Virtual CloneDrive works and behaves just like a physical DVD drive, although it only exists virtually. Image files generated with CloneDVD software can be “inserted” into the virtual drive from your harddisk or from a network drive and thus be used like a normal DVD.

Download Virtual CloneDrive 5.4.0.3 in Softonic

With the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats becoming increasingly dominant, it's important to have a burner that can handle them all.

The problem with most new burners is that they come at a cost and Astroburn is no exception. The full version will cost you a few dollars but this demo allows you to perform basic burning of small files. Unlike big name programs such as Nero, Astroburn is one of those programs that's easy to use and allows you to carry out a wide array of functions.

You can burn discs, create and record ISO, copy discs, erase rewritable disks and create music CDs. The interface is incredibly stripped down featuring a drag and drop burning process that's easy to use. The fact that the interface is so basic should not give the impression that it's not particularly powerful though.

However, it doesn't always burn as it should do. Normally CD burners automatically optimise burning for the speed of your drive but it seems that Astroburn requires you to configure this yourself. If you don't define the right speed , the buffer is too slow and you'll suffer from the dreaded "buffer underrun" problem. The support page is useless because it simply gives you a phone number for technical assistance rather than an FAQ.

Nevertheless, if you need a simple solution to burning HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and don't mind paying a bit for the pleasure, Astroburn is a worthy option.

Download Astroburn 1.0.8.0 in Softonic

VSO Inspector is a free add-on to report various information about your hardware configuration. Using this freeware, you can check the listed CD and DVD readers and writers connected to your computer, check the firmware used, the details about the media used and the speed supported by a given writer with this media. You can also scan a burnt media for read errors and be confident about the readibility of your fresh backup.

Here's what VSO Inspector can do for you:

Detect and list the features of your CD/DVD writers

Supported formats

Region details

Firmware versions

Buffer size

Region Code

Read and Write modes

Detect and list information about the inserted media

Media type

Capacity

Media ID (manufacturer and/or model)

Number of layers

Supported speeds (with current writer)

Media Analysis

Sector reading

Definition of the area to check

Definition of the read direction

Download VSO Inspector 1.4.2 in Softonic

Copying DVDs (for your own use, of course) is becoming increasingly difficult as manufacturers improve the security encoding on DVDs. AnyDVD however claims to be able to crack any DVD encryption code and judging by the number of downloads, Softonic users are certainly endorsing it too.

The beauty of AnyDVD is that it simply works in the background to automatically remove the copy protection of a DVD movie as soon as it's inserted into the drive. In this way, it can decrypt data without actually saving it to your hard-disk. You can watch the DVD at the same time or just insert a disk and let AnyDVD do its stuff. When you insert a disk, you are automatically prompted whether you want to decrypt it. When it has finished inspecting the disk, the program prompts you to backup the DVD using your preferred backup tool such as CloneDVD or Power DVD Copy.

The programme goes much further than this though. A handy bonus is that you can also remove the RPC region code, thereby making the movie region free and viewable on any DVD player. This is especially useful for those who buy many of their disks abroad or travel a lot. If you want to create a stripped-down version of a DVD, it can also remove unwanted movie features, including subtitles and extras for example. The programme also moves beyond decryption and allows you to control the speed of your DVD drive. This is useful if you’re having trouble playing a DVD properly or if the noise of your drive is causing annoyance. Finally, there’s also an option to display the frequency of your monitor for both NTSC and PAL displays although you probably won’t use this unless you’re having serious display issues.

The only drawback of AnyDVD is the number of daily updates that are released. Whilst this is obviously a good thing in terms of keeping it up-to-date with the latest encryption methods, the update alerts can be rather annoying and are prone to slowing your computer down.

However, this is a small price to pay for a programme that seems able to crack all but the toughest disks and for anyone who likes to create backups of their favourite DVDs, it’s an essential addition to your software collection.

Download AnyDVD HD 6.4.5.0 in Softonic

Need to burn a CD or burn a DVD fast? Download and try Burn My Files: it's the one click CD and DVD burning software solution.

Burn My Files integrates with Windows Explorer. Select your file or folder, right click, and burn a CD or burn DVD. It's that simple. CD burning software and DVD burning software has never been made so easy. No more wasting time creating image files before your burn. Burn My Files writes directly to the CD or DVD.

