Most computers or optical drives ship with some sort of burning software bundled. Whether it's Nero, Easy Media Creator, or something similar, most users won't need anything else. However, if you bought your new drive bare, or for some other reason don't have anything to burn CDs or DVDs with, you don't have to fork over any cash to perform basic tasks. DeepBurner Free burns audio/data CDs and data DVDs from raw data or ISO images. And as you might infer from the name--it costs nada.

While DeepBurner Free won't burn photo or video discs like the Pro version of the program, it does allow you to shop for a program that takes care of only those tasks (and hopefully editing video) so you can avoid the cost of a full suite like the aforementioned Nero and Roxio products. That said, suites do offer and awful lot of bang for the buck as well as covering every conceivable CD/DVD and AV need.

DeepBurner Free easy to use and works well--I've yet to spot a significant bug in over two years worth of use. It's a handy program for anyone, or any PC, with and CD/DVD burner that just needs basic burning capabilities.

--Jon L. Jacobi