HI, I'm considering buying an internal DVD/RW drive. My main interest in the DVD side will be to archive data, mostly FLACs and MP3s. I have no interest in movies and don't own a TV. Mostly, the cheap drives I see are OEM, and most seem to have no software included. I assume I can use what I have for burning CDs, but what do I need to burn data onto DVDs, and can I get it for little or no money?

You can use Nero for example.

I realize how dim this sounds, but I do not have any Nero software, and when I go to their web pages they talk about expiration dates and trialware. Is there a free version somewhere I don't know about?

as with almost any other commercial piece of software there is of course no legal way to use the app other than to pay for it (or just use it during the trial period only).

however, you could use BAO with the optional free DVD support.

edit: there are some other free apps available. search the forum and/or the net.

Also, while it's usefulness is limited, most of the OEM versions of drives I have come across have included a single CD with the installatiion instructions and a heavily cut down version of Nero.

I know this is the case with OEM drives sold here in Oz by LiteOn and Pioneer.

The software is very limited (no encoding/decoding, Nerovision etc) compared to standard Nero, but it still does most basic burning tasks.

Otherwise, if you can get your data into an ISO image, you can always burn with DVD Decrypter which is free and can write ISO images to CD/DVD. I'm a bit rusty regarding ISO making tools, but I'd be very surprised if this can't be done through BAO or other similar freeware type programs.

Certainly it would be well worth your while going OEM, unless you really must have that nice pretty cardboard box and a bunch of CDs with software of limited worth on them!

Hope this helps,

Den

It does help, Den, many thanks! I never thought to look on my own machine, where I found that the crappy Roxio software which came with the machine apparently will burn data DVDs, too - so if this software will recognize the new drive I can at least get started until I find something that works better. Appreciate the help.