Do you think Nero is hard to use? Even BurnerXP seems too complicated? Just don't feel in the mood to learn a single bit of information that you won't use daily? No problem, I have found a tool just for you! Today, it's about burning CDs, as you may have figured out already...

The name of the program I am talking about is Burnatonce and its latest version is 0.99.5. Although this may sound scary, things look pretty well for an application that still has to reach version 1.0. Its setup package has 3.8MB in size and you shouldn't be afraid of any problems, because setting up the program is something really easy to do. The last thing that you should worry about when using Burnatonce is the price. Of course that you will still have to buy your blank discs, but using the program won't cost you a penny. Now that we know all this, the time has come to move on and explore this program's interface and features.

I can't say that Burnatonce looks good, because that would be a lie, but I can't say it looks bad either. The truth is somewhere in the middle, and anyway, this program's purpose is not to look good. Burnatonce is really easy to use and it doesn't have a bunch of features that you won't ever use; its interface perfectly reflects that, being a really minimal one. The main window is really simple, having only one button that is used to start the writing process. The other elements of the interface are the main menu and the command log window. All that we have to do now is find out how to burn CDs, isn't it? Let's go then!

I will start with the easiest way to burn a disc and suppose you already have an image file waiting to be burnt. Burnatonce can handle this task for ISO, CUE/BIN and TOC files, and I would really like to see the NRG format becoming available in the near future. All you have to do is open the File menu, click the Load New Image... item and then browse for the image to burn, press the Write button and the process starts!

Of course that - no matter what kind of disc you are burning - some settings are required, and I was really amazed by the amount of options present here. To access the burning options area, you have to open the Settings menu and click the Device Settings item. Advanced read settings, including Scratch Detection, as well as buffers and writing speed are available here.

It was a real pleasure to find out that this tiny program can copy discs on-the-fly, using only a fraction of the disk space required otherwise when performing disc duplications. Even better, you can save an image of the currently inserted disc for further use!

The data and audio compilations are very easy to create; all you have to do is use the required item from the Mastering menu. If you want to change the file system settings or disk title when burning data CDs, you'll be amazed by this program's support for ISO9660:1999, UDF, or bootable disc creation!

The Tools menu includes an excellent device information tool that can give you details about your writer and the media you're using. Absolutely great!

These being said, the time has come for the conclusions and screenshots, as usual, but I guess you already decided to give this program a try...or not?

The Good

Burnatonce is so easy to use that even my hamster could handle it, and the best part is that all the basic features needed to burn CDs (you can even burn data DVDs too!) are here, including native support for OGG and FLAC when burning audio CDs! Also add the facts that the documentation is very good and you don't have to pay anything for this program and you'll get a really nice result...

The Bad

Things look great, and I think that having support for burning video CDs/DVDs and, maybe in the near future, Blu-Ray discs, would make this program a lot more attractive.

The Truth

This program is an excellent tool for people who want to get the job done fast and easy without caring much about the looks of the tools they're using. I highly recommend you to get this program, because behind its tiny interface there's a true monster!

Here are some snapshots of the application in action: