I was WRONG - Industry Trend or Event - Column

Emedia Professional, Dec, 1999 by Robert A. Starrett

a few months after Windows 95 was released, I wrote a column called "Recordable Software 96 Shakeout." It discussed the fact that few of the developers who had produced CD recording software for DOS and Windows 3.x had moved on into the Windows 95 32-bit software market. The players offering Windows 95 recording software at the time were Adaptec (Easy CD Pro), Optical Media International (QuickTopix), Creative Digital Research (CDR Publisher), Elektroson (Gear), CeQuadrat (WinOnCD), and newcomer Corel (CD Creator). I concluded, "The window of opportunity for small shop CD recordable software developers has almost completely closed." Well, I was wrong once, many years ago, so I guess I could be wrong a second time.

New companies did indeed enter the fray; some have made inroads, some are too new to yet be a major presence, but it is clear that today, with the booming popularity of CD recording, there is room for everybody. First, strike OMI from the list. Not long after its acquisition by CD networking company Microtest, the QuickTopix software was discontinued. Add Newtech's NTI CD Maker and NTI Backup, products that are solid; NTI has made good progress establishing itself as a top developer in the CD recording market. Add, then subtract (for now) Prassi's CD Rep, CD Right, and CD Right Plus. This top-notch software is not currently being sold because Adaptec sued Prassi shortly after it's release, and obtained a court order preventing Prassi from selling the products until the matter is resolved at trial, set for this October.

Add the full-featured Nero Burning ROM from Ahead Software in Germany and CD Creation from British vendor K-PAR Systems. Add GoldenHawk's CDR Win, which has progressed from lone wolf Jeff Arnold's hobby to a full-blown recording software that equals the power, performance, and features of many of the programs from the big boys. Add Canadian-based Asimware's HotBurn, a great product, already mature in version 1.0. Don't forget DiscJuggler from Padus Software for burning multiple CDs simultaneously. The Gear software line was purchased by Command Systems and, after what looked to be a shaky start, Gear 5.0 for Windows development and testing is nearly finished. Still available from Command Software are the CD-R Suite, Gear Pro for Windows, Gear Replicator, Gear Audio, and Gear Pro for UNIX. Command also offers Gear Works, a CD Recording API (Application Programmer's Interface). Also still offering APIs are Creative Digital Research (HyCD Developer's Kit), Goldenhawk (C class library), Smart Storage (SmartStor Archive API), K-PAR Systems (Cdcreation SDK), and Prassi (ISO Rep and UDF Rep toolkits).

OS/2 users, if there are any of them left, can still record using RSJ CD-Writer for OS/2, the only OS/2 package available since Unite CD Maker from Cirrus Technologies was discontinued a couple years ago. RSJ CD Writer is also available for Windows 95 and provides both standard data and audio recording along with packet writing capabilities.

Other recording packages include IDG Fireburner, VOB CD Wizard, B's Recorder Gold, Aplix Win CDR 4.0, and PTS CD Writer. Interactive Information's CD Everywhere does not record CDs, but it quickly makes hybrid images in a number of different flavors. Once created, the CD Everywhere image can be burned to CD by most recording packages.

As we all know, the hot area in CD-R right now is audio, and the number of software packages available for recording audio reflects this. Creative Digital Research has done well with their HyCD Play and Record, which makes audio CDs by simply using the Copy and Paste commands in Windows to move tracks from CD, hard drive or MP3 to CD-R. Dart's products, Dart CD-Recorder 3.0, Dart PRO 32, and Dart PRO 98 all now have recording functionality. Adaptec's just-released SoundStream is a quick and easy audio recording program. Red Roaster from Sek'd in Germany, Steinberg's Get It On CD, Sonic Foundry's Siren, zy2000's MP3 CD Maker, and Dialog Median's LavaBurn all specialize in audio recording. Others are SonicBurn from MyNetMedia.com and Audio MP3 Studio from PTS. On the high end, for mixing, editing, and recording, there is Magix Music Studio Professional.

There are also several other utilities that are handy to have available in your recording toolbox. One is CD-R Identifier, which will list the manufacturer, dye formulation, and total recorded or blank time of a CD-R disc. CDFS.VXD is a replacement Compact Disc File System virtual device driver that allows you to look at audio CDs not just as CD-Audio files but also as WAVs. You can open and save a CD-Audio file as a WAV in a wave editor and otherwise use CD-Audio files as if they are actual WAVs. Super Blank can erase up to seven CD-ReWritable discs simultaneously.

CD-R Diagnostic allows you to test and examine CD, CDR, and CD-RW discs. It also provides a recovery function for damaged discs. It supports packet-written discs recorded with DirectCD, PacketCD, or other tools. Other useful utilities are CD Speed (which does what its name implies), Disc Inspector Pro from ECI for disc testing, and Exact Audio Copy for extracting audio from even the most troublesome drives.