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Often, the software bundled with the drive provides only basic functions such as burning data to a CD-R or performing packet writing. And that bundled software may be a somewhat older or stripped-down version; for example, many drives this summer were shipping with Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4.0, the predecessor of Easy CD Creator 5. Drive vendors may also bundle their own, branded programs; Hewlett-Packard, for instance, supplies its basic HP MyCD software with its drives.

Whether you're a neophyte who values simplicity or a power user who wants more features and more control, changing your software can help you to get the most out of your new or existing CD-RW drive.

Is such an upgrade worthwhile? The answer is a conditional yes.

If you simply want to write computer data onto a CD-R or CD-RW disc, the package bundled with your drive may be sufficient. On the other hand, if you want to do more than that (such as making audio CDs from digital audio files) or if you find the bundled software difficult to use, the programs we review here can supply the features you need and make the process of burning discs easier.

With upgraded software, a CD-RW drive can do so much more than straightforward data backup. For example: Easy CD Creator 4.0 Standard (bundled with many drives) can't edit audio tracks or create Video CDs, but the 5 Platinum version can do all that and more. And whereas NTI's CD-Maker 2000 (bundled with 16X/10X/40X Pacific Digital drives) won't allow you to make MP3s from CD audio or record live audio, the same company's CD-Maker Professional Edition will.

But a CD is a CD is a CD...right? Not exactly. You can use a variety of CD formats and pick from a plethora of options as to how to burn them. A multisession CD, for example, lets you add data to a disc after the first burn.

Other formats include Mixed-Mode CD (which stores audio first and data second, letting you play the disc on a CD player and read the data on a CD-ROM drive); the aforementioned Video CD format, which enables you to store up to 1 hour of MPEG-1 compressed video on a standard CD; Macintosh-compatible HFS CD; and hybrid CDs (which can be read on both PCs and Macs). Many of the basic packages that come with CD-RW drives omit some or all of these specialized formats.

Burning Tales

For this review, we tested the speed of writing data to a CD-R disc using each of the programs, but we found the programs' speed differences to be minimal. So we judged the programs on features and ease of use. We did not test the speed of writing to a CD-RW disc.

Although all of the programs we reviewed perform most of the same tasks, each has a different range of features. Stomp's $50 Click'N Burn 2.0 is the least expensive product, while the priciest is Roxio's $80 Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum (Roxio is an Adaptec spin-off company). Rounding out the field are Oak Technology's $65 SimpliCD, Ahead's $69 Nero Burning ROM 5.5, and NTI's $70 CD-Maker Professional Edition.

Most of today's CD-RW drives conform to the industry-standard Multimedia Command set. MMC determines how the software controls the drive, so any CD-RW mastering program should work with almost any drive. However, the software will take advantage of a drive's full capabilities only if it supports that drive; with such support, the software can understand how to use specific features, such as buffer underrun compensation technology (discussed in "CD-RW ASAP" ). It's a good idea to visit a software vendor's Web site and see if your drive is supported before you buy a package.

In our tests, we found that the best overall package was Oak Technology's SimpliCD 1.0--it's the winner of our Best Buy award. Close behind SimpliCD is Stomp's Click'N Burn 2.0, a powerful program with an easy-to-follow interface, although some of its features (such as burning a CD from a hard-disk image) are clumsy to use. The streamlined interface of NTI's CD-Maker Professional Edition helps that program do a better job of burning from an image, but it doesn't do a good job of creating audio CDs, as you can't shift tracks around once you add them to the burn queue. Power users who want complete control over the burning process may prefer Ahead's Nero Burning ROM 5.5. Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum offers the largest number of features, but it is the most expensive package we reviewed.

Simpli the Best

SimpliCD isn't the most powerful or the most full-featured product in our roundup, but it balances form and function very well. And at $65 ($50 for the downloadable version), it's a reasonably priced upgrade.