| A trio of new players has emerged in the Windows 95 recording software field, including NTI's CD Maker II, Cirrus Technology's Unite CD Maker 3.0 for Windows 95, and Golden Hawk Technology's CDRWIN 3.0 |
The new year 1997 rang in with no "Adaptec Easy CD Creator" colossus in sight, however, and other CD-R software companies like Creative Digital Research, Optical Media International/Microtest, CeQuadrat, and Elektroson have soldiered on. Furthermore, these companies have continued to match Adaptec's products feature for feature, with some adding unique features and functionality of their own. What's more, a trio of new players has emerged in the Windows 95 recording software field, including NTI's CD Maker II, Cirrus Technology's Unite CD Maker 3.0 for Windows 95, and Golden Hawk Technology's CDRWIN 3.0. So, instead of shrinking, the Windows 95 recording software field is growing, much to the delight of users looking for competitive pricing on full-featured CD recording products.
| Thanks to variable-length packet writing--and the packet writing-only tools that enable it--many new CD-R users whose interests are restricted to casual backup and archiving will never face the issues that long-time CD-R users have encountered over the years. |
None of which is to say that DirectCD and other packet-writing solutions will ever replace traditional CD-Recordable software, with its ability to create and premaster the many flavors of CD and perform other low-level and specialized CD creation functions. For many users, however, the casual file transfer enabled by the drive letter access that these packet-writing solutions provide may be all the CD recording form and function that they will ever need. But for those Windows 95 users who require CD mastering programs and the many features they provide, the field is strong and choices are many and varied.
Windows 95 began 1997 with no less than ten CD-Recordable software packages expressly designed to take advantage of the near-ubiquitous platform. Six of the tools, including Adaptec's Easy-CD Pro and the former Corel CD Creator, CeQuadrat's WinOnCD and WinOnCD To Go!, Elektroson's Gear, and Creative CDR Publisher enjoyed widespread availability in 1996. Recently rounding out Windows 95's CD-R software options are a pair of newer entries from NTI, and new or newly migrated products from Cirrus and Golden Hawk.
CD Creator was the breakthrough "mainstream" CD recording software developed and originally sold by Corel, and CD Creator 2 is now maintained and distributed by Adaptec. But CD Creator 2 for Windows 95 retains the trademark "Disc Wizard" that enables new users successfully to create CDs on the first try, and is laden with features, including several additional CD manipulation utilities.
Provided with CD Creator 2 are a range of function-extending programs, including CD Duplicator, which will record directly from CD-ROM to CD-R; Music Database Browser, which lets users search and sort their personal directories of audio CD artist and track information; PCD Creator, which adds Photo CD writing capability; and Sound Editor, which lets users edit imported sound clips. Also part of the package: Session Selector, which allows you to switch between sessions on a multisession disc; VCD Creator, for making Video CDs; and the Xing MPEG Encoder and Xing MPEG Player. The Jewel Case Insert Editor, a customizing tool, is contained within the CD Creator 2 program.
Installation of Creator 2 is simple and straightforward. After completing installation, the program asks to run performance tests on your hardware. Creator will proceed to test your hard drive's data transfer rate and the ability of your CD-ROM reader and recorder to perform Digital Audio Extraction. The program then simulates writing of both data and audio to your recorder at all supported speeds.
As with Adaptec's Easy-CD Pro, CD Creator's user's manual has lost weight, shedding 153 pages in one revision, from 251 pages to 98, the most notable extractions being 26 pages of useful error messages and troubleshooting information and the instructions for using the supplemental programs and all of the previously helpful screen shots. The online help is excellent but unfortunately, this program has fallen victim to the shrinking manual syndrome that plagues several Windows 95 tools.
Two key shortcomings of CD Creator remain with version 2. One stems from the ISO 9660 specification's requirement that certain fields be available for volume and publisher data. These include System Name, Volume Name, Volume Set Name, Publisher's Name, Data Preparer's Name, Application Name, Copyright File Name, Abstract File Name, and Bibliographic File Name. CD Creator only allows input of the Volume Name, Publisher's Name, Data Preparer's Name and the Copyright, Abstract and Bibliography files; while this limitation will not be prove a significant impediment to most users, certain applications, such as multivolume disc sets may need to use the System Name and Volume Set Name to allow a retrieval application to identify a certain disc within a set, which Creator 2 does not currently allow.
