Nero 8 vs. less bloated alternatives?

The size of Nero 8 bugs me, so I looked on this site for freeware alternatives like BurnAware Free and Home editions, CDBurnerXP, and ImgBurn. These are programs are only about 5MB or less. What's the drawback? All I want to do is burn stuff on DVDs (mostly data files) and CDs, should I stick with Nero or go with something leaner?

And if I should stick with Nero, how can I get it to install (and more importantly run) in English without any useless extra languages? Right now when I run setup, it starts in Finnish, but I know it can includes English too because it installed on my laptop in English... I just don't know how to over-ride the auto-language choice. I've have English as the primary language under Control Panel/Regional Settings, and that's what I prefer since all programs are in English, and therefore I'm used to English computer commands. I only have the Finnish language settings available as a secondary option for the keyboard so that I can switch to it when I need the letters ä and ö.

p.s. I'm skeptical about some of the non-standard programs. For example, I switched to Foxit because Adobe Acrobat's bloated size and slowness bugged me, but had to switch back once I discovered that Foxit displays pdfs slightly differently than Acrobat, and sometimes Adobe Acrobat users can't open them (I work a lot with pdf's) - and since everyone else is using Adobe I need to use it too so I can see how they see my pdfs.

 

I just tried to install CDBurnerXP v4, but it wouldn't install because I don't have .NET Framework installed, and I don't want to start installing add-on crap.

What about BurnAware Free edition?

It's about 5MB and the description on this site states:

"BurnAware Free Edition allows you to easily perform the most common disc burning tasks: write to all CD/DVD media types, including Blue-Ray; write Audio CDs and DVD-Video files; create and burn disc images; write multi-session discs and much more. BurnAware Free Edition has a modern interface and supports Windows 98/NT/2000/XP and Vista (32 and 64 bit). The application is free and contains absolutely no adware or annoying banners."

It got 4.45 rating out of 86 votes.

 

okay, I installed BurnAware's free edition. I'll update this thread in a month or two to let others know how it's working (or earlier if I have a problem).

 

I like BurnAware.... it does just about everything I need to for burning (including video DVDs). The only thing I still use Nero for is burning .cue sheets (.bin/.cue images).

 

I just did the .cue/.bin-burn for the first time yesterday - but since I do it so rarely, I'll use my laptop for that, and I'll keep BurnAware on the desktop for regular burns (for now at least).

 

By the way, is it possible/advisable to lean out Nero 8 a bit (on my laptop). I installed the full default thing, and consequently the start folder for Nero 8 now contains the following subfolders and applications:

Nero Manuals (subfolder with bunch of manuals)
Nero Toolkit (subfolder with Nero BurnRights, Nero ControlCenter, Nero DiskSpeed, Nero DriveSpeed, Nero ImageDrive, Nero InfoTool, Nero RescueAgent, Nero Scout)
Nero BackItUp
Nero Burning ROM
Nero CoverDesigner
Nero Express
Nero Home
Nero MediaHome
Nero PhotoSnap
Nero PhotoSnap Viewer
Nero Recode
Nero ShowTime
Nero SoundTrax
Nero StartSmart
Nero Vision
Nero WaveEditor

 

Another vote for CDBurnerXP.

Not wanting to install .net is not a good reason to not use it.

1. .net is built into Vista.
2. You limit yourself by not being able to use some nice programs.

 

update: So far BurnAware Free has worked fine. I've probably burned at least a dozen data DVDs with it (and a CD or two), including multi-session disks (avi-files, etc). I burn mine at 4x speed, but that's what I got even when I tried it on Maximum speed... (probably some hardware issue). For that type of application this is a great small utility with very intuitive (Nero 6-like) user-interface, and I'll continue to use it. I still have Nero 8 on my laptop for more demanding jobs (image burning, cue/bin files, etc.), but for the desktop this is all I think I need.

 

Yeah, there's some of type minor issue with burn speeds and BurnAware. It's not an issue with your software or hardware, BurnAware does the same thing on every PC I have installed it on. It doesn't provide a list of different available burn speeds; it just has maximum as a choice, and then the actual maximum speed of the drive (like 48x or 8x for DVDs or whatever). Just the two choices. It's not a big deal though, and it always burns OK, but it would be nice to be able to select lower speeds for certain projects. For data, BurnAware is great.

BurnAware will burn ISO image files too, but it won't do .bin/.cue images. Since this thread was started, two great free burning apps have appeared here at Major Geeks: AShampoo Burning Studio 6 Free, and StarBurn. I have used both fairly extensively, and they each have their plusses and minuses. AShampoo asks for an email address and will toss 2 or 3 emails a week your way about software specials, their choice of colors for the main menu is hideous, but it does everything I need it to including burning .bin/.cue files; it is perhaps the only full featured free burning tool to do this. StarBurn is good too, it has an option to install a virtual drive when installing the program, it has a nice GUI with several different skins, and is easy to use. But- if you're not paying close attention during installation, StarBurn will change your IE home page and your default search page unless you uncheck the boxes. And if you don't install the virtual drive right when you first install StarBurn, you don't get another chance and you cannot install it later unless you uninstall StarBurn and re-install it. So if you're one of those people that clicks Next Next Next really quick when installing software, you may be surprised when your Internet Explorer home page has been changed. Anyway, if anyone is interested, here's the links:
AShampoo Burning Studio 6 Free http://www.majorgeeks.com/Ashampoo_Burning_Studio_6_FREE_d5937.html
StarBurn http://www.majorgeeks.com/StarBurn_d5936.html

BTW- Yes, Nero has become a bit bloated, they have achieved 'overkill' in v7 and v8. However, I have been using v6.6 for years and I love it. I don't think a day goes by that I don't use it for something even though I have the excellent freeware tools I just mentioned (I use those too, I like variety). Luckily, I have a the full install CD for Nero 6.6.1.19b so I know it will be with me always :heart

 

I downloaded Burnaware from Geeks and AVG found 2 viruses so I uninstalled it. Back to Nero

 

I just checked the virus vault again and the infection is called Klone.P

 

Same thing happened to me (more or less) once I upgraded from AVG 7.5 to 8.0, but after putting BurnAware on AVG's Exceptions list, it works again.

 

In my case, I get a list of available speeds (if I enable the burn speed selection option), but regardless of what speed I choose (even if I choose 2x), the program generally burns between ~3.5-5x, the few other apps I have taking up resources, the faster the burn.