Many DVD burning and CD burning software programs are unnecessarily complicated. If you don’t know what a ISO image is, or if CD Mastering is not your idea of a good time, then you can leave your troubles behind with Burn My Files. With just one click you can have your file or your folder burnt to CD or DVD straight from Windows Explorer.

Burn My Files does not waste time or system resources writing temporary files to the computer hard drive before the CD burn or DVD burn takes place. It writes data directly to the CD or DVD giving you an error free burn in the fastest possible time. This is new CD burning technology that was developed for our range of data recovery products where writing to the hard drive is not an option.

Download Burn My Files 3.0.1.77 in Softonic

PowerISO is a powerful CD/DVD image file processing tool, which allows you to open, extract, create, edit, compress, encrypt, split and convert ISO files, and mount these files with the internal virtual drive. It can process almost all CD-ROM image files including ISO and BIN.

Download PowerISO 4.1 in Softonic

As video goes the way of the good old cassette tape, DVD has become universally adopted as the format of choice for watching movies. Of course, the medium is not infallible, and DVDs are as prone to scratching or damage as VHS tapes were to getting chewed by the machine. CloneDVD represents one of the easiest ways to back up your movies to disk, ensuring that even novice users don't have to worry about loss or damage of their favorite films.

The interface is wonderfully simple to use, allowing you to select your source location and destination through an obvious wizard-style menu system. The beauty of the program is that it gives you a number of options for cloning to help you compress the file size without compromising movie quality. For instance, you can choose to omit certain extras from your DVD such as foreign language subtitles or theatrical trailers. Copying speed is among the fastest around, allowing you to copy to an ISO file on your hard drive or directly to recordable DVD in a flash.

Although the application doesn't allow you to clone copy-protected media, this is of course, illegal anyway, and if you want to perform such operations then there are alternative applications available that can be used alongside CloneDVD. If it's simplicity of use and speed that you require then CloneDVD is more than capable.

Download CloneDVD 2.9.1.9 in Softonic

Romeo Burner is one of the most comprehensive, powerful and yet simple to use CD/DVD burners you could hope to find.

Designed with the latest generation Bluray and HD-DVD disks in mind, it's a one-program-fits-all solution for your burning needs. Once installed, you will find all your starting points within the "Romeo Projects" folder which has appeared on your Desktop. The program provides several ways options to burn disk, the most complicated of which take no more than 5 or 6 clicks. The file menu works via drag and drop so you just drag in everything that you want to burn and configure whether you're starting a "multissesion" burning session or just "Track at once". Once you're done, simply click "Burn" and you're away with the burner selecting the right speed according to your burners capabilities. There are a ton of other burning possibilities too including an Audio Disc Grabber with which you can rip audio discs to your hard drive in MP3 or WMA format. This comes with a built-in MP3 tag editor and CDDB database to detect which songs you are burning. In addition, there are options for duplicating disks, erasing disks and even controlling it from the command prompt.

A very elegant and powerful burner, it's a solid solution especially for those wanting to burn Bluray and HD disks with minimum fuss.

Download Romeo Burner Lite 2.3.2 in Softonic

Copying or cloning CDs has become increasingly difficult with copyright encryption getting more and more sophisticated.

However, there are always a few programs out there that seem able to crack just about anything and CloneCD is certainly one of them. CloneCD gives you the option to clone as much or as little as you want from not only CDs but DVDs as well. Why the developers chose to keep the name CloneCD is a mystery because this program is more than capable of both.

The utility can compress extensive footage at high speed due to what the developers call "advanced transcoding technology" and it allows you to select both the audio and language you'd like to use from DVDs. The program works very well with ISOs and UDFs and is particularly useful to "unblocking"copyrighted disks - i.e. those CDs or DVDs which are copyrighted and won't play in your CD player. However, it should be noted that copyright laws vary from country to country and that you should not be using this program to break copyright laws or decode commercial disks - it's entirely for your own use.

For unblocking or copying locked or heavily encrypted DVDs or CDs, CloneCD is an incredibly powerful application.

Download CloneCD 5.3.13 in Softonic

Image burning is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to save large amounts of data to DVD or CD.

