Author Topic: Giveaway of the Day - StarBurnShark 9.5 (Read 19524 times)

lanux128 · « **on:** January 06, 2008, 03:53 AM »

Today Giveaway is StarBurnShark 9.5 - a powerful tool for grabbing, burning and mastering CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD media. StarBurn supports all types of optical storage media (including CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, Dual layer DVD-R & DVD+R, BD-R/RE, HD-DVD-R/RW and DVD-RAM) as well as a wide variety of burning hardware.

btw, StarBurnShark (commercial version) is available for $495, but it will be free for our visitors as a time-limited offer.

• http://www.giveawayo...ay.com/starburn-9-5/

BigJim · « **Reply #1 on:** January 06, 2008, 09:01 AM »

Thanks for the heads up!

I monitor GAOTD's RSS feed but have become considerably more conservative about installing their offerings especially because of the reinstall problems if needed later. The comments on the site are good hunting ground for alternatives though

This offering (like Evernote a few weeks ago) has unusually high ratings from 'customers'. One commenter said that the application "high-jacked" his CD/DVD drive making unavailable to other programs. I had this happen on one machine (XP Pro SP2) when I installed Pinnicle Studio - thought I'd never get rid of all of the dregs

Kinda like AOL and/or stepping in dog poo - yuck!

Can anyone comment on that? (The high-jack ... not the dog poo.)

Curt · « **Reply #2 on:** January 06, 2008, 09:53 AM »

What do you say: Should I remove my old 'mini' StarBurn (GiveAway from 26 October 2007) before installing this new 'full' Shark version?

tinjaw · « **Reply #3 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:13 AM »

What do you say: Should I remove my old 'mini' StarBurn (GiveAway from 26 October 2007) before installing this new 'full' Shark version?
-Curt (January 06, 2008, 09:53 AM)

Yes, they have explicitly said that this is an upgrade to that with new features previously only available in the $500 version.

Darwin · « **Reply #4 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:22 AM »

BigJim - I just posted a comment in the GOTD thread about the dog poo, asking if it's default behaviour or if it's only affecting some people... Have to wait and see now.

Curt · « **Reply #5 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:33 AM »

...about the dog poo,
-Darwin (January 06, 2008, 10:22 AM)

No 23 it did not hijack your browser. (non-consensual) It asked at the end of install DO YOU WANT TO MAKE BROWSER HOMEPAGE our site.
Did you not see it? I did and made sure it was not checked. Now my homepage has not changed. Great program for me. It is quite fast at the things I have tried so far. Enjoy and thanks. Simple install.

-Comment #25

Darwin · « **Reply #6 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:36 AM »

Heh, heh - I read that Curt. The issue I am concerned about is StarBurnShark hijacking access to my optical drives and blocking access to them by other software on my computer. Makes me VERY hesitant to install the giveaway... though I would as a matter of course monitor the installation with Ashampoo Uninstallation Studio. Hm... I wonder if I could install it into Sandboxie?

BigJim · « **Reply #7 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:40 AM »

Darwin: Thanks for that. I suppose that I could have done that

but find that their user base is far less erudite than here on DC e.g. those that can't seem to follow the simple instructions for installation and activation.

BigJim · « **Reply #8 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:41 AM »

Wrong pile of poo, Curt.

Darwin · « **Reply #9 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:49 AM »

Yes! I've noticed that too. I *think* today marks my first ever posting, actually... Usually I sit on the sidelines and watch in awe at some of the comments. As you say there is a vocal camp of those incapable of reading/following the ludicrously simple installation instructions and an equally vocal group crying "$19.95?! I wouldn't give you a washer for it! x,y,z is free/$9.95/better"! Er, how can these people miss out on the fact that it's free during the 24 hour giveaway? What's to complain about? Try it out, if it's inferior to something else, lose it. I mean, I do appreciate the comments that advise readers that there are better alternatives, but I don't like all the "this is an ok app but is too expensive" comments. All I can think is that there posters are entering into the intended spirit of the site and actually wind up paying for those Giveaways that they find useful. However, I SERIOUSLY doubt that this is the case.

Of coursre, regarding StarBurnShark, I want to know if it's superior to Ashampoo Burning Studio but am not willing to risk installing it if there is any danger of it turning out to be crap/hijacking access to my optical drives/being monstrously difficult to get rid of...

Curt · « **Reply #10 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:50 AM »

Wrong pile of poo, Curt.
-BigJim (January 06, 2008, 10:41 AM)

Yes, I understand that, now. But on the topic, the other pile of pooh, I must say I also am hessitating to install. I downloaded "long" ago, but have not yet unpacked the file.

Curt · « **Reply #11 on:** January 06, 2008, 12:03 PM »

I believe the problem with the drivers happened because 'he' installed the StarPort Drives trial. I didn't and have not seen any problems of the kind.

However, I am not able to exit the program without getting error messages ("memory cannot read"+"runtime error 216")).

Edit: Maybe one is not supposed to hit the red exit button (the one in the program's GUI), but to merely minimize the program, and then right-click the systray icon - but I am getting the error messages all the same.

lanux128 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 06, 2008, 06:26 PM »

Usually I sit on the sidelines and watch in awe at some of the comments. As you say there is a vocal camp of those incapable of reading/following the ludicrously simple installation instructions and an equally vocal group crying "$19.95?! I wouldn't give you a washer for it! x,y,z is free/$9.95/better"! ...
-Darwin (January 06, 2008, 10:49 AM)

very nicely put, Darwin! i also wonder about the rationale behind users complaints over the programs that are given away. but does everyone who has tried out StarBurnShark run into problems?

Darwin · « **Reply #13 on:** January 06, 2008, 07:06 PM »

It's hard to say, even with over 100 comments posted on the giveaway download page. AFAICT, there are a number of complaints about browser home page hijacking (which is apparently VERY difficult to reverse but also easily avoided in the first place) and a few complaints about the optical drive access issue. I've decided to pass on this one - Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 more than meets my needs and it works. Why mess with it?!

lanux128 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 06, 2008, 07:13 PM »

then i guess i'll have to give this a pass unless i have a lot of free time on my hands.. btw, i read your comments about the free version of Ashampoo Burning Studio 6.5, quite good. i didn't know about it..

BigJim · « **Reply #15 on:** January 06, 2008, 09:20 PM »

I think that I'm definitely with you guys - it's not worth the hassle or risk. Extricating myself from the drive hijack mess with Pinnacle was neither quick, easy nor pleasant. I've certainly enjoyed the informed interaction and analysis though. Thanks!

lanux128 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 06, 2008, 10:05 PM »

not to mention that there's already a user with problems here..

lanux128 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 11, 2008, 08:59 AM »

found this at the GotD forums. a lot of users are having problems with StarBurn, either install errors or browser hijacks..

Curt · « **Reply #18 on:** January 24, 2008, 10:00 AM »

Bug-fixed StarBurn 9.5 is being offered (again) today
http://www.giveawayo...burnshark-9-5-rerun/

lanux128 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 24, 2008, 08:07 PM »

yes, they have also fixed a Firefox problem with this re-run..