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VOB InstantCD/DVD

If you want an ‘everything plus the kitchen sink’ CD and DVD burning package, look no further.

Most owners of CD or DVD burners are familiar with either Roxio (formally Adaptec) CD Creator or Ahead Software’s Nero. The former is popular with novice users for its ease of use whilst the latter provides an extremely flexible set of tools for the more advanced user.

The Third Way

VOB have been quietly working away on their alternative to the two market leaders and their Instant CD/DVD package is now up to version 6.5.  It is also getting bundled with more drives so lets see what it offers.

As the title suggests, it allows you to burn CDs and DVDs. It supports pretty much any disk format or type you can think of. InstantCD/DVD consists of a suite of programs and tools which are selected via a front end although you can run any of them directly if you wish.

The Basics

The main tool is InstantDisc. InstantDisc allows you to create audio and data discs. The formats supported include ISO9660, JOLIET and CD+G through to PSX Playstation. You can also select the CD size and overburning is supported if your CD Burner can cope with it. Once you have chosen the format you drag and drop files on to the ‘virtual CD’ using an Explorer like interface.  When done, you select Burn to write the ‘virtual CD’ you have created to the real blank CD.

Audio CDs are created in much the same way with WAVs and MP3 directly supported. The system can also interrogate the CDDB database to obtain the names of any audio tracks you write to save you having type the details in by hand. Finally, you can generate an inlay detailing the details of the CD you have created.

InstantCopy

The InstantCopy module allows you to make 1:1 copies of any CD or DVD. It includes presets for the different types of game protection as well as Playstation games which is surprising for a mainstream commercial application. Some types of disk such as CD+G can only be copied using certain CD burners but at least the software will handle its side of the deal.

InstantWrite

InstantWrite is a packet writing tool that lets you format a disk so that it can be treated like a hard disk. A suitably formatted disk can have files copied to and from it at will making it work like a slow hard disk. It supports CD-R and CD-RW as well as DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD-RW disks. Unlike other packet writing tools, this one also lets you create standard Audio CDs in the same way – a very powerful feature indeed.

InstantBackup

InstantBackup allows you to backup your PC to one or more disks. You can select a full backup or incremental with both CDs and DVDs being supported. For safety you can select verify to ensure the backup worked OK. The system also compresses your data to cut down on the number of disks needed. For those keen on security you can also enable password controlled encryption.

InstantMusic

Instant Music seems an odd thing to add to the mix and is essentially a music creation tool that lets you grab samples from CDs and then arrange them to create your own tunes. You can add various audio effects whilst using the 32 tracks to build up your song. Once done you can burn the whole thing to CD. A fun tool but it feels out of place with the rest of the package.

InstantVideo

When it comes to video, you are spoilt for choice. You can create VCDs, SVCDs, DVDs and photo albums. It uses a similar drag and drop interface to the rest of the tools and will perform conversion on the fly if needed. This can be quite slow though especially when converting different clips prior to writing a DVD. Unlike dedicated packages, you cannot create DVD menus which is a pity.

Odds and Ends

The package is finished off with various extras such as a DVD player and a hard disk speed tester. More usefully, InstantDrive allows you to make a copy of a CD on to your hard drive which can then be used instead of the original to save having to swap disks all the time. This is useful for encyclopaedias and other regularly used CDs.

Good Tools, Shame about the Documentation

Where InstantCD/DVD excels is the wide range of options for the burning process. The number of formats, CD or DVD types and features is almost overwhelming at first. Things aren’t helped by the extremely brief online help. Even experienced users will struggle to find out much useful here so lots of trial and error is needed to get the best from the system. The web site has an FAQ section but much of that is ‘under construction’. Not really good enough.

There is a lot of power here but time and time again I ended up spending ages trying to work out what an option did or how to use it properly. A pity as this really lets things down. Beginners would struggle to use most of the features here. There are wizards for many tasks but even these didn’t help much as they only automated the more obvious parts.

Conclusion 

 Having burnt a number of CDs and DVDs using InstantCD/DVD I have to say I quite like it. It takes a lot of getting used to but the versatility gets addictive and I found myself trying things I normally wouldn’t bother with just to play with the different options. The price is good especially given the wide range of tools in the package. Better still, if you can cope with the 20Mb download, a 30 day demo version is available to try before you part with your cash. The opposition had better start worrying – VOB have a winner in the making.

Iain Laskey

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