14 DAY TRIAL // Optical media has long replaced the floppy disk of old, but while the new media is more potent and reliable, working with it is a tad more complicated. Reading from CDs and DVDs is a simple and straight forward affair, however, writing such media is not as easy. For one thing the standard burning software included in OS X is very weak, les than intuitive and arduous to work with. Secondly, these days, people want optical media for use in more than just their computer? they want disks they can play in their DVD players, or CDs that work in portable MP3 players. There are quite a few third party disk burning programs out there, some very well known and established, and some obscure, but they all have their strong points and shortcomings, and Dragon Burn is no different.
What it does Dragon Burn is a program that lets you write information to optical media such as CDs and DVDs, a process commonly referred to as 'burning' a disk.
Burning a disk is not as simple as just dumping all the information on it. The information needs to be written in a way so that the device you intend to use it on can read it. If you are not familiar with all the types of CDs out there, and which types are compatible with which devices, then this program is for you.
User Interface The Dragon Burn interface is very straightforward and easy to use. Whenever you start the program, it will present you with a window filled with icons for all the types of disks you could wish to burn. The icons are well chosen and representative, as are the labels. If the icon and label are not clear enough, you can hover the mouse over each of the disk types and a drawer will pop up telling you about that disk type and what it is recommended for.
Once you select a disk type, you will be presented with the 'content' window in which you add the content you desire to be burned on the disk. The files and folders can be added, removed, and reordered at will until they are ready for burning. Drag and drop is supported, as well as the old-fashioned dialogue adding of files, the only thing that does not work is drag and drop from iTunes, which can be a pain for some users, however the program can import iTunes playlists.
Although the program does not exactly have a 'standard' OS X look, the buttons are all labeled and everything you need is there, both in terms of information and controls.
Disk types Dragon Burn can do pretty much all of the standard disk types.
The 'Audio CD' and 'MP3 CD' are, of course present, but there is also a different kind of disk here, named 'Live Audio'. This type of disk is practically an audio disk, however, the audio track that will be recorded on it comes from your own microphone. Using this option, you can record multiple tracks, and then burn them to disk. This option can be used for anything from keeping records of meetings and the such to creating CD versions of old LPs and audio cassettes. Dragon Burn can also write pure data disks, supporting many disk formats, as well as copy disks to either other optical drives or local disk images. It can also burn disk images, and can even multi-burn one image to multiple devices at the same time.
In terms of media, it can do the standard Video CDs, as well as Super Video CDs, Image CDs (which can be played by DVD players that support them), and even Mixed Mode CDs and CD Extra CDs.
The Good Very easy to use and friendly to new users. The interface is self explanatory, and it has all the needed bits of information to answer your question regarding what kind of disk to burn.
The Bad The price tag is a bit peppered, considering there are far cheaper alternatives out there. Roxio's Toast is not that much more expensive and it is a far better established program.
The Truth If you want something that is better than the default burned in OS X and the also-ran third party programs out there, but don't want to go all the way to Toast, then this program might be a good compromise.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
