Time to Burn

very good
key review info
application features
  • Writes .mp3 or .wav files on-the-fly as an audio disc
  • (5 more, see all...)

The old CD standard is an endangered data support, since its use is fading when compared to the almighty DVD. Even the DVD will have to fear soon, since first Blue-Ray drives and discs are already in the wild.

Anyway, what I have here now is a program that was built to be a reliable, easy to learn and cheap solution for burning audio and data Cds...and some more, but first things first!

My last target today is called Cheetah CD Burner, reached version 3.44 and comes as a 15 days trial version without any limitations, just a countdown nag screen when starting it up. The installation kit has 9.3MB in size and there's only one problem with the setup process - you'll have to reboot your computer when it finishes, other than that you shouldn't have any problem at this stage.

Once your computer has been rebooted and the program starts for the first time, you'll find yourself facing a nag screen with a small countdown timer, and then...what I have been expecting to see for a while, a nice and clean interface, with a toolbar having large, clear and expressive icons, along with a main work area, nothing more.

The Welcome screen can be considered the quick guide of this program, because you won't find another built in help content and to be honest, you shouldn't need such a thing. All you have to know is what you want to do, and the program will do it for you extremely easy. Let's check all the operations that can be done in a quick run, shall we?

The Data CD Burner allows you to burn - what else? - data CDs. You just have to enter the label you want, drag the files for burning into the Data Disc panel, select the desired speed and the drive, if you have more than one writer, and then hit the Burn Disc button. For people who want to change advanced settings, there are five options tabs available inside the Settings area, starting with write and data options and finishing with bootable disc configuration.

There are two main things that can be done with audio CDs, burning and ripping. Cheetah CD Burner lets you perform both these operations, but I have only one request here: can we have some more encoding options, please? The only ones available are MP3 and WAV, but there's a workaround for this as you can use the Audio Converter later.

If you want to replicate a CD, you can use one of the tools that follow next, designed to copy data and audio CDs. All you have to do is select the desired disk type, the source and destination drives, writing speed and the temporary directory. Pretty easy, isn't it?

ISO files can be burnt and created easily with the Burn and Create ISO tools, so this way Cheetah CD Burner becomes also a ISO creator, which is an excellent addition, considering the fact that we have a commercial product here, after all, and the more you get for your money, the better.

The Bin/Cue Burner, Audio Converter and Erase Disc are the last three tools of this small, but great program, and their names should say it all, because now is the moment when I retire, but not before drawing the conclusions.

The Good

Cheetah CD Burner is a program extremely easy to use, with a pleasant interface and a lot of useful features for its purpose. Although it's a commercial product, the price you have to pay for it is very good.

The Bad

The bad parts of this program are its lack of offline documentation and, of course, the absence of DVD burning support, feature that would add a lot to the attractiveness and market value of this product.

The Truth

If you are still burning CDs instead of DVDs, than this is one of the best commercial products for basic needs. Every beginner should feel like home while using this program, and if DVD burning support is added soon, it will become an interesting choice for all of us. Enjoy your trial!

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

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user interface 4
features 3
ease of use 5
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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