Well, not really, just one I think that hasn`t been reviewed, or it may have done in the past when I was on the A1200, so if it has I`m sorry, however if it hasn`t then although this is not such an in-depth review with screenshots like Ian Urie did a short while ago about Nero, but I`ll try my best.
A few months ago, soon after I got my PC(b4 I upgraded it) I popped around to another PC m8 of mines house, he lives about a 5 minute bike ride from me, and he`s pretty s*&t-hot when it comes to all software and hardware for the PC, he used to build them as both a hobby and a living,HE IS GOOD.
Anyway, he was backing up some of his PC CD`s, and I saw this program called Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum that he was using, and compared to Nero ECDC 5 looked so simple to use, and although it seemed simple to use, the actual layout didn`t look tacky cheap or nasty, it looked good. Now, although I hadn`t bought my own CDRW yet, I was pretty impressed with just how fast the copying process was going, especially to my old Mitsumi CDR that I use to use on my trusty A1200.
At that time I had decided to fully upgrade my PC setup to a pretty high-spec one and was definitely going to get a CDRW, and was considering either an LG or Liteon, anyway, Neil, my mate, has his own original version of ECDC 5, but when he bought his brothers PC from him plus tons of software there was also a full original version of ECDC 5 that his brother had bought some time ago, so cutting a long story short, Neil sold me this other ECDC5 CD which used to be his brothers.
Shortly after that I managed to scrounge, beg & borrow enough money together in order to buy myself a CDRW. Unfortunately being inpatient I didn`t want to bother to go to either one of two PC counters in Ruby of which, both were a good half an hours journey, from me. No, I wanted a CDRW Yesterday as they say, so I had to settle for an LG, which isn`t such a bad writer-rewriter.
By the time of installing this item I had upgraded my system myself, and for a little while was in two minds of what version of Windows to go for. B4 my upgrade I tried Windows 98 ME, which was put on my PC when I first bought it from another mate of mine in Rugby, but I soon found out that ME was shite, so I went over to 98SE, which I found out was better and far more error-free, then I tried Windows XP Pro, and fell in love with its looks, ok, so some or most PC users think that XP is crap, I don`t, but then again I`m a sad old git, Steve E would agree there.
So XP Pro is where I stayed, then my big hardware upgrade came, and I installed XP, and have stayed with this till now, and I won`t change. Then the only problem with XP as opposed to other versions of Windows, you need to update/upgrade lots of drivers for software/hardware, far more often than you have to do with other Windows version. I had problems with ECDC5 recognizing my LG CDRW, but after an 18Mb or so download from the Roxio (the creators of ECDC5 I think) website, my problems stopped, then only last night, my mate Neil told me that there was yet another 18Mb or so new update to ECDC5 with loads of drivers etc, I was going to go home from work and d.load the file, but he had already done it for me in about 4 mins bcos he`s on b.band.mega fast.
So, at present, ECDC5, my LG CDRW and my whole system is running pretty sweet, but it could change so quickly, because that`s how the PC is, anyway, enough of this dribble, on with the task in hand..
Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum in my opinion is, or could be a serious contender to join the exclusive ranks of the top CDRW software, such as Nero & CD Clone, like the previous two programs I`ve just mentioned ECDC 5 is pretty damn easy to use, in fact, I found Nero a tad harder to understand, of course, there`s a few software items that both Nero & ECDC 5 won`t copy, that`s where CD Clone comes in useful, so for me, I`d prefer to have both ECDC 5 and CD Clone installed on my hard drive, but being the greedy sod that I am I`ve got all three, it`s best to be safe than sorry.
Right, we`ll start off with one of the functions in ECDC5 called Soundstream, this part will allow you to make your own CD`s from a various range of sources including normal music CD`s, audio files (MP3, Wav and WMA files). With Soundstream you can:-
· Make music CDs from MP3 files you`ve downloaded from the internet.
· Rip Songs from your CDs and store them as MP3, Wav or WMA files on your HD.
· Copy tracks from multiple CDs and combine them to make a CD of your favourite songs.
· Remove pops, clicks and hisses from your LPs and cassettes and turn those old recordings into quality digital CDs.
· Add high-quality sound effects to give your CDs their own special twist.
· Automatically title tracks without typing by taking song titles directly from the web.
· Utilize the Track-at-once (TAO) feature to record tracks one at a time and apply a two-second gap between the tracks.
· Save CDs to hard disk to create a music library of compressed CDs on your computer
Use the music CD Project to make professional CDs with music tracks that can be played on your home or car stereo or on your computer`s CD-ROM drive, with CD Creator music you can:-
· Make music CDs from Internet downloaded MP3 files.
· Copy tracks from multiple CDs and combine them to make your own greatest-hits CDs.
· Smooth the transitions between songs with effects such as fade-in, fade-out & Crossfade.
· Control the time between tracks with gap editing.
· Utilize the Track-at-once (TAO) feature to record tracks one at a time and apply a two-second gap between the tracks.
· Utilize the Disk-at-once (DAO) feature to record your entire CD at once to help control or eliminate the time between tracks.
· Rip songs from your CDs and store them as either MP3, WAV or WMA files on your HD.
· Automatically title tracks without typing by taking song titles directly from the web.
· Burn MP3, WAV and WMA files to CD as CD-DA.
· Burn MP3 files to CD as MP3 files.
· Use CD-Text support for CD-Text drives.
· Have support for advanced features like ISRC & UPC.
· Have more support over your own music projects.
CD Creator MP3
· Make a CD with over a hundred MP3 formatted files on it.
· Burn MP3 files to CD as MP3 files.
· Make your own directories and folders and organize the files any way you want to.
· Play your MP3 CDs in MP3 CD players on your computer.
Make a Photo or Video CD
Organise your digital photos and put them into a photo album or make a slideshow. No special software is required. Save it all onto a CD. With Photo Album you can:-
· Make a self-running CD that can be shared with family & friends.
· Have a great way to share photos on CD with people who couldn`t be there.
· Add music tracks.
VideoImpression
With VideoImpression you can do the following and more:-
· Turn photos and video clips into movies.
· Organize video clips and image files into a photo album.
· Transfer images directly from digital cameras, scanners or any TWAIN-compliant device into the VideoImpression program.
· Turn Video clips, screen captures & other images into a slideshow-type presentation.
· Make video e-mails that others can view.
· Save video and images in multiple file formats including AVI, MPG, VIF and EXE.
Video CD
Make CDs of your favourite MPEG video clips and view them using Video CD and most DVD players. Video CD utilizes a Video Impression feature to convert AVI or QuickTime video clips into a special format required by Video CD. Making Video CDs can be a snap, especially when working with features like:-
· An easy-to-follow wizard for step-by-step operation.
· Menuing and multiclip sequencing.
· Thumbnail views (with selectable frame) for easy reference.
I dare say that I could write a few more pages about the features that ECDC5 has got, but although only used Nero once I dare say that is has some. Or most of the same or similar features that ECDC5 has got, all I will say that having used Nero a few times I didn`t like it much, admittedly it`s a bloody good program, but personally I found ECDC5 far better to use, and easier, also I think that it`s got a few more features, but like all software it`s a case of Each to his/her own isn`t it.Hope u enjoy reading this article.