Images are increasingly popular on torrent sites and other download portals because they allow users to download high volumes of data in a relatively small file. What's more, it's instantly ready for DVD or disk burning. ImgBurn is an ultra-lightweight CD/DVD/HD/DVD and Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit. It has several 'Modes', with each one performing a different task.

These include "Read" which reads a disc to an image file; "Build" which creates an image file from files on your computer or network; "Write" which writes an image file to a disc and "Verify" which checks whether a disk is 100% readable. With this last option, you can also ensure that the data is correct by asking ImgBurn to compare your disk against an image file. Finally, you have "Discovery" which puts your drive to the test to find just what kind of speeds and disk types it can support.

If you are experiencing any burning problems, it may be that your drive is not fast enough to handle the settings you have configured or that you are using the wrong kind of disks.

A very lightweight an powerful image burner that requires little experience but will ensure all your images are burned in a flash.

Download ImgBurn 2.4.0.0 in Softonic

I must admit, I do admit the feel of vinyl but most of all, the huge covers which graced all good LP's and singles.

Of course, CD's still have them but since most of our music is now digital, album art is not something we really see much anymore. However, Album Art Downloader finds the cover art for your albums based on their name and can add a touch of class and polish to any collection. Simply enter the name of the group and the program will search several sources of album art including Amazon, Coveralia and GoogleImage. This means that the database is incredibly large and it can recover album info for just about any modern record. Once you find the image you want, it can be "My Pictures" and the program creates a new folder called "Album art". Each album is then obviously separated into each group and artist. The quality of the downloads varies however - some are little more than thumbnails whereas others are in high resolution. The major drawback for most users is that it requires some script knowledge as you have to write scripts to download the various album art you need. However, the developer site does offer some hints and code on how to do this so if you've done it before, you shouldn't find it too hard.

Regain the glory of the vinyl days and make your collection shine again by giving it it's original album art with Album Art Downloader.

Download Album Art Downloader 0.19 in Softonic

If you are a die hard movie fan, you'll probably have tons of downloaded films but few of them with the cover art.

Movie411 allows you to search and download movie information and DVD box art (both front and back covers) in a flash. Within a short period, you can build up a huge database of covers based on your own private collection complete with back and front. Simply enter the name of your film or TV series in the search field and instruct the program where you would like to save your movie data. The database will probably throw up various versions of the movie you are searching for and it's up to you to select which one you need. Once you've done this for each film, you'll find that Movie411 collects and formats all movie information into a single, easy to use text file which you can store along with your digital file. In an age of HD, the program can also save high resolution images for your covers and you can quickly see a thumbnail preview of each movie by simply clicking it on the search result page. The only drawback is that the database seems very selective about what films it recognises and what cover art is available. Major Hollywood features are fine but minor releases and documentaries in particular are poorly catered for.

If you want to give your collection a touch of class, then Movie411 will help polish off it off with covers and clipart.

Download Movie411 1.2.1 in Softonic

We're used to finding toolkits featuring several programs under one single interface, all related to each other. But what is not that usual is finding sets of tools as varied as SundryTools XV.

This original collection of programs includes tools to handle your music collection, including CD and DVD disks and also MP3 files, as well as some other system utilities like a notepad, a task manager, a complete calendar, a reminder tool and a basic utility to obtain information about your system and all currently active processes. The CD/DVD manager features support for online databases, which means you can have your music properly identified and tagged in no time.

All these tools are organized into a single window, where they can be selected from a left-side pane. It's a bit confusing at the beginning because you need to learn how to use a bunch of different apps at the same time, but you'll soon get the knack of it. The program's design is quite simple, focusing more on functionality rather than on eye-candy.

SundryTools XV is an original set of tools with which you can manage your music collection, create notes and tasks, check the calendar and learn more about your system.

Download SundryTools XV 4.0 Build 516 in Softonic

Nero is a mammoth multimedia solution that does just about everything from CD and DVD burning to audio and video editing. This latest version is a bit of a disappointment as it doesn't really bring anything drastically new from version 7. The main improvements are an updated design and reinforced security. Let’s look around at the features available in Nero 8.

