The Orchard has never failed me in sheer geek knowledge, and I know I won't be let down this time.
I HATE the preloaded CD/DVD burning programs. They never seem to work right.

What do YOU guys use? What's easiest? What's best?
What's free?

Thanks,

A Desperate House Husband, desperate for good burning software.

There's a program called iTunes from Apple that works really well to burn audio CDs.

I've used iTunes to burn and it is slow and a memory hog on a Wintel machine. Currently I"m using Nero 6, which I got with my DVD burner. You might try one of the programs recommended here:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collectio...360,pg,1,00.asp

Exact Audio Copy also has a CD/DVD burning function on it, though I haven't used it yet. WalrusOct9/Steve or that audiophile guy that was talking about EAC might know better how well it works.

For Windows, EAC is by far the best that I have used.

It uses multiple reads to pull an accurate (exact) copy from the disc. autolinking of tracks and titles from fredb.org. Text supported in the rewrites. Generally, a great, reliable, and thin piece of software. It's free and it doesn't try to take over your machine.

The only problem I have ever had with it is that it is slow. The whole multiple read thing takes time, but if you want the best copy possible...

My $0.02. -Matt Q.

www.exactaudiocopy.de/

i think that's what keith uses and really likes too. i use roxio easy media creator for burning shows (w/no gaps) and some cd's. i usually just use i-tunes for mix/compilations & "car copies" because it's so easy.

Actually I never use EAC anymore unless I have to be absolutely sure I'm creating a bit-for-bit copy, it's way too slow. Thankfully, recent-manufacture CD drives are a lot less prone to read errors than the early-generation drives EAC was designed to cope with. I almost always use Nero 6 for burning and copying CDs and DVDs (generally writing @ 16X for CDs and 8X for DVDs, which my drives and blanks can handle very reliably). Nero is fast, reliable and flexible, and it comes with useful basic tools for track volume equalizing, cross-fades, wave file editing etc. But it's not free, and it's hard to do much of anything else on your PC while it's reading or writing a disc because it grabs a lot of resources for buffer management.

Great info. I've just been using my itunes to burn, but am persuaded now to use Nero. Btw, I have something called Nero Express. Is there much functional difference between this and Nero 6?

My Nero CD came with an add-on DVD burner and it says: Nero Express V6.0 OEM, so they might be the same thing.

It's very easy to use for saving backups of your data and for making compilation music CDs, either from MP3s or from the original audio CDs.

Thanks Rick. I noticed after I posted that mine says "Nero Express 6".
Thanks again.
John

Nero Express is essentially a nice step-by-step interface for many of the functions in the full-featured version of Nero 6, including burning CDs.

Thanks all! Mucho infomation. I'm just trying to make quick "Hey let's try and cover THIS song" type cds for friends and band members...and I've been using mp3s and emailing them so much that I hadn't had to make an ACTUAL cd in almost a year. Crazy.

I will try iTunes since I use it so much. Then, I'm gonna try EAC for my audiophiliac moments.