mode" and deleting Adaptec Keys in the registry. I followed the document faithfully but I still had the same problems. I wasn't able to install both the patches and ofcourse, the software wouldn't work. I spent about 3-4 hours on hold, trying to reach the techsupport by phone. And after I reached them finally, they asked to do whatever I did all over again. I did everything they asked me to do and it it was no use. This time, I wrote an email to techsupport and haven't heard back from them for more than a week now. I have almost given up on Roxio techsupport. I did try something different though. I installed ECDC 5.0 without the Direct CD & Take Two part. This time, I was able to install the Xp patch, though the 5.03 patch didn't work. So, I have the CD creator part working, minus Direct CD. Atleast I have something working now (without any help from Tech support). Lets see if they will ever reply back and help me out with the Direct CD part. If people don't want to go through all this trouble, don't try this combination of upgrades to Windows Xp & ECDC 5.0 P.S> If you don't find the TSID on your box, don't worry. You can call Tech support with your purchase information and they will give it to you. But from my experience, Tech support is not useful anyway :(
Rating:
Summary: Biggest SCAM!
Review: The program is great, easy to use and multi-purpose. But, I originally had easy CD creator 4 installed on a New PC bought late summer and as soon as I installed XP a couple of months later for windows. I had no choice but to dish out money for the newest version since a downloadable upgrade patch were of no profit to the ROXIO corp. WHAT A RIP-OFF!
Rating:
Summary: Easy cd creator, hard to install
Review: This product is basically a suped up version of its other software. It has alot of gee whiz gadgets that don't add alot of functionality and it is very hard to install. There are compatibility issues with some of roxio's vxd(driver)files and windows that can cause your computer to not function. I had to reboot in safe mode and uninstall the software several times and finally had to disable several of the drivers to get it to function . Roxio's support is also nonexistant for this software. If you have a problem and want to call them it will cost you $35. The only other option is to use their online tech support. But you need a TDIS number located on the computer box(hope you didn't throw it out like me)to access the technical support. You can get a new TDIS number if you call the company with proof of purchase. Thats alot of trouble for something that costs more than other reasonable alternatives
Rating:
Summary: No Problems Easy to Use
Review: This software works perfectly and is really easy to use. It performs very well. It makes great Music CD's. I confess I haven't used it for much else. Overall I am very happy with it. If you try to use this product with Windows XP make sure you download the appropriate patch or you will have problems.
Rating:
Summary: If it only worked....
Review: I installed the Easy CD creator on my Windows ME system, at first all seemed well. The options for creating CD's are nice. You can choose an easy cut and dry method, or use another method to go a bit more in depth. The easy method was just that, easy. It has a "normalizer" so all of your tracks come out at the same volume. (...). The first CD I made using the "normalizer" sounded like all the lead vocalists were sick. That was CD number 1. My second attempt was with the more in depth option, which has cool options. You can crossfade the tracks into each other, stuff like that...JUNK. I put 20 traks on the CD and eight of them were chopped in half. Not user error, software error. The song appeared to be fully in tact when I previewed the CD...final product (was bad). That was CD #2, and the last one Easy CD Creator let me make. After burning my first CD, I noticed some of the program tools stopped working, should have been a clue, but I pressed on. After the second CD, the program would not recognize my blank CD's as such. Every time I put one in the CDR, I got a message that I needed to put a blank CD in the drive. I know what you're thinkning, I was using CD's that were not blank...WRONG. Unless Sony sold me a package of CDR's with information already on them. I exited out of the program and started it over, then the real problems began. As soon as the program came up, my computer would lock up, lock up so hard that I had to cut power to get it to reboot. Then the real fun...some how Roxio created a self contained H-bomb in the format of a program. My hard drive debveloped a case of bad sectors the very same day I installed Easy CD 5. I could get my computer to boot, but then all I could use it for was a paper weight after windows start. I finally had to reformat my hard drive...without Easy CD creator, and now all is good. I know what you're thinking, "it had to have been something else". This all happened last month, since I reformatted, minus the Easy CD...I have had no problems. The day I nearly tossed my computer out of the window, I gave the Roxio program to my worst enemy, he hates it. Well, maybe not an enemy...but the friend that wanted it, after I warned him not to install it, is still mad at me for unleashing (...) that is Easy CD creator on him. 1 star was one too many for this piece of (...).