This latest version is Windows Vista certified and if you have Microsoft’s latest OS installed you’ll be able to enjoy the Nero sidebar gadget and sleek, clear Vista interface, such as the “Glass” window for StartSmart. Nero Home, the multimedia manager with a DVD menu-like interface, has been slightly improved. Apart from handling all your photos, videos and songs it can also play radio stations and, if you have a TV card set up, play and record TV stations. Furthermore, Nero can stream content to your brand new Xbox 360.

The StartSmart interface is your gateway to all the Nero tools. You can select the individual applications from the left sided menu or choose the file you want to work with (data, audio, photo and video or backup) from the main menu. It’s best to choose the disc type, CD or DVD from the drop-down menu at the top to get the most relevant possibilities. Even though StartSmart gives quick access to all the Nero applications, we found the whole interface too small and cluttered. The window can’t be resized and you need to scroll through to find the tools you need. RSS feeds added to version 8 feel a bit clumsy. They don't show items in a proper feed list and only seem to link back to the Nero help and support pages.

Before it became a full multimedia suite though, Nero was renowned for its burning tools, essentially due to its flagship program, Nero Burning ROM. With it, you can adjust the disc type, set restrictions and control the writing speed. SecurDisc technology has also been added in the latest version to encrypt your CDs or DVDs. If you don’t want to get bogged down in the details, use Nero Express instead to burn your project and design your own disc cover quickly.

Another of the classic Nero apps that has been improved is Nero Showtime. This DVD player boasts support for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and will save you from upgrading when these formats become the norm. Just use Nero InfoTool beforehand to check if your system can handle these new formats. The program has also seen the introduction of AVCHD playback and authoring technology used in camcorder videos. Support for Windows Media Format DRM is also part of the deal and you can encode videos to play on your iPod, mobile or PlayStation Portable (PSP) thanks to Nero Recode.

Nero’s strength lies in the wealth of multimedia tools it offers to users. You can do just about everything from managing your media to burning CDs and DVDs or editing and watching high quality videos. The latest release has added a number of significant improvements to handle all the latest technological advances like Windows Vista, iPods or the Xbox 360.

Ironically, Nero´s power also contributes to its downfall. Nero packs so many applications into one package that it’s very easy for the common user to get lost in the menus. The size of the suite(600 MBs) and its draining of PC resources also means that you’ll need a high-spec PC to run it smoothly.

It's a bit surprising that Nero decided to jump to version 8 as there's nothing really that new in this latest outing. Once more, Nero will cater to those users looking for a full multimedia suite and not worried about eating up their PC's resources.

Download Nero 8.3.2.1 in Softonic

The Cheetah DVD Burner provides an easy-to-use interface for burning DVDs. The application boasts a number of handy features to make the process of burning CDs even quicker and easier. You can carry out the following projects:

• Burn a Video DVD from an ISO, Bin/Cue, or Video_TS folder
• Backup your data on 8.5 GB DVD+R discs
• Backup your data on DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RAM
• Burn a standard CD or CD-RW
• Creates Red Book compatible audio CDs from mp3, mp2, avi, ogg, wma, and wav files
• Extract audio from an Audio CD
• Copy a Data CD
• Copy an audio disc
• Burn Bin/Cue image files
• Builds ISO Images from selected files for burning at a later date
• Convert audio files from mp3, mp2, avi, ogg, wma, and wav files
• Erase CD/DVD discs

It has the following features:

Features:

• The Cheetah DVD Burner passes the Video DVD Verifier tests and Mastering Applications like the most known Philips Video DVD Verifier
• Create Bootable CD/DVD from .img files
• Supports use of high write speeds - Designed for high data rates
• Support for hardware buffer underrun protection systems, like BURNproof, JustLink, Power-Burn, SafeBurn, SeamlessLink etc
• Burn Multi-Session Data CD/DVD with all types of media
• No further writing is possible after the disc is burned
• Performs a binary compare with the source files
• Burn Joliet directories with 64 char file names

Download Cheetah DVD Burner 2.30 in Softonic

Creating your own CD labels is one way to turn bland looking blank CD and DVD's into your own personal creations.

CD Label Designer is aimed at making the process superfast and supereasy courtesy of several templates. The program comes bundled with a number of predefined popular layouts to save you time and unleash your creativity. You are not restricted to labeling software that only allows you to edit certain areas - just about anywhere is editable or writable. You can place images, text, circled text and shapes anywhere you want including more than 50 backgrounds and options to move, rotate, resize, use transparency, choose fonts and colors, or put frames around text. You can apply some basic effects and transformations in pictures and type formatted text that supports all language character sets. The useful thing about this program too is that it allows you to resize and rechange the size of labels according to the size of your text and images whether they be rectangular, round, CD/DVD based or not, for plain paper or custom surfaces.

