Sorry for another late review, things were a bit hectic for our graduate class so I had very little time to assess stuff, much less review my posts for typo so I’m doing it at work (Bad sylv3r!).

The first name that comes into mind when mentioning cd/dvd authoring is Nero because OEM versions of their software is included in almost any Optical Drive with writing capabilities (CD-RW, DVD+/-RW, etc).

While it may seem good enough for some, users who spend much of their time working with their authoring software will notice that any if not all of the programs in the Nero OEM suite is limited in terms of features which will sometimes force you to buy a license for a full version and a resource hog which will bog down your system as soon as you start burning anything.

Then there’s also the case of navigation. If a casual user wanted to burn something with Nero, he needs to through Nero Smartstart THEN launch Nero Burning Rom (the alternative is to go to the start menu and launch Nero Burning Rom directly). While the launcher is appreciated when you have the whole suite (with a license of course) installed, it isn’t very practical if you only have the authoring software on your PC.

There are many alternatives to Nero however; a plethora of “good” softwares and some that just stand out. One of those is CDBurnerXP.

What is CDBurnerXP?
It is a free application (Closed Source though) to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn from and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. There are no Pro or trial versions. CDBurnerXP is free for individuals as well as businesses.

Key Features:

• Copy on the fly: Source to media via same or alternative drive
• Burn all kinds of discs: CD, DVD+/-R, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, etc
• Author audio-CDs: with or without gaps. There’s support for MP3, WAV, OGG, WMA, and FLAC files. Allows for adding tracks from audio CDs without ripping them first (cda-files).
• Create bootable discs
• Burn from and create ISO files
• Data verification after burning process
• Dropbox: Drag and Drop functionality so you don’t have to go through the file explorer to add files.
• Multi-language interface
• bin/nrg to ISO converter
• Supports overburning:(from the FAQ “just add as much data to CD layout as possible and .. ignore warning messages if any”)
• Simple cover printing
• Windows Supports: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista

The only problem I’ve encountered with CDBurnerXP so far (aside from typing and retyping such a long name) is that there is a limit of 4GB on file size so if you have a big rar file you have to separate it into less than that to be able to burn them.

I noticed Version 4 had a lot of overhauls on the visual side of the program and feels a lot different from v3 which looked a bit spammy. Navigation is now a cinch.

You can download the latest version of CDBurnerXP (4.0.015.277) via their official site or Filehippo.

Screenshots will be added later after I get home from work. XD