Windows/Linux: For those who back up to DVD, multiple USB drives or just have a lot of storage devices around, there probably aren’t enough labels or markers to keep everything in order. That’s where storage tracker Basenji comes in.
Windows: BurnAware Free has one of the most simple interfaces you can find for making a CD or DVD from a computer. A free beta of its upcoming third release converts many formats to usable discs and won’t tax your system’s resources.
If you prefer Nero for your simple CD/DVD burning tasks but the price throws you for a loop, Nero introduces a stripped-down, freeware version of the popular dvd burning software.
Windows/Linux: ImgBurn is the most popular CD and DVD burning tool among Lifehacker readers, and with the newly released version 2.5, it’s even better.
Got a pile of old, scratched-up coasters that you don’t really need anymore? You can repurpose them into a dock for your iPod, iPhone or other audio player.
If you’re a fan of papercraft and looking for a novel way to gift a CD or DVD, this DIY pop-up case is tough to beat. Chung Da Lam—a design student with with a passion for papercraft—has a variety of interesting papercraft tricks on his site, including this clever guide for turning a piece of paper into a folding beak that lifts your disc straight up when you open the case. Although the audio isn’t the highest quality the following video provides a great visual demonstration of the case in action:
Dear Lifehacker, There has been a growing problem in my life that I have done my best to ignore and avoid for the last 12 months… alas, with a new Macbook Pro and iPhone, it is now un-ignorable. I have about 200 CDs sitting in a storage box complete with much treasured album artwork. All these albums are also in my iTunes library along with all the album art — which displays wonderfully on both my MacBook and iPhone. I also have 10 or albums in digital format which I have been doing my best to avoid building on for the sake of keeping the CD format as the primary collection. Due to the enjoyment of this digital organisation, I wonder if it may finally be time to say goodbye to the continued purchase of albums in CD format. My question: What the heck do I do with 200 CDs which I own (and I cannot sell –due to that ownership) and which are safely stored on iTunes (and backed up on Time Machine)? And should I avoid digital purchases and just find those albums on eBay for relatively the same or a cheaper price … which kind of rips off the artist doesn’t it? Thanks, Gareth
Dear Gareth, There’s a human tendency to view life as a series of either/or decisions: my music is all on my computer, so why keep the CDs? Reality is always messier, and allows for multiple choices. They might take up more space than your hard drive, but CDs have several advantages: you can easily play them in all sorts of locations, and you can easily re-rip them without having to reauthorise your PC every time you change (a major pain with digital music). And the artwork generally looks better.
Quite frankly, as someone who owns a lot more than 200 CDs, I can’t see storing that number as a major problem. But one solution is to file them in a storage box without the jewel cases, which saves a lot of room. As for your buying dilemma: if you want a whole album, I’d say buy the disc if you can. Save iTunes for singles and one-off track purchases. Of course, all this is only my opinion: if you’ve got some alternate advice for Gareth, share it in the comments.
Good news for Windows users looking to burn a quick ISO disk image to a CD or DVD: Windows 7 supports dead simple burning of ISOs.
Burning that ISO to a disc is as simple as:Double-click the ISO file (or right-click and select Burn disc image. Click Burn.
Not too difficult now, was it? Of course, it’d be even better if Windows 7 could also mount those disk images in addition to burning them, but… baby steps. In the meantime, you can still mount disk images for free with one of the many disk mounting tools we’ve featured in the past. We had a bit of trouble with the ISO burning tool crashing in our tests, but presumably those bugs will be ironed by by the time Windows 7 hits the big show (or maybe not — the basic DVD burning in Vista has always been a sea of bugs for me – Oz ed). If you’ve given ISO burning a try in Windows 7, share if you had better luck in the comments.