If you want to give your CD's or DVD's an extra touch of class, then CD Label Designer is about the most flexible labelling software you will find.

Download CD Label Designer 3.5.3 in Softonic

UltraISO is a ISO CD/DVD image file creating / editing / converting tool, it can directly edit the CD/DVD image file and extract files and folders from it, as well as directly make ISO files from your CD/DVD-ROM or hard disk. At the same time, you can maintain the ISO bootable information, thus creating your own bootable CD/DVDs. You now have the power to make and edit your own ISO files, and then burn them to CD/DVD for your own needs.

UltraISO is in sole possession of the intellectualized ISO document format analyzer, it can process at the present time almost all types of image files, including ISO and BIN, it may even support new image files which are yet to be created.

UltraISO can open these image files, directly extract files and folders, edit it and convert other image files to the standard ISO format. UltraISO uses the double window unification user contact interface, you have the choice to only use the quick buttons and/or the mouse Drag & Drops, you can handle any CD/DVD image file easily.

Download UltraISO 9.2.0.2536 in Softonic

CDRoller is a powerful, easy-to-use and low-cost toolset for CD/DVD data recovery. You'll be able to save corrupted files quickly and very easily.

Key Features:

• Effectively retrieves the data off the discs created by "drag and drop" CD/DVD writing software
• Recovers CD and DVD data created by standalone devices
• "On-the-fly" unpacks the files initially compressed by Roxio (Adaptec) DirectCD.
• Retrieves back up files from the discs recorded in several stages (multisession discs)
• Includes a bult-in UDF Reader
• Finds and retrieves the lost files on UDF discs
• Identifies the lost files on ISO/Joliet discs with the damaged file system
• Rescues the data from scratched, damaged or defective discs
• Provides direct access to the hardware, bypassing the Windows File System
• Digitally extracts audio tracks into a wide set of wave formats
• Tests CD/DVD readability
• Extracts ISO Image file
• Catalogs files and folders into CD/DVD library
• All features are integrated into a common and easy-to-use intuitive shell

CDRoller supports industry-standard ISO 9660 file system, including Microsoft's extensions for long file names support, so-called Joliet extensions. CDRoller also supports the discs formatted in UDF file system, including versions 1.02, 1.50, 2.0, 2.01 and also so-called UDF Bridge format.

Download CDRoller 7.51.70 in Softonic

No matter what's in the box, people will not value it if the box doesn't have a captivating cover. A great cover conveys a compelling message that the product under the cover is worth their attention ...and money.

Cover Commander creates professional, custom-designed virtual boxes, CD disks, and screenshots. Just a few mouse clicks is all that's necessary to get the job done. The program’s extensive light, shadow, and reflection controls will allow you to create an image of just about any complexity and see the final picture as it is being made in the real-time preview window. The intelligent project creation wizard will do the “dirty work” for you, thus you can concentrate on the content part of your project.

The program comes with a collection of tutorials that review the most popular cover design cases and provide step-by-step instructions on resolving each case.

Download Insofta Cover Commander 2.91 in Softonic

When all you want to do is just burn a CD or DVD, huge suites like Nero are certainly not the most suitable solution. Instead, you should look for a simple recording application such as InfraRecorder.

This easy tool features everything you need to record both CD and DVD. It supports data and audio burning, dual-layer DVD and also disc images. It works with rewritable discs and can burn copies on the fly as well. Results are very satisfying, with just one small complaint: I'd like to have a sound normalizer for song compilations.

But the best thing about InfraRecorder is undoubtedly its simplicity, in every sense. It launches in a few seconds, enables you to drag and drop files, features very intuitive menus and even includes a reduced version (InfraExpress) for last-minute recordings. However, if you want to record MP3 files into audio CDs you'll need to download the decoder by yourself and copy it to the Program files – InfraRecorder – Codecs folder.

InfraRecorder is a simple and efficient tool for quick CD and DVD recording.

Download Infra Recorder 0.45 in Softonic