Another concern about CD Creator 2 is its inability to record a foreign image, which is a real image created by another recordable software program. Creator 2 will only deal with images created within the program itself. Users of CD Creator 2 who have existing images that they want to re-record will find themselves out of luck.
CD Creator 2 is excellent software with its easy-to-use interface, and it retails for $249. The additional programs for Audio CD, Video CD, and the other included utilities allow you to create just about any type of CD. But for those who need lower level functionality like copying certain CD sector ranges or copying an image of a SCSI device, other packages will serve better than Creator 2.
Adaptec, Inc.'s Easy-CD Pro 95 has a new look and feel in its Windows 95 incarnation, and version 2.01 of the Windows 95 product includes the helpful "Wizards" interface guide first seen in the CD Creator software that Adaptec purchased from Corel Corporation in summer 1996. While Easy-CD Pro 95 adds many pleasing new features, some of the flexibility of the Windows 3.1 version has been lost; power users may need to step down to the Windows 3.1 version to perform certain low-level tasks.
Disc recording begins simply and straightforwardly. Picking New from the Easy-CD Pro File menu presents users with a choice of five CD types, including CD-ROM, CD-DA, Copy CD, Mixed-mode CD, and CD from an Image. After you choose your CD type, you are presented with a tabbed file folder, whose tabs are titled General, Load Contents, File Names, Volume Info, and Data Track. Data Track is the default setting where you drag and drop the files you want to record.
Unlike several Windows 95 CD-R tools, Easy-CD Pro does not allow users to call Explorer from within the program. Instead, you must bring it up from the Start/Program menu and adjust the windows accordingly--an unpleasant chore after using programs that call it automatically or from a file menu item or a button--and split the screen accordingly. When using the Wizard, the program's internal file manager allows easy drag-and-drop operation without calling Explorer, but this window is not available in the non-Wizard mode.
The Easy CD Deck is a menu selection under Edit, and clicking this selections brings up a virtual CD deck that allows you to play or select tracks on an audio CD. Once selected, a single click will copy the track to a WAV file on hard drive for later recording back to CD. Among the nice surprises in Easy-CD Pro 2.01 is the ability to extract audio tracks from EIDE CD-ROM drives. Reliable Digital Audio Extraction was previously available only on certain SCSI CD-ROM readers.
Once you have chosen the files that you want to record, you can easily move to set options such as the standard ISO 9660 volume descriptor, the writing parameters, and the ISO filename settings. In addition to the now-standard simulated writing test, Easy-CD Pro allows you to test if your machine can sustain the data transfer rate necessary to record the CD you have set up.
The online help is as good as it gets, but the printed manual is a disappointment. Still, Easy-CD Pro remains one of the top CD recording packages available, even as many users anxiously await the release of Easy-CD Creator, hoping Adaptec will finally integrate the best of CD Creator 2 and Easy-CD Pro into one powerful and easy to use program. Easy-CD Pro 2.01 lists for $349.
The flagship product of CeQuadrat's line of CD recording tools, WinOnCD 3.0 is the full-featured stablemate of the somewhat stripped-down WinOnCD ToGo! and packet writing-specific PacketCD. WinOnCD supports all CD formats, including Video CD.
WinOnCD's well-organized main screen consists of four windows. The upper left window shows all the available data sources, including any attached SCSI devices, as block data devices. The upper right window shows the subdirectory and file detail. From this window you drag and drop the files you want to record to the lower right window. The lower left window shows the current track type. Choosing New from the File menu presents a choice of track types: ISO 9660/Joliet, CD Audio, Raw Data (from SCSI devices), and Empty Project, which allows users to add mixed tracks to the image from which WinOnCD will write the disc. Tracks can be mixed within this window and users can add or delete them as necessary.
WinOnCD supports PQ subcode editing, Bootable CD, Video CD, and CD Extra. WinOnCD has a built-in Wave editor that loads whenever you choose an audio track. The Wave Editor allows you to insert or delete .WAV files or portions of files, to insert silence, extract digital audio tracks, and play waveform files.
WinOnCD also boasts excellent recorder support, and new recorders not yet certified can be added by downloading new drivers from the CeQuadrat home page. The program returns detailed information on the capabilities of recorders, giving you information such as Disc-at-Once and Track-at-Once capability, UPC and bar code capability, and Digital Audio Extraction capability of each attached recorder.
