With the release of Windows 7 coming up shortly (I expect to have my copy next week), I was thinking, that people will be wondering about having to but new software.  Especially those who are going from XP to 7, as some of the software (versions) that worked in XP do not work in 7. 

     One software that I know will need an upgrade is your cd/DVD burning software, in XP I use Nero 7 but that will not work in Windows7, to continue to use Nero I would need to pay for $49.99 for the upgrade version of Nero 9.  In these times, with income limited and the need to save as much as possible, I have 2 recommendations for fully free cd/DVD software that will give you all the features of Nero ( or Roxio, the other major consumer product).

Imgburn

( http://www.imgburn.com/ (http://www NULL.imgburn NULL.com/) ) is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that allows for (from the Imgburn site)

Read (http://www NULL.imgburn NULL.com/index NULL.php?act=screenshots#isoread) – Read a disc to an image file

Build (http://www NULL.imgburn NULL.com/index NULL.php?act=screenshots#isobuild) – Create an image file from files on your computer or network – or you can write the files directly to a disc

Write (http://www NULL.imgburn NULL.com/index NULL.php?act=screenshots#isowrite) – Write an image file to a disc

Verify (http://www NULL.imgburn NULL.com/index NULL.php?act=screenshots#isoverify) – Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct

For standard users all you need to know about Imgburn is that to use it all you need to do is

1. Load ImgBurn.
2. Switch to ‘Write’ mode.
3. Insert Disc in Burner.
4. Select Image to burn.
5. Click ‘Write’ button.
Finished!

For those looking for additional custom burning features Imgburn has various guides  (http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?s=ba49e4b89feb8e4d8eadf3a7ac32a76f&showforum=4 (http://forum NULL.imgburn NULL.com/index NULL.php?s=ba49e4b89feb8e4d8eadf3a7ac32a76f&showforum=4)) with additional custom How-To information.

CDBurnerXP

( http://cdburnerxp.se/ (http://cdburnerxp NULL.se/) ) is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a Multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free.

Key Features

1. burn all kinds of discs
2. audio-CDs with or without gaps between tracks
3. burn and create ISO files
4. data verification after burning process
5. create bootable discs
6. multi-language interface
7. bin/nrg → ISO converter, simple cover printing and much more!
8. Operating Systems: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/Windows 7

CDBurnerXP has various “How-To” information for those who need to do more custom burning as well ( http://www.cdburnerxp.se/help//Intro/faq (http://www NULL.cdburnerxp NULL.se/help//Intro/faq) )

     In both cases these software packages are absolutely free and full featured. Allowing you all the features without the cost of new or upgraded software.