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Asimware Innovation's just-released HotBurn 1.0 recording software for Windows 95/98/NT is reviewed. The exhaustive manual is just the beginning of the comprehensive help available with this CD recording product and the satisfying user experience it delivers. HotBurn comes on CD and installs easily. Overall, Asimware has done a great job in putting together a top-notch CD recording program. With Wizards, and easy-to-use Layouts, HotBurn is flexible, powerful, and feature-rich, and has the best