The user's manual is excellent, including lots of screen shots and information on SCSI devices and termination, capabilities of various recorders, an interesting discussion of CD history, and some low-level discussion of CD layouts. Overall, WinOnCD is a full-featured package with excellent CD format support. The recorder support is as comprehensive as any of the recording products, with upgradable drivers provided on the Web as new recorders become available. The built-in WAVE editor is a plus, as is the easy setup for copying directly from SCSI block devices and the Video CD support. WinOnCD lists for $299.
The "lite" and thus less expensive version of WinOnCD, WinOnCD To Go!, also has much to recommend it. It includes all the features of WinOnCD except for the ability to make Video CD, Bootable CD, and CD Extra discs. The PQ subcode editing is not included and only Track-at-Once recording mode is available. WinOnCD ToGo! currently retails for $149.
Cirrus Technology, best known for its OS/2 recording software, Unite CD Maker for OS/2, has recently released Unite CD Maker for Windows 95. Like CD Creator and Easy-CD Pro, CD Maker optionally uses a "Disc Wizard" to guide the new user through the process of creating an audio or data CD.
The program is solid but limited in the range of disc formats it is equipped to create. CD Maker will create single and multisession CD-ROM and Audio CDs and supports both Disc-at-Once and Track-at-Once recording. The Unite product does not, however, support more specialized formats like Bootable CD, Video CD, and CD Extra.
The program presents itself with two windows; on the left is the "Stage" window and on the right is the "Stage Contents" window. A Stage is a project or job and all jobs are shown as icons in the stage windows; choosing a Stage shows the project files in the left window. Once all the files are added, you can proceed to testing and recording or write a real image to a hard drive or other storage device.
Unite CD Maker allows you to change the size of the data buffer to compensate for different writing conditions. A button on the toolbars immediately calls Windows Explorer and splits the screen horizontally between the two programs, allowing easy drag and drop of files from Explorer to the stage window. Like CD Creator, Unite CD Maker omits the System Name and Volume Set Name from the publisher information fields, and users who may need to make use of these fields should be aware of this limitation. CD Maker has an easy to use disc-to-disc copy feature that will copy both audio and data CDs directly from CD to CD.
The program has an excellent help file with general CD information combined with specific how-to screens. The paper manual is short, running only 45 pages, but it covers both the Windows 95 and OS/2 versions of the program and amply addresses all the features and steps for using the program. Generous use of screen shots also provides a welcome change from some other manuals. Unite CD Maker lists for $249.
| CDR Publisher continues to distinguish itself by its implementations of the company's "HyCD" technology, a proprietary scheme that allows users to create hybrid CDs that can combine Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX executables on a single disc with other data shared. |
The CD-R Publisher interface basically has three parts: large icons for both source and destination and a Next Step pointer. Source and destination are easy to change and it is always apparent what the source and destination are because you have a large, colorful icon staring you in the face for each. Data sources from which users may choose include File List, CD-ROM, Track File, Virtual Disk, Image, and Tape. Destinations are CD Recorder, Track File, Virtual Disk, Image, and Tape. The program thus allows you to transfer data to and from almost any SCSI device you have available. For tape destinations, CDR Publisher supports both Exabyte and DAT.
Creative Digital Research maintains its unique distribution scheme that allows you to download the full current version of the software, either for Windows or Unix, and to begin using the software in demo mode, which limits the image size to 5MB. If you want to purchase the program, you can send a license request by fax or email. The registration program generates the license request, and when the request is received with the relevant information, the Creative Digital Research license server automatically processes the request and generates a password. This password is emailed back to the user within a few minutes. Fax requests typically take longer to process.
CDR Publisher continues to distinguish itself by its implementation of the company's "HyCD" technology, a proprietary scheme that allows users to create hybrid CDs that can combine Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX executables on a single disc with other data shared. HyCD discs can support file systems used by the PC (ISO 9660), the Macintosh (HFS), and UNIX systems (ISO 9660 with RockRidge extensions), or any combination of the three, while writing the disc on any of the platforms. [See Paul Ling, "CD-ROM and Multiplatform Performance: The Hybrid Road," and Robert A. Starrett, "CD-Recordable Software and Hybrid CD," in the Special Feature "The Hybrid CD-ROM," CD-ROM Professional, May 1996, Volume 9, Number 5.]