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Summary: Warning Windows 2000 Pro Users
Review: WARNING If you try and load Easy CD Creator 5.0 Platinum edition on a computer (running Windows 2000 professional and boots from a SCSI hard drive using an Adaptec Controller card) put your (money) back into your pocket and step away from the product. Here is my horror story. I had been running Easy CD creator 4.0 and was interested in version 5.0 for some features that would help me in transferring my old LP collection to CD. I tried to get an update, but I guess the fact that I had 4.0 registered on line was not sufficient to qualify. The ongoing emails were not worth the cost savings, so I decided just to shell out the (money) and get a full retail version. Since Version 4.0 was purchased when it was part of Adaptec (and now is was Roxio), I guess computer registration information doesn't translate between companies. On Saturday I was in (a local store) and decided to purchase the full version. It would have been less painful for me to just burn the (money) instead of going through the events of the following week. I want to point out the packaging clearly states this product works with Windows 2000. The only disclaimer is that it won't work on Windows 2000 server. I went to upgrade from version 4.0 to version 5.0. Most well written software, from the same vendor, knows how to handle an upgrade from one version to another. Not in this case, after the reboot the screen put up an error message stating no supportable CD/RW device was detected. After further investigation, the event log reported errors that DCOM could not find specified file. I then read the installation instructions that said to uninstall version 4.0 first. With that information I knew I needed to uninstall version 5.0. First it told me it could not uninstall because it did not have rights to delete a registry key that the installation process created. I had to go into the registry to change the rights on the KEY so I could manually delete it. Now, I could complete uninstalling version 5.0. Then I removed version 4.0 with out any problems. I rebooted the computer and tried to install Version 5.0 and got the same results it did not work. I then visited Roxio's WEB site and downloaded the patches that were posted. I uninstalled version 5.0 and had the same rights issue with the registry. Now I tried to install version 5.0 using the instructions from the WEB. The instructions say to apply both patches before doing the reboot of the computer. The first patch loaded fine. The update patch said no valid version of Roxio product was detected on this machine or something to that effect. I rebooted thinking maybe the registry needed to be refreshed and tried to load the update and got the same error message. I am now into Sunday with this problem. I decided that since the computer has been running for over a year with no major problems that maybe the registry has some corruption. So, I reload the Windows 2000 operating system. Same result as before, version 5.0 still does not load correctly. Now my weekend is gone, and I am at work Monday morning. I decide to call Roxio's tech support line. The line is not toll free. I was on hold for one hour before a technician came onto the line. I tell him the problem and the configuration of my computer. He tells me he has heard of this before, and said the fix is to uninstall the Adaptec SCSI card and load the software. He also says that I need to go into the registry and delete any key that makes reference to Adaptec. This sent shivers down my spine!
My problem is I have no IDE drive and boot from the SCSI subsystem. At the technician's suggestion, I removed the Adaptec drivers replaced, them with the generic drivers, hacked the registry, and loaded version 5.0. I rebooted the computer and got the same error messages. Now I have a new problem. The computer detects the Adaptec card and wants to load the appropriate drivers. So, I do. Every time I reboot the computer it detects the Adaptec controller and wants to load the drives. This obviously was a result of hacking at the registry. To fix this problem, I had to reload Windows 2000. Monday night I decided to go to Roxio's WEB site and post the problem on line. I can't afford an hour of long distant charges to their tech support. I recap the problems and ask for a document that would allow me to take this product back to (the store) and get my money back. (The store) will not take back software they will only exchange software with bad media for same software.) This is not bad media, just bad programming. Wednesday I get e-mail from tech support suggesting something else to try. There is no mention of me getting my money back. I try the suggestions, same results. I went back to the WEB site, posted the results. It's been almost a week now and all I have for my (money) is a shiny box the software came in, an hour of long distant phone charges and an unstable computer from trying to load Easy CD Creator 5.0. I have a feeling, the ploy at this point, is to keep running suggestions to me until the free support runs out so they can charge me more money. I am not that stupid Roxio. Save yourself and stay far, far, far, far away from Easy CD Creator 5.0. At this point I will not even install Easy CD creator 4.0. I am researching other CD burning software solutions. Rick Shope
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