Nero 7,will you be upgrading ,if not,are there any alternatives?

[tinyvillager]

I've been a long time user of Aheads software,Nero,but i'm starting to grow weary,no hatred,no disrespect towards
their product,just feeling a little experimental about looking for a replacement.Anyone out there know of a good
replacement.Something that can burn cd's and dvd's and dual layer dvd's,just got a dvd burner with dual layer
compatibilty and need something that can match wits with Nero.

Thank you.   

[Carol Haynes]

I feel the same. I like Nero but I don't like the way each upgrade is a minor improvement (usually just adding burners as far as I can see) and loads more bloatware that really isn't needed.

I don't really know where Nero got the idea to add all these extras to the project but someone should tell them they aren't too good at it and to concenttrate on what they do best!

From what I read on their site Nero 7 burning seems to be identical to Nero 6 burning, they appear to have added some new odds'n'ends to their media package and updated a few other items, but Nero itself (as far as i can see) is still basically version 6 ???

The other thing I dislike is the way every bit they can separate from their main apps (like Dolby 5.1 Surround in ShowTime, MP3 support etc.) comes as an extra when all the competing apps come complete. I don't use ShowTime because it just isn't as good as WinDVD, and they won't encourage me back if I have to pay an extra $30 to get the ShowTime 5.1 plugin !!

[tinyvillager]

Yeah,30 bucks here and 30 bucks there to get a key to unlock extra components is not my cup of tea.And there
is an argument to be had over the way they do updates.I totally understand applications have bugs that need
to be ironed out,nothings perfect,but downloading the whole app again when the app is so freakin huge is a pain.

That and i hear the retail boxed version of 7 already on shelves is basically out dated as far as the mpeg 4 codec and
maybe a few other features.They pushed back the online release date to Nov.2.So hmm,already on shelves but
pushing the online version back by a week or so.Was supposed to be Oct. 23rd i believe.Makes me glad i didn't
go out slap down my hard earned 80 bucks.   

[Sentinel]

I've been a user and big fan of Nero since version 2.0 having moved from Cequadrat WinOnCD back in the 90's.  I guess I have the same disillusionment as everyone else - the product reached its functional peak certainly by 6.0 and everything else has just been filler.  I think it is the usual problem of business managers thinking "we have to diversify or die.  What else can we do with this product?" and losing all understanding of who the customer is, what they need to do and why.  Still, it has worked for them up to now as they have obliterated the competition.

In the past I have felt the need to purchase upgrades to newer versions of Nero, such as the move to 6.6 to support my latest DVD burner but the upgrade to 7.0 just to potentially support any future hardware I may purchase (blu-ray?) whilst getting a load of useless add-ons just doesn't interest me, especially for a hefty premium.  I don't need the ability to encode/decode/transcode a million different formats, I don't need home movie editing or wave/mp3 file editing and even if I did I doubt I would use Nero to do it.

It is worth noting that Nero has gone from a 5mb download with version 5.0 (I've just checked this and it was initially 4mb for early versions of 5.0!) to well over 100mb for version 6.6 and 7.0 with all of the features.  Bloated and directionless are words that come to mind.

Ahead should market and sell the core Nero burning program without the rest of the baggage, for a small cost, and I'll be interested (along with many other people no doubt).

I have since moved to Traxdata/Prassi ONES and despite the poor support I'm really happy with the product as it is simple, yet powerful and focused on the task of burning my CD/DVDs.

http://shop.traxdata.fr/

[Renegade]

Try Burn4Free. It's ad supported, but not spyware. Definitely worth trying.

Oh, and no popup crap either. It's not malware.

[jpfx]

I no complaints about the way nero works. The fraction I use works perfectly.
I think a lot of people would be happier with an installation procedure that offered more choice. That way, the apps that are never used could be avoided.
I will probably upgrade, maybe when 7.1 comes out.