K3b Review

excellent
key review info
  • Application: K3b 1.0
  • Reviewed on:
application features
  • Add files and folders to your data cd project via drag & drop.
  • (7 more, see all...)

K3b is probably the best application for CD or DVD burning and ripping,out of everything that I've tested up so far, and I really think I had dealt with plenty of them. What makes it so special? You could ask the hundreds of individuals who gave it enough votes in order to become the Multimedia Utility of the Year 2006, or you could read the lines below.

Only if you think about the burning area covered by this little strange named app, you can become aware of its truly high potential. From the simple CD and DVD copies, to the creation of audio CDs and file transcoding, K3b makes them all. Honestly, since I've started using it I was completely satisfied with its features, and there was no need in the authoring field that K3b was not able to help me out with. Not to mention the ability of burning eMoviX CD/DVDs. Besides being so multi-functional, K3b is also very unpretentious. It deals perfectly with any CD or DVD media you intend to supply: CD-R/W, DVD+R/W, DVD-R/W as well as with their dual-layer counterparts. Written in C++ programming language, K3b must enjoy a robust and tidy programming design, as it seems to have no idea of any bugs or errors since I have been using it.

I don't know about you, but I prefer the easy-to-use programs, which are able to do the calculations for me and find the best solution leaving me only the OK -click task. Therefore, I think it's not hard to guess why I have such a crush on K3b. It has a clever graphical interface that is able to provide you the most useful defaults and automatic modes for calculating the proper settings in some given circumstances. And speaking about the interface, I must say it also has a very nice look and the incorporated browser is worth all the praises, as it meets all the criteria of a helpful tool in the right place.

Due to these aspects, the creation of custom CDs and DVDs becomes nice and easy and everything that the user has to do is just a matter of a few clicks. Besides the ordinary Data DVD and Audio CD projects, K3b also features the Mixed-mode CDs, Video CDs and DVDs and as I've mentioned before the eMoviX CDs and DVDs. As I was speaking about an ease-of-use, I must also mention here the way you add files on the disk to be burned, as this would be the easiest possible way: the drag and drop way. While preparing data to be burned, the user has the possibility of organizing it in any way he or she can think of, as K3b provides the options of creating new folders, moving files within the collection, renaming them and all the others provided by a common file manager.

The K3b developer has done a great job with the improvements of the previous version in creating this one, even though I guess he mixed up something at one point since a new bug started nothering me while writing DVDs. I've encountered this bug while writing a multi-session DVD; I got really surprised, as this feature worked very well in the previous version. So, I have some data I must write and the only media support I have at hand is a two-weeks old multisession DVD where I've previously written some school projects. But when I've clicked the import session button (and here I am a bit disappointed with the resemblance between the two import and remove session buttons; those two buttons are identical and they can be very confusing), my 4.4 GB DVD turned into a 8GB dual-layer. Unfortunately, it actually didn't, but K3b was not aware of the impossibility of the situation and by I don't know what means considered it that way. This is not a very bad thing, but, if I press the burn button, K3b will ask for a dual-layer and will refuse to use my multisession DVD. This problem can be solved easily if the previous session on the DVD was organized in folders. If so, then you can remove the session and then even though the files in the right-right side of the window will go away, the folders remain in the left-side and you can add files in those folders, and then when you press the burn button everything will go as it should.

A good addition to the previous version would also be the timer. I think K3b was one of the few burning programs equipped with a timer. This timer shows you the elapsed time or if you prefer the remaining time. Another aspect that I consider to be very clever and well-thought would be the progressive writing speed. Whatever your speed option is, K3b starts from the minimum speed possible and then increases progressively until at the end it reaches the desired one. This way it assures a proper and safe process of burning your media support.

The Good

K3b provides a nice and comfortable GUI to perform most CD/DVD burning tasks like creating an Audio CD from a set of audio files or copying a CD/DVD, as well as more advanced tasks such as burning eMovix CD/DVDs. It can also perform direct disc-to-disc copies.

The Bad

The only bad part I could find while using K3b was the bug when writing a multisession DVD. Regarding all other aspects, K3b excelled through the remarkable features it provides.

The Truth

K3b is a free software CD and DVD authoring application designed for the GNU/Linux and also for all other Unix-like operating systems designed for KDE.

Check out some screenshots of K3b 1.0 below:

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user interface 5
features 5
ease of use 5
pricing / value 5


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent
 
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