Be sure to read the sidebars Adobe Production Studio Premium, Why We Didn't Test On Vista, Bonus or Bloat? and Do You Really Need Another Decoder?. Sidebars follow the Conclusions section.

The packages we will look at are used for creating, compiling and burning CDs and DVDs: whether to create the ultimate mix, to immortalize home videos, build looping slideshows with music and voiceovers or simply to keep ancient vinyl or tape recordings alive. As far as we can tell, the race is on between Nero and Corel/Roxio to take the top spot in this latest go-round of "Clash of the Titans." Fortunately for consumers, this kind of battle offers tremendous value and lots of outstanding capability for a relatively small amount of money.

Neither package is particularly large nor impressive, but both include tons of useful functionality inside.

Product Summaries

Though we hesitate to suggest, let alone claim, that the information in the following table does justice to the extensive capabilities of either product, this data does capture the high points of both Nero 7 Premium Reloaded and Roxio Easy Media Creator 9. That said, we still have plenty to say about both products - and many alternatives that at least some readers will already own, if not be willing to consider - as they decide if these products offer capabilities that they want or need.

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