Today something odd happened. NERO released a stripped down version of Nero 9.4 which they claim offer basic CD/DVD burning/copying capability, for FREE. For many of you guys including me Nero used to be best tool available for CD/DVD burning/copying few years backs (Till Ver 6.3 or 6.6).
Later on NERO started adding so many bloatware with it forgetting to concentrate on the core job of NERO CD/DVD burning or copying. And all this resulted in many users including me dropping NERO and shifted to some better and yet free tools like Burnaware, CDburner or IMgburn.
So what prompted them to release the free version? Perhaps the competition from free tools which perform good enough for normal CD/DVD stuff. We dont know the exact reason though.
I was happy a bit and hence downloaded the application. But the happiness was gone in just few seconds. The installer was a big 55 MB approx. file. BY that only i knew, its still full of bloat.
Anyway, i Downloaded it and started installing. You should be careful here as the Setup will install ASK toolbar and google chrome along with changing your homepage to theirs if you didn’t un-tick them. Anyway, i installed it with those options off.
On running the application, i was a bit shocked. It was having almost no options to anything. Just two options for burning/ Copying CD/DVD and for everything else they will ask you to upgrade to Full version. With all that i wondered, what the heck was installed with such a big setup file of 55 MB.
Even free tools like Burnaware free offer you too much of options for your CD/DVD burning needs. I dont think i will be using this free nero even for just one time. Its bad , atleast for me. I uninstalled it in just 10 mins after i installed it. It wasnt good enough to stay on my computer that long enough. By the way, i use Burnaware free and Imgburn for my CD/DVD burning needs.
Still if you want to give it a try or download it, use the link below.
August 1, 2009 @ 9:57 PM
Not only that dude, it don’t even burn iso images that reside on your hard drive. I want this features badly b’coz I download live cd images of linux frequently. Nero free edition don’t even allow this. I think I have to use Daemon tools or like that and then use the copy disc-to-disc features in free version. Nero free edition is not for normal users. It is for advanced users.
August 1, 2009 @ 10:26 PM
Well perhaps not even for advanced users. I do a lot of advance stuff with CD/DVD burning but i couldn’t find it good enough for few minutes on my system as it don’t have any option at all or i was blind enough not to find them? Its just like a ADVERTISEMENT asking everywhere to buy a full NERO version.
August 8, 2009 @ 10:46 AM
Well… as you say – it’s just another piece of crap from Nero. As many PC users, i used in the past Nero (until version 7, when they start adding useless software as media players, video and audio editors etc). When i saw this Nero 9 Free i thought it is like old Nero 6. Instead, this look like rogue antimalware software, with buy option at every step. And i hate Ask toolbar and search engine. And all this crap for 55MB ? Why ? I will continue to use CD BurnerXP (wich is 4MB) and IMGBurn (2.1MB)
Rest in Peace (or pieces ?) Nero
August 8, 2009 @ 11:27 AM
yes mate, you are totally right. We wanted just simple Nero as it was earlier but now its bloated with crap.