CDR Publisher also has the ability to use a "Virtual Disk" as a source or destination. The Virtual Disk feature uses an extra SCSI hard drive for staging the CD image in a block or raw format. You can use the raw image to simulate a CD before recording by mounting the Virtual Disk as a CD-ROM.
CDR Publisher has comprehensive recorder support, including support for the older Sony CDW 900E and the Kodak PCD 600 recorder and Kodak Disc Transporter. Some of the lower-cost drives are not supported by the program, so users are well-advised to look at the list of supported recorders on the company's Web site when considering CDR Publisher.
A full manual in Adobe Acrobat with Acrobat Reader is available for optional download at the site, and CDR Publisher's Help menu selection calls Acrobat Reader and opens the 167-page manual, which covers both the Unix and Windows versions of the program. Using the Acrobat Reader is clumsy compared to a normal Windows help file, but the manual is excellent, even if accessing it takes a little extra time.
A nice innovation in version 4.72 is the WWW pull-down menu which has four entries, including CDR Home Page, Download Latest Version, Update Adaptec SCSI, and Update Adobe Acrobat Reader. Choosing one of these options loads your Web browser, connects to the appropriate site, and downloads the updated programs and drivers. This functionality makes it easy to be sure that you are always using the latest drivers and program.
CDR Publisher is powerful and full-featured, although for the novice the many features and required setup can prove intimidating. Once set up, however, it is easy to use and appropriate for both beginners and experts. CDR Publisher retails for $459.
| With Gear 4.0, Elektroson has addressed the most common grievance users have had with previous versions of the software and made their powerful recording program more user-friendly. |
Gear users no longer get a choice of whether they want to include SCSI tape drive support upon installation, and the result is an annoying error message that indicates that no SCSI tape drive is attached. This message appears each time you start the program (luckily, a simple modification to the program's .ini file will remove the message). Recorder support is comprehensive, not only in its inclusion of all current recorders but also its retaining support for older recorders like the Sony CDW 900E and CDW1/EDW1 recorder/encoder. Installation is straightforward and fast, although one of the install screens leaves you wondering where to click to continue. Reading the text on the screen tells you, but not until after a few annoying moments of wondering what to do next.
Data sources users can choose from include external image, cue sheet, and virtual image. The menu of CD types Gear 4.0 can write includes CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, Mixed-mode 1 (CD-ROM plus audio), Mixed-mode 2 (CD-ROM/XA + audio), and multisession. After choosing a CD type, you create the track type to which the data will be loaded and add files with the Image Editor, which is a separate window that lets you drag and drop the files you want to put on CD. Unfortunately, while setting up the files Gear shows you no status, and with a large file set, the wait is rather long and the only way to tell that the machine is not locked up is to look at your hard drive status light.
Once this process is completed, users may move to the Device side of the menu. Here, Gear shows which recorder or recorders are attached to the SCSI bus and lists the writing mode (Track-at-Once or Disc-at-Once) and the recorder speed setting. The Settings button allows you to adjust recorder parameters and the Test and Write buttons perform their respective functions as labeled.
The Gear Manual runs 304 pages and includes an excellent index. The single manual covers all the operating systems found on Elektroson's MultiOS disc. There is a Recorder Compatibility List, listing 35 recorders and their buffer size, loading method, recording speeds, current firmware version, and whether the recorder will perform Digital Audio Extraction. The manual is laid out well, containing step-by-step instructions for almost every function. A good glossary, thorough error code explanations, and information on using the batch mode all add up to a top-notch user's reference. The online help provides some good information on CD-R topics generally but does not include information on using the program itself.
| Bringing together Jeff Arnold's DOS-oriented 32-bit command-line recording utilities in a Windows 95 interface, Golden Hawk's CDRWin 3.0 offers a lot of functionality as a new entrant into the CD recording software field. |
Golden Hawk Technologies' CDRWin 3.0: Command-line Competence The basis for Golden Hawk's CDRWin 3.0 Windows 95 CD-R software is the code underlying Jeff Arnold's DOS-oriented 32-bit command-line recording utilities. Brought together in a Windows 95 interface, the program offers a lot of functionality as a new entrant into the CD recording software field.
