Buy Now...

Most CD and DVD drives come with some bundled software often from Nero or CD Creator and these are excellent packages, however they are often tied to the drive it was supplied with. So you buy another drive and you have to get used to some different software, often even drives from the same manufacturer have different providers for different units. So owning a non ‘tied’ version has things going for it.

My first problem occurred when the install completed, I got a range of error messages most were solved by a reboot, however the install never asked me to reboot. Things like ‘Catastrophic Failure’ do not make you ouse confidence. However the one that would not go away was ‘CD-Writer not found’ even though that was the drive that had just installed the software. You need to access the Internet for an updated list of supported drives, then everything was fine. What if you do not have Internet access? well appently technical support will send you a CD with the required files.

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Now over the years I have used most of the CD burning software around but this proved to be not the easiest. Perhaps I knew too much because I know what I want to do and it will not let me do it. To copy a CD you need to select the ‘Backup’ option not that logical to me but it works. Now if you have only one drive you need to copy files to the hard drive and then replace the CD to be copied with the one you want to copy to, however the way it’s done here makes mistakes possible.

You can copy an Audio CD much the same way as with a Data CD above and that works with the same limitations however it will not allow you to compile an Audio CD as it does not recognize .CDA tracks. So your compilations must be either .MP3 or .WAV. All the other recent products I know recognize .CDA files.

The whole interface does not make me feel confident about using the software, I wasted several CD’s when it ended up writing a CD with just a lead in – empty directories – and lead out.

There are three bonus utilities on the CD and these do what they say and quite well, however with the ‘1,000 Hemera Photo Objects’ you will have to delve and search to find them, they are there but it’s not straightforward. Digital Image Editor allows basic manipulation to a digital image such as red eye removal. Perhaps the star – of a very sub standard lot – is the Print Generator that allows you create customised labels and jewel case inlays.

My advice is stick with one of the names that probably come with your drive, if you like it, you use it, when you buy your next drive maybe buy another that has software from the same company or if not lash out on a full version of that software. This to my mind is not £9.99 well spent.

Link http://www.focusmm.co.uk/store/productpages/productinfo/ess454.html