# What are the best options these days for burning CDs and DVD's? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 20, 2014, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-options-these-days-for-burning-cds-and-dvds/691200 "2014-06-20T12:55:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2014, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-options-these-days-for-burning-cds-and-dvds/691200/1 "2014-06-20T12:55:13Z")
I’ve been using Win 7 to burn smalll cd’s. So far I haven’t trusted it for 3 or 4 gigs of data for a dvd. I have an old copy of Roxio. Roxio cost me a lot of money with their ignorant defaults for burning speeds. The stupid thing tried burning like 12x or 16x and wouldn’t let me change it. :mad: Makes me sick too think of the money down the drain with ruined blank dvd’s. I need something that will let me set my own burning speed. I much rather burn at 4x and know without any doubt the darn thing will be successfully burned. I could care less if it takes an extra 20 minutes burn. I want it right. speed doesn’t matter a flip to me. What are people using these days? Win 7’s burner is pretty simplistic. Select the files, right click and select burn. But is it reliable for 3 or 4 gig burns? You get your buffer overruns (and ruined blank dvd’s) with big burns. A small 400 or 500 Meg burn is usually not an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Bragg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Stealth\_Bragg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Bragg)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2014, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-options-these-days-for-burning-cds-and-dvds/691200/2 "2014-06-20T14:00:45Z")
I use [CDBurnerXP](https://cdburnerxp.se/en/home) for burning (in conjunction with [VirtualCloneDrive](http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html) for handling ISOs, AnyDVD for doing that neat thing that it does). CDBurnerXP went through a patch about two years ago where it burned coasters for a while but has been reliable and solid for me in about 6 years of use. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-options-these-days-for-burning-cds-and-dvds/691200/3 "2014-06-20T15:39:08Z")
I use “Ashampoo Burning Studio.” It’s free, and hasn’t failed me yet. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-options-these-days-for-burning-cds-and-dvds/691200/4 "2014-06-20T17:05:33Z")
I use ImgBurn. It’s low profile. The default “burning complete” sound is a bit obnoxious though. In the past, Nero or Alcohol, but those got a little bloated. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-options-these-days-for-burning-cds-and-dvds/691200/5 "2014-06-20T22:30:21Z")
I’ll try burning a full dvd with win 7’s software this weekend. If it gives me any problems then I’ll try one of the free programs mentioned here. I agree. Nero and Roxio are horribly bloated. Its a bad idea to buy either.