Re: HoW to Burn CD or DVD
"Fred Mertz" <A@B.com> wrote in message
news:eQzzpG%23NIHA.5720@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
> "M.I.5¾" <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:4757a8b8$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>>
>> "Fred Mertz" <A@B.com> wrote in message
>> news:%23Q1FrC9NIHA.5264@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>> Just wondering if it is possible to burn a data CD and/or DVD with
>>> Windows XP Pro/SP2 (assuming of course that the computer has a
>>> functional DVD burner installed). If so, how? What about music CDs/DVDs?
>>>
>>> Yes - I've googled this and come up with advertising - not helpful.
>>>
>>
>> Out of the box, Windows XP will burn CD's when a compatible CD burner is
>> attached (practically all modern burners are suitable). Although XP
>> burns them in a technically invalid format [1], most CD drives will read
>> the resultant discs, but a few modern drives (and many older drives) will
>> not read beyond the first session.
>>
>> It is only necessary to enable recording in the properties box of the
>> target drive. From there it is a simple matter of dragging and droping
>> the files on the CD drive folder. You have to click, the burn to disk to
>> finish off the job. Files can be added latter.
>>
>> XP does not burn DVDs (except DVD-RAM) as supplied. To burn these latter
>> disks, a third party burning application is required, and these will also
>> burn CDs in many valid formats.
>>
>> Music DVDs (that is DVDs burned to the Audio CD Red book standard) is not
>> a valid format [2], though having said that, I have come across a few DVD
>> video players that recognise and play the disks. Most DVD (video)
>> players that recognise CDs with .MP3 files on them won't recognise DVDs
>> with .MP3 files.
>>
>> [1] Multisession Mode 1 format, which was not intended to be supported -
>> but the Orange Book specification was somewhat ambiguous on the point.
>>
>> [2] Most burning packages won't permit burning such disks, but a few do.
>
>
> Thank you for the helpful and informative response. Now a quick followup
> question: Can you recommend a good - yet *uncomplicated* program or
> package I can use to burn CDs and DVDs (data files and music file; I don't
> care about movies or blue ray etc)? I would really appreciate such a
> recommendation. I have done a bunch of research on this and all I find
> from Nero, Roxio, and their competitors are complicated packages that
> allow me to compete with Holywood, steal protected content etc.. I just
> want to copy my data files for backup/archival purposes and burn a music
> CD from time to time. That's all. Any suggestions? I'm happy to pay a
> reasonable price for the software.
>
For pure simplicity, the Free copy of Nero (Nero Express?) that comes with
most retail boxed DVD burners is about as good as it gets. Although it does
other things besides simply burning files, it's relatively easy to just
ignore those aspects. The full retail burning applications (and that
includes the full version of Nero) are somewhat bloated with complications
that you clearly do not require and often present a fairly busy user
interface to the user.
There are other simple (and free, or at least very low cost) burner
apllications, but I'm not familiar enough with them to recommend any
particular one.