Just a first comment of thanks

[old guy]

Hello, I hope this is the right place to make this comment.

 

I recently installed image burn on on my Windows 98 machine. I know it is considered a

 

dinosaur, but it is reliable. The reason was that my old burner drive (HP CD-writer+

 

8200) stopped functioning and was replaced with a TSST Tcorp CDDVDW SH-S222L drive. To

 

no one's surprise my old burner software(EZ-Creator from ADAPTEC) did not recognize this

 

drive. Being a frugal retired individual, I looked for free applications and discovered

 

yours. Some web sites stated that there would be a learning curve which I could live

 

with.

 

All that I use the burner for is to create audio cd's and some backup data cd's. I was

 

able to create some data cd's quickly. However, the creation of useable audio cd's

 

required much more time. This happened even though there is a nice write up on how to

 

do this. I had no idea and still have no idea what this "thing" called ISO is. I also

 

have no idea what Bin/cue means. The file format of UDF is also a mystery. The

 

description of file formats from my old burner software----

 

 

File System:

 

ISO9660: Select this option if you want to be able to read the CD on different platforms

 

including DOS, Macintosh, OS/2, Windows and UNIX. Files and directories recorded to CD

 

based on the ISO 9660 standard must meet the following (8+3) requirements:

 

A file name may not contain more than eight alphanumeric characters and the underscore

 

symbol [_].

 

A file name extension may not contain more than three alphanumeric characters.

 

A directory name may not contain more than eight alphanumeric characters and the

 

underscore symbol [_].

 

Joliet: Select this option if you want to use file names that contain up to 64

 

characters in length, including spaces. This is the default option and is used to record

 

most CDs. Joliet also records the associated DOS-standard name (8+3 characters) for each

 

file so that the CD may be read on DOS systems or earlier versions of Windows.

 

----

 

I was interested in this due to the fact that other individuals in my family that I

 

share stuff with are "APPLE" users. This was the extent of my file system knowledge.

 

 

My first attempt at creating an audio cd( I use only wave files as source) appeared at

 

first to work. However my windows cd player thought the disc was a data disk. I looked

 

up the default file system and it included this UDF thing. I changed the file system

 

to ISO9660 + Joliet and tried again. same result.

 

I then looked at some more settings and set the write format to CD. I was using a CD-RW

 

and I thought that maybe the AUTO value did not recognize this media type. Tried again

 

and it worked. I do not know if the previous changes were required or not, I just know

 

that now I can create audio cd's. There may be other settings that have to be changed,

 

but right now that does not concern me.

 

The only drawbacks(minor) to your system are

 

1) apparently your settings are set prior to requesting a burn, whereas in all my

 

other burner software I tried, some if not all of the settings were established after

 

the burn request or you were given the opportunity to change them.

 

 

2) In regard to your help file mechanism. I would prefer not to have to use the

 

internet to get help. I would prefer some help files be included in the installation

 

files. This is probably due to my career as a mainframe computer programmer where help

 

files were always in written format. I realize that a web help file is more quickly

 

changed than a written and stored file.

 

 

Other than these minor problems(at least to me), I plan on using your product for my cd

 

burning needs. The Price is right.

[scuzzy]

I recently installed image burn on on my Windows 98 machine .... Some web sites stated that there would be a learning curve which I could live with.

The learning curve is worth it

 

the creation of useable audio cd's required much more time. This happened even though there is a nice write up on how to do this.

You mean this one : http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=5555 ?

 

I had no idea and still have no idea what this "thing" called ISO is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image

 

It's just the exact data content of a CD or DVD (any optical disk really) stored in a single conventional computer data file, usually named with the ".iso" filename extension. Such a file is an easy way to store an exact image (copy) of a CD or DVD on a hard drive, and to later burn a real CD/DVD containing that image in a simple straightforward operation.

 

I also have no idea what Bin/cue means.

A ".bin" file is analogous to a ".iso" file - it contains the image of the meaningful data content of an optical disk. BIN is an alternative to ISO.

 

A ".cue" file is a very different kind of file - it's a text file describing the structure and data component contents of a disk to be built and then burned. It does not contain the actual data content. ImgBurn needs one in order to burn a hand-built audio CD.

 

The file format of UDF is also a mystery.

At this stage I'd suggest you really don't need to know anything about the format of a UDF filesystem - you just need to know when to specify the use of it. For your current intents and purposes just remember to burn video DVDs with a UDF filesystem and no other (other readers will correct me if I'm wrong). Audio CDs are a special case (and don't use any filesystem as such), but all data CDs and DVDs can use any or all of the ISO9660, Joliet and UDF filesystems.

 

My first attempt at creating an audio cd( I use only wave files as source) appeared at first to work. However my windows cd player thought the disc was a data disk. I looked up the default file system and it included this UDF thing. I changed the file system to ISO9660 + Joliet and tried again. same result.

Sounds like you were indeed requesting the burn of a standard data disk ....

 

I then looked at some more settings and set the write format to CD.

To begin building and burning an audio CD you just use "Tools | Create CUE File...". The rest all follows from that, and when told to burn the disk defined by the CUE file ImgBurn will automatically set all other parameters (apart from speed) appropriately. It will also set the speed appropriately if you take the time to set up the AWS feature first (i.e. don't just leave speed set to "MAX" all the time).

 

I was using a CD-RW and I thought that maybe the AUTO value did not recognize this media type.

ImgBurn recognises any optical disk that your drive recognises (I think it's fair to say that) .... certainly many of use it to burn CD-RW and DVD+/-RW disks all the time.

 

The only drawbacks(minor) to your system are

1) apparently your settings are set prior to requesting a burn, whereas in all my other burner software I tried, some if not all of the settings were established after the burn request or you were given the opportunity to change them.

You mean "after clicking the big red button" ?

It's debatable quite when the final request-to-burn has been made .. wizard style varies among all the burner programs out there. I don't think there are any burner programs that will let you change significant parameters of the burn once the laser has been switched on.

 

However ImgBurn will handily let you change some post-burn parameters while the burn is in progress - e.g. whether or not to perform a verify, and whether or not to shut down the PC when the burn finishes.

 

2) In regard to your help file mechanism. I would prefer not to have to use the internet to get help. I would prefer some help files be included in the installation files.

Well there are probably quite a few other people on this board who would agree with you (I'm one of them), but so far LUK has had quite enough to do just making the actual software more and more reliable, capable and useful - and adding built-in Windows Help is quite low down on his list. Actually, I'd quite like a PDF manual ... sometimes I fantasise about making one myself and posting it here, containing the distilled wisdom from postings on this board .. but I haven't done it yet

 

Also one of the side-effects of LUK putting so much work into the program itself is that (as you'll find) ImgBurn is quite clever and very helpful : it works out as far as it can (from the data you feed in, and the type of disk in the burner) what it is you must be trying to do, and will prompt you if you've forgotten something or specified something inappropriate ... to the point that you mostly don't even need a traditional help facility. And the program is loaded with tooltips .. just hover the mouse over anything you don't understand to get a helpful popup (most of the time). ImgBurn usually saves you from shooting yourself in the foot.

 

FWIW, I don't believe a user-contributed Windows Help file would be much use without extensive collaboration with LUK about where and how to plug it in to the ImgBurn executable .. which I imagine is something he doesn't want to divert to at this stage in history

[LIGHTNING UK!]

I then looked at some more settings and set the write format to CD.

 

You mean you changed the 'Write Mode' ?

 

Don't mess with settings you don't understand Doing so will prevent the program from working as it should do. Put it back on 'Auto'.

 

You don't have to change anything to burn to different media.