Burning your CDs with data can be a tricky task if you are not using the right software. Personally, I liked very much the previous version of Nero. But since they have gone wild with all those built in applications, I began looking elsewhere. So I found Cool CD Burner, a software developed by the company with the same name, that costs $19.99.

The developer also released a trial version that works fully featured for a period of fourteen days. The software is not complicated and the interface does not contain any complex element. Actually the WYSIWYG interface could be used even by a chimp. You will find yourself into trouble only if you look for what it is not displayed in the main window.

I became overzealous and looked in vane for the Settings of the software only to realize that all the options of the application are into the open.

There are four tasks you can accomplish with Cool CD Burner. The first one is burning a data disc. I guess it is futile to tell you how to do that because, besides adding the files from the Explorer window on the right, labeling the disc and setting the speed and the device you want to burn with, there is no other wrinkle you should be paying attention to.

Audio Disc allows only two types of audio file formats (.wav and .mp3) to convert to Audio CD. That is not a tragedy, as most burners have implemented the support only for these two audio formats and I was expecting this from the start. The strange thing occurred when I made the mistake of trying to cheat the application and add some .wma files.

The software did not act crazy at the beginning and respectfully warned me that only .mp3 and .wav files are supported. The problem occurred when trying to close the warning window as it was stubborn enough to keep appearing. I responded crazy with crazy and kept pressing that OK button until the window surrendered and closed (it probably realized that is no match for me). At a second attempt, the window behaved in exactly the same way.

At the third attempt, I counted the OK I had to press. Fourteen OKs and you can use the application again. When adding only one file I did not have any problem. So I thought the message appears for every file I am adding. But the number of files I tried to drag was fifteen.

Burning ISO files created no problems and adding them was piece of cake. Suffice to select the burning device, select the speed and browse for the ISO on your hard drive. The Burn button is in the toolbar and - if you have a blank disc in the optic drive - the software will begin the burning operation.

One of the buttons in the toolbar is Erase Disc. The erase will be performed without having the possibility of choosing the erasing type: full or quick erase. And it will be done at the maximum speed the device and the disc allows. This is not something unusual, although I have encountered softwares that support choosing the erasing speed (Winx Burner Master).

The renaming can be done only in the Disc ID field. Settings menu contains some interesting options which I search everywhere but there. There you can configure the software to finalize the disc, to use cache (you cannot select a certain value) or to set the software to eject the disc after the burning is complete.

During the burning, no complications arose and I was even able to write a disc with an opened session without a problem. The problem appeared when I tried to see if the data is on the disc. Big surprise here, as my new TDK became unreadable.

The Good

The software does a hell of a burning and the options available - although there aren't too many - are very good. What you see is what you get.

The Bad

Besides the aforesaid issues, I had no Test Burn proof. The application showed no sign of testing the burning. And although I noticed in the online Help file that the application is capable of burning DVDs, I also saw nothing to lead me into believe that.

I could not find an option that explicitly sets the software to burn the disc in open session mode.

Having an estimated burning time is essential for all users, so including such an option would be useful enough for the sodftware's value to grow.

The Truth

The price is too high for what it can do. I get past the warning message when trying to add different files, but I can't find any reason for losing my data when trying to add some more files.

Burning on DVDs went OK and smoothly.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:


Follow the editor on Twitter @ionut_ilascu