CDRWin opens with a large-buttoned toolbar that includes buttons for Record Disc, Copy Disc, Tools, Contents, Settings, Unlock, and Exit. Each button brings up an appropriate window that allows the user to perform just about any recording function imaginable. Under Record Disc, you can choose the target recorder, set recording options such as test mode, speed, and beep at completion, and set up an attached Kodak Disc Transporter. The Copy Disc button brings up a window that allows you to specify whether you want to copy a disc, a track, or certain sectors. You can copy audio or data discs, adjust the Mode 1 and Mode 2 transfer to Mode 1 Form 1 for mixed and Raw data, and enable or disable jitter correction, set subcode options, and look at a graphical representation of the disc you are copying.
The Tools button calls a window that allows users to set source and destination devices, and the type of operation to be performed, which includes making image files, copying discs to real images, and copying a SCSI device to the CD recorder. The Contents window shows disc information that includes number and type of tracks, number of sessions, and total disc time. The settings windows allow you to set up and choose your reader and recorder, any SCSI hard drive to be used, and the Kodak Disk Transporter, if attached.
The Help function was not implemented in the early version of the program and whether a printed manual will become available remains unknown. However, CDRWin 3.0, which lists for $79, is a powerful new entrant into the Windows 95 CD-Recordable software field, offering many features that the power user will appreciate and some that are available nowhere else.
NTI CD Maker Pro 95 is a new entry into the recording field that arrives with just about every feature a user could want in a CD recording software, although its format coverage is limited to CD-ROM, Mixed-mode, Audio CD, and Real Image files. Among the features offered by the program are adjustable read and write buffers for the recorder; full testing of the hard disk speed, CD recorder, and CD reader upon installation or at any time afterwards; adjustment of the small file threshold; and toggling of the ASPI posting mode.
NTI CD Maker Pro 95 will create real images and show information on both real and virtual images such as type, size, total blocks, total folders, and track information. File positioning is available for optimization and you can add files by dragging and dropping from Explorer, which can be called from a menu item or toolbar button. Files can be added from CD Maker's own import files window. CD Maker will write Disc-at-Once, Track-at-Once, and packet-recorded discs under a fixed-length packet-writing scheme. The product lists as a standalone for $129.
The 131-page printed user's manual is fairly well laid out, but it suffers from either a sloppy translation or a valiant but not completely successful attempt to write in a second language. Like the manual, the help function attempts to be comprehensive and useful, and besides the basic language barrier, succeeds for the most part.
CD Maker Pro is also sold with an additional utility, CD Copy Tools. CD Copy Tools allows you to copy quickly from source readers and image files to destination recorders and image files. You can test the speed of the source CD reader and also test the readability of the source CD by reading all tracks before you proceed to copying. Like CD Maker, the online help attempts to be complete and comprehensive but is clouded by poor grammar. As a bundle, CD Maker Pro and NTI CD Copy sells for $299.
QuickTopix, from the Optical Media International division of Microtest, brings the same interface for Windows 95 as that used in its Windows 3.1 and Macintosh versions. As in the Windows 3.1 version, the user interface in QuickTopix 2.20 for Windows 95 is a little odd but you can get used to it. And if you work on both the Mac and a PC, the interface--which is used in the Macintosh product as well--is clearly a plus.
To prepare for recording, a user chooses the source template and target storage medium--recorder or hard drive image--and adds the files to record. QuickTopix makes no provision for dragging and dropping from Explorer, and its internal file handling is a little clunky. Once you add all the files to be recorded, you initiate a write by clicking the Make button. All write sessions must be completed in Track-At-Once or multisession format; QuickTopix 2.20 does not support Disc-at-Once recording.
On the audio side, the program includes the ability to play cued .WAV files before recording them as audio tracks. QuickTopix supports the most audio formats of any currently available Windows 95 recording program, including WAV, AIFF, RAW, and Apple SoundDesigner II files.
The 200-page printed manual includes an excellent glossary and good information on setting up SCSI devices. The program's help function is adequate, but it would be nice if the full text of the manual and the accompanying release notes were included.
QuickTopix is a solid recording program on the PC, despite the unusual interface. Unlike many other programs, QuickTopix can create HFS discs on the PC. If you need to produce masters for replication, however, the lack of Disc-at-Once capability is disturbing, but the excellent audio file support makes this a good program for recording multitrack audio discs. QuickTopix 2.20 retails for $395.
The range of products that thrive in the Windows 95 CD-Recordable field and the range of functions they provide demonstrate the continuing relevance of full-featured CD recording software even as long-awaited packet-writing capability makes its bid for becoming a desktop storage standard. And with products optimized for DVD premastering, like Elektroson's TopGear, shipping even as packet writing makes its first splash, the need for multifunction CD-R clearly remains strong. Such product positioning demonstrates CD-R's continuing relevance in areas well beyond the backup and archiving realm that packet writing will serve.
