A Review of Nero 7 Ultra Edition - An Excellent Choice for CD & DVD Creation Software
Introduction
Nero 7 Ultra Edition is the latest offering of the longstanding, high-quality Nero product series which continues to shine with each new release. I’ve been using Nero for many years now and it has never failed me in terms of its quickness, the multitude of formats that it can handle, and its easy-to-use interface. The interface, called Nero StartSmart, is the starting point for all your audio, video, backup, and recording tasks. The guided wizards allow you to complete your project with a just a few mouse clicks. Some of the extra applications built into Nero include: Nero Vision (for video editing and authoring software); Nero BackItUp (allows you to back up your files and folders and even allows you to span a number of CDs or DVDs for large backups); Nero CoverDesigner (to create individual covers and labels); Nero WaveEditor (editing and recording audio files); Nero SoundTrax (allows you to create your own music mix, sort of like being your own DJ with a multitrack music studio); Nero ShowTime (to watch your favourite DVD-Videos movies and listen to music); Nero MediaHome (stream videos, music and images to your UPnP devices); Nero Recode (recode non-copy protected DVD movies to DVD or hard drive without any loss of quality); Nero PhotoSnap (edit your favourite photographs); and InCD (allows you to use your rewritable disc like a big floppy disk). There are also a few extra utilities.
Nero 7 Ultra Edition’s primary feature is its capability to burn CDs and DVDs. Nero 7 supports authoring to many mediums, including CD-RWs, DVD+R, DVD-R, dual-layer, and now even to Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. Nero 7 Ultra’s list of compatible formats includes burning in CD-ROM (ISO), Audio-CD, Mixed-Mode CD, CD Extra, CD Copy, Video CD, Super Video CD, miniDVD, CD-ROM (Boot), CD-ROM (UDF), and Audiobook CD.
Nero 7 Ultra Edition is a must-have tool for anyone who loves to share data with others. Be it music files, photos, documents, videos, or anything in between, the flexibility of tools integrated with Nero 7 allow the user to be in complete control of all aspects of the project.
Price to Value (5 out of 5)
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All the high quality features included with Nero 7 Ultra Edition give this product an excellent Price to Value ratio. For $40 USD, you can create a multitude of projects with Nero 7. Trying to use the built-in burning tools that are typically included with your Operating System don’t allow you to customize much of the CD or DVD that you’re burning. With the advanced customization abilities of Nero 7Ultra, you can customize the data format, file system, the speed of the copying, cache and buffering settings and more. If you’re not very computer savvy, the Nero StartSmart wizard will help you complete your project by asking you what kind of disc you’re trying to make and what kind of data you’re putting on it.
Installation & Setup (4 out of 5)
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Setting up Nero 7 Ultra Edition was a breeze; the standard looking installshield setup wizard with the typical questions. However, for some reason it kept asking me to install DirectX 9. I had issues trying to get past that since I’m using Windows Vista and had a higher version of DirectX was already installed. Other then that the install took place without a problem.
What’s Not: 
Nero has teamed up with www.ask.com. During installation, Nero 7 Ultra Edition gives you the option to install the Ask Toolbar. I didn’t like this. The saving grace is that it allows you to say no to the installation of the taskbar. But for a product that you pay good money for, I wish that they didn’t have this extra toolbar to speed the installation along. Again there was also the issue regarding installing DirectX 9 during the installation process.
User Interface (5 out of 5)
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The main application Nero 7 Ultra Edition has a very clean interface that resembles that of Microsoft Office XP. It has iconic toolbars at the top and their icons don’t look cartoonish but are very professional. The layout isn’t cluttered either. Logical menus and submenus will allow any user to easily work their way through to find the function they’re looking for.
In addition, the Nero StartSmart wizards is an excellent tool that allows beginner users to create their own CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray or even HD-DVD’s all by themselves.
Product Features (4 out of 5)
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Nero 7 Ultra Edition includes a lot of extra features such as the ability to print your own CD labels and create your own jewel case labels.
Some of the extra applications that are built into Nero 7 include:
- Nero Vision (for Video Editing and authoring software).
- Nero BackItUp (allows you to back up your files and folders, even allows to span a number of CDs or DVDs for large backups).
- Nero CoverDesigner (to create individual covers and labels).
- Nero WaveEditor (editing and recording audio files).
- Nero SoundTrax (allows you to create your own music mix, sort of like being your own dj with a multitrack music studio).
- Nero ShowTime (to watch your favourite DVD-Videos movies, and listen to music).
- Nero MediaHome (stream videos, music and images to your UPnP devices).
- Nero Recode (recode non-copy protected DVD movies to DVD or hard drive without any loss of quality).
- Nero PhotoSnap (Edit your favourite photographs).
- InCD (allows you to use your rewritable disc like a big floppy disk).
- A few extra utilities.
All these extra applications are useful if you don’t have any dedicated application to perform the feature but I wouldn’t trust the applications 100% if the project you’re working on is something that your business is supposed to specialize in. These applications only scratch the surface of what the function is supposed to perform and is only useful if you have nothing else to use besides them.
Performance (5 out of 5)
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Nero 7 Ultra Edition is compatible and is able to take advantage of all the different types of CD recorders and DVD recorders. Some of the extra features available, with different recorders, are the sizes of the buffer. Nero 7 is able to calculate the different sizes of the buffers and ensure that the performance of the copy will come out perfectly.
Some of the extra tools included with Nero Burning ROM includes Nero DriveSpeed which allows you to reduce the reading speed so that your drive will perform quieter. The application also allows you to control the spin up and spin down time.
Security & Privacy (4 out of 5)
What’s Not: 
During installation, the Ask.com toolbar asks your permission to install. I’m not a fan of these sorts of toolbars asking to be installed on any software. But other then that, Nero 7 Ultra Edition is an excellent package.
Images
Suggested Features
Better compatibility with Windows Vista is needed for this product to really shine. I hear version 8 is already out on the market too, so that should really help in Windows Vista.
Conclusion
Nero 7 Ultra Edition is an amazing product for creating your own CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs, and even Blu-Ray discs. It has simple-to-use wizards along with a large array of extra applications which combine to make this the essential bundle for any PC. Nero 7 Ultra will appeal to beginners and for advanced users with its extra tools to help quicken your read speeds. In addition, all the advanced options such as; the variety of file formats, disc formats, and different speeds, as well as the overall quality of the write you get with Nero 7, make it a product you will never want to do without.
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