There are several free CD-DVD burners that can compete with any other paid alternative. If what you want is a free CD-DVD burning software, clean of adware, that works like a charm, here it is: his name is InfraRecorder.
Short Review: Burn CD`s, DVD`s with all kind of data including audio and video files. You can create images, mixed-mode projects, erase rewritable discs, save audio files such ( WAV ) and all the other stuffs that you would expect from a burning tool. If you`re familiar with Microsoft Windows Explorer interface, in most of the cases you will have to drag and drop files, push a button, choose one or more options ( if you need to ) such as writing speed and that`s it. Easy and intuitive, you will fall in love with this application in a short time frame.
Quick Guide: Maybe you would like to take a short look. Here it is, a short tour through a couple of his most important and used features. Right after, I will show you how easy is to burn data with this software. Just in case you`re wondering, the screenshots were made in Microsoft Windows XP SP 3 and 7 in order to keep them as small as possible. Go to InfraRecorder homepage and download the software. Install the application ( just a couple of steps ) and once you`re ready, locate InfraRecorder shortcut and open the program.
That`s the main interface, you have several ( six ) options to choose from. Most of the time, you will probably use one of these ( main ) features.
When you need to save data that you would want to burn it later, all you have to do is to create a new project and save it for another time.
From the ``Actions`` section you can do almost anything you want and that includes the ability to burn compilation to a compact disc or a disc image, to burn an image from your computer, to copy an entire disc or save it as an image, manage tracks, erase or format disc etc.
One other section that allows you to customize InfraRecorder is ``Options``. From here you can change the language, associate-register shell extensions of disc and raw images such as .iso .cue .bin .raw and other things as well.
As I said, this was a short tour, an introduction with a couple of pics. However, I would like to move further and show you how to burn a DVD with data - fast. In this example, a couple of pics from my computer will be written on a DVD disc. I will open InfraRecorder, select the first option named ``Data Disc`` and since I already know that I want to write them on a DVD I will select - DVD right from the start.
A new window will open. As you already noticed, there are four main areas: the explorer section, from here you can navigate across your computer files and folders. Right after, you can see the contents of your current location. The last two, contains the disc information window and the place where you can drag files to burn them.
To keep things simple and even easier to understand, I`ve made the following image which is my personal view ( quite primitive ). Just a couple of steps to follow and you`re ready to burn any data.
In this example, I used the ``Explorer View`` window. Once I`ve selected the folder, on the right window I could see the content - a couple of JPEG pics. I selected all of them and I dragged them down in the last window. What you see in that window is what I am going to burn on the DVD.
There are several buttons on InfraRecord Menu that allows me to perform several actions but right now I am interested in one - to burn these files. It`s the third button - ``Burn the current compilation to a physical compact disc.``
Right after I press that button, a new window will appear, allowing me to select the writing speed and other options. I don`t need to change the current settings so all I need to do is to click on ``OK`` - this will start the burning process.
Note: If you want to write important data or audio files, I recommend you to select a slower writing speed - NOT MAXIMUM, from experience I can tell that at a lower speed you can avoid a couple of unpredictable errors.
This is a temporary window, it will let you know that the application has started to write the disc and it will also show you the total progress. Depending on how much data you choose to write and the speed that you`ve selected it may take a couple of minutes or even more.
When everything is ready the previous temporary window will close and the DVD will automatically eject. If you need to burn the same data at a later time, you can save the current project and load it later. Next time you will be able to burn the same data without the first two steps: explore and select data. You can just open the project and write data - this will save time, especially when you need to deal with a lot of projects.
One more thing, if I would rate InfraRecorder in his category I would say anywhere around 1-3 places. Definitely, there are not so many high quality free, open-source CD-DVD burning tools for Windows.
