When you have a lot of CDs that you use on a daily basis, finding their cases, inserting them into the CD drive, and waiting for them to load can become irritating. What you need is a software application that will create a virtual CD drive on your hard disk, so you can access it by just double clicking your mouse. It's the simplest solution at this point.
If you’re thinking of an advanced burning suit software (such as Nero) to accomplish the job, the time and effort spend installing it alone is not worth it. For such simple commands, you just need a small and optimized application, like Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel.
It’s tiny, portable and easy to use. It allows you to copy the entire contents found on a CD, and load them on your local disk, without the need of the physical disc. Compared to Nero, for instance, Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel is much smaller, so it takes little time to load, whereas Nero requires a larger amount of CPU resources.
Usage cannot be categorized as simple. First-time users need to follow the exact instructions from the Readme file. Proper configuration of the software includes installing a driver shipped in the installation package, while the rest of the process is not rocket science.
The user interface is as standard as it can get, but on the upside, all of the functions are in plain sight. You can add or remove a drive, mount or remount a CD, and eject it. It's stated that Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel only runs on XP (and on some Windows 2000 editions), but we've tested it on Windows 7 (32 bit) and it seems to perform properly.
In conclusion, if you’re looking for a simple solution to create a virtual CD drive, this one accomplishes the job without taking a toll on system resources.