The most conservative projections show more than 200,000 CD-Recordable drives due to be sold in 1997, with 50,000 of those going to novice users interested primarily in dragging and dropping files for backup and using CD-R almost exclusively as an alternative storage device, and these users have no need or desire to navigate the complexities of mainstream tools. CD-R "lite" tools provide another simplifying route, and audio-copying-oriented products like OMI/Microtest's AudioTracer--which combines the audio extraction capabilities of OMI's Disk-to-Disc with QuickTopix's audio recording functions--also serve as function-specific alternatives to the mainstream CD-R scene. But with the list of products and manufacturers selling their CD-R wares continues to grow, that mainstream scene--particularly for the ubiquitous Windows 95 platform--remains as lively as ever.
SCSI Rep links to WINASPI32 and generates a thread for the SCSI process and a thread for each SCSI unit attached to your machine. When the Master thread sends a command, it spawns it to the attached "slave" drives. You start SCSI Rep before you start your recording program and write in the usual way, as SCSI Rep handles the details of sending the output to multiple recorders. SCSI Rep's software multiplexing is not limited to CD recorders; it will work with tape drives, hard drives, and other SCSI devices.
SCSI Rep does have some inherent limitations, however. For instance, master and slave must be the same recorder brand and model, and identical firmware versions are helpful as well, although not always necessary. A comprehensive list of what programs SCSI Rep works with is not yet available, but as it stands now, the utility should work with any recording software that does not use private virtual device drivers to write over the SCSI bus.
Installing the software is simple, as is setup, which is accomplished through a small window with several menu choices. To set up recorders, users choose one recorder as the master and one or more recorders as slave drives by clicking on the list of SCSI devices displayed within the window. Before recording, you must make sure that SCSI Rep is set as active, then record normally. SCSI Rep handles the details of multiple recorders and shows the multiplexing status with small colored drive lights in its status window.
NTI, for example, offers a "lite" version of CD recording software, CD Explorer, for free download on its Web site (http://www.ntius.com![[LiveLink]](/file/36067/SIGCAT 97 - Conference on Convergence.ISO/Docs/webcd.gif "[LiveLink]"){kind=small}
). This program presents itself much like Windows Explorer and opens Explorer when started, splitting the screen in half. Simply dragging and dropping files from Windows Explorer to CD Explorer prepares you to write. Functionality is minimal, as far as doing more than creating a CD-R in ISO 9660 format, but you can't go wrong for the price.
Included with Adaptec's Easy SCSI software, versions 4.0 and later, are two useful utilities for CD recording: CD Writer (a.k.a. Easy CD), the bare-bones version of Easy-CD Pro, and CD Copier, which allows users to copy data and audio CDs from a supported CD-ROM drive to a supported CD recorder. These two programs can perform basic recording and copying chores, but their feature sets are limited, and audio recording--other than straight copying--is not an included feature.
Creative Digital Research from time to time offers a lite version of its CD-R Publisher for promotional purposes via the company's Web site (http://www.cdr1.com). The program is identical in look and feel to the full CD-R Publisher product, but can only write ISO 9660 discs.
But whatever our preferences, we may not be able to have it all. In some cases, what ships with the full retail product and what comes with a bundled version are vastly different. In other cases, a worthy tome is reduced to a form less informative than Cliff's Notes. A good example is the manual for Adaptec's Easy-CD Pro. Long considered by many to be the best CD recording software manual available from any vendor, and widely praised as an example that all software manuals should follow, the Easy-CD Pro manual has been gutted, shrinking from an invaluable, screen shot-laden 180-page program and general CD reference guide to a 35-page shell that has not a single screen shot and unfairly condenses the previously expansive troubleshooting section to three pages. Numerous complaints about the current manual have Adaptec reconsidering their user's manual policy.
The bottom line is, of course, that while you may have to take what you are given, you can always inquire as to whether a full paper manual is available, whether free or at extra cost. And you can certainly always register your complaints with the vendor if you feel you have been shortchanged in the paper reference department.
The two currently available products provide some previews of the "best of both worlds" hybrid to come: CD Creator 2 has several new features and functions that were not in the Corel product. And Easy-CD Pro opens with its "Disc Wizard," one of Corel's original big contributions towards simplifying the CD creation and writing process. Easy CD Creator is expected to have several altogether new features when it hits the shelves, including support for ATAPI recorders, support for forthcoming 6X-reading recorders from several manufacturers, and CD-RW support.
It seems likely that Easy CD Creator will sport the CD Creator interface but use Adaptec's solid XCD engine for disc recording. The product will be available in both retail and OEM versions, the OEM version containing versions for Windows 95/Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 3.1, and the retail version offering Windows 95/NT 4.0 and Windows 3.1 versions separately. Pricing will be "competitive" according to Adaptec. Easy-CD, the lite version of Easy-CD Pro will continue to be shipped with Adaptec's Easy SCSI 4.X driver and utility software, along with CD Copier.
Other projections: The Adaptec Macintosh product will be CD Creator for Mac. And Easy-CD Pro for Macintosh will be dropped from the product line.
For CD recording, Joliet allows up to 64 characters in a filename, including spaces. When a disc is recorded under Windows 95, Joliet adds associated DOS filenames of eight plus three characters for each file. The resulting disc can thus be read on DOS systems or with Windows 3.1. Joliet names are referenced in different ways by different programs. They may be referred to as Joliet, as long filenames, or as "NT-compliant." Whatever they are called, all currently available Windows 95 CD recording tools except OMI/Microtest's QuickTopix support long filenames in Windows 95.
In spite of the additional power and flexibility that Windows 95 offers to developers and users of CD-R software, some troublesome CD recording issues must still be addressed. Buffer underrun still remains an enemy, and an interrupted data flow, resulting from any processing or I/O activity, can still interrupt a data stream and ruin a disc.
There are, however, myriad advantages to recording under Windows 95. In theory, users can record more than one disc at the same time by starting two instances of the recording program or by running two separate programs at the same time. In the real world, however, this requires two recorders, probably two SCSI cards, and lower recording speeds. In practice, CD-Recordable software still uses as many system resources as it can get its hands on and, as when recording under Windows 3.1, almost invariably prevents users from multitasking while recording a disc.
Adaptec, Inc.
(Easy-CD Pro 95 2.01, CD Creator 2)
691 South Milpitas Boulevard,
Milpitas, CA 95035;
800/934-2766, 800/442-7274, 408/957-4546;
Fax 408/957-6666;
http://www.adaptec.com;
CeQuadrat USA, Inc.
(WinOnCD 3.0, WinOnCD To Go! 3.0)
1804 Embarcadero Road, Suite 101,
Palo Alto, CA 94303;
415/843-3780; Fax 415/843-3799;
http://www.cequadrat.com;
Cirrus Technology, Inc.
(Unite CD Maker Pro)
5301 Buckeystown Pike, Fourth Floor,
Frederick, MD 21704;
301/698-1900; Fax 301/698-1909;
http://www.cirunite.com;
Creative Digital Research
(CDR Publisher 4.72)
7291 Coronado Drive,
San Jose, CA 95129;
408/255-0999; Fax 408/255-1011;
http://www.cdr1.com;
Elektroson, Inc.
(Gear 4.0)
2105 South Bascom Avenue, Suite 160,
Campbell, CA 95008;
800/606-6116, 408/371-4800; Fax 408/371-4895;
http://www.elektroson.com;
Golden Hawk Technology
(CDRWin 3.0)
125 Indian Rock Road,
Merrimack, NH 03054;
603/424-0269; Fax 603/429-0073;
http://www.mainstream.net/goldenhawk;
NewTech Infosystems
(CD Maker 2, CD Copy)
2081 Business Center Drive, Suite 250
Irvine, CA 92715;
714/622-6970; Fax 714/622-6978;
http://www.ntius.com;
Optical Media International/Microtest
(QuickTopix 2.20)
4747 North 22nd Street,
Phoenix, AZ 85016-4708;
800/347-2664, 602/952-6400; Fax 602/952-6530;
http://www.microtest.com;
Prassi Software USA, Inc.
(SCSI Rep)
5448 Thornwood Drive, Suite 201,
San Jose, CA 95123;
408/224-0100; Fax 408/224-0644;
http://www.prassi.com;
Robert A. Starrett is a contributing editor for EMedia Professional, co-columnist for The CD-R Writer, and an independent consultant based in Denver, Colorado. He is the co-author of CD-ROM Professional's CD-Recordable Handbook.
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