non-data CDs

[vfaulkner]

I hope this is the right place.

I just installed a new CD-Writer and its accompanying software.
My issue is that the software won't allow any non-text,non video, or non-mp3 file to be burned.
What I need is to burn made images and graphics to disk. (Text and programs would be nice, but I stay away from video and music.)
Can anyone tell me some inexpensive way(s)/programs that I can try?

Thanks!

[minstrel]

What software came with the burner?

There are a lot of burning programs around and I've tried several in the past few years. I now own two and use both - in order of preference:

1. Nero Burning CD ROM v6.0
2. Easy CD Creator Platimum v5.x (5.0 with updates)

Each of these is really a suite of burning programs with a central GUI and collectively they both do a good job of burning pretty much anything you can think of to CDs, including photos, videos, music files, etc. I prefer Nero for the speed - my sons prefer Easy CD for the interface. There are merits to both and you might want to download trial editions to see which you prefer.

In Canada, either can be purchased for $90-99... I don't know what that translates to in US$ these days.

(I remember when the Canadian two dollar coin, now called the tooney, was about to come out and people were suggesting names for it - my favorite was the guy who said, "well let's see... the new coin is going to be worth $2 Canadian - why don't we just call it a US dollar?")

[vfaulkner]

Thanks David,
Nero Burning 5.5 came with. it doesnot allow what I need ( or maybe I AM a complete idiot) when reading help and faqs, licensing issues/restrictions are mentioned...does v6 fix this?

I checked on roxio but my system (Win98)will not support it or vice versa.

[minstrel]

I used Nero 5.x until recently - I think it let's you burn stuff like photos and such - I know it allows you to make music CDs.

Unless you were given a stripped-down model, which I don't think Nero has done in the past (my first bruner came with Nero [v4.x I think] and it was the full version), my guess is that you're using the wrong link. There should be a central module that allows you to access the others - in v6.0 it's called "Start Smart" but previously it was called something else... let me know if you can't find it and I'll check.

[Sualdam]

Have you tried just dragging-and-dropping?

With most modern cd-writer 'drivers' you can just drag items on to the appropriate drive icon and it will save to that drive.

It isn't always necessary, therefore, to use the 'front-end' software like Nero, etc.

[minstrel]

That's only true for CDs formatted in UDF and it won't work to make music CD's or playable slide-shows, etc. I think that's what Vicki is trying to do and if she already has Nero she should be able to do it - Nero is organized into modules that do different tasks - Vicki needs to access the central one which spawns the others and then she can do whatever she wants.

The built-in Windows XP burner is quite limited.

[Sualdam]

Sorry. Let me clarify what I meant (which isn't what I said)...

... have you tried dragging-and-dropping the files you want to copy from Windows Explorer on to Nero (or whatever), which is open in another window?

(I do that all the time when I'm copying graphics files for distribution to others - it is often far quicker than messing around with the GUIs the burning software provides).

[minstrel]

Ahh... I agree with that... the built-in "file managers" can be rather slow and clumsy...

Vicki, I've just checked the Nero manual for version 5.x. The "central" or "startup" module is called Nero Wizard - you should be able to find that either on your desktop or in your Start Menu - from there you select "Compile a new CD" (or "Copy a CD" is the other option) and that takes you to a screen with the options "Audio CD", "Data CD", or "Other CD formats".

[vfaulkner]

I am not trying to copy a movie nor am I ripping music.
I need to get a couple real audio files and some gifs and jpegs burnt onto a disk for a work presentation.when I try this in Nero, I get an error stated the file format is not recognized. again, something with licensing issues, with Real or/and Kodak.

This is almost enough to make me want to growl in frustration! GRRRR!

[minstrel]

Ok, now I see I think.

First you need to make sure that you are instructing Nero to make a "Mixed" CD (i.e., containing different types of data/files).

But even there, I don't think Nero will work with Real Audio files - you'd need to convert them to mp3 or WMA, and I don't know of a program that will do that.

About the only thing I can think of doing is to format a CD in UDF format (Universal Disk Format), which allows you to read and write to it like a huge floppy disk. Then you'd need to install the UDF format driver on the work computer so it can read the CD the same way. If you can do this, you can just drag and drop your files onto the CD like a diskette and carry them to work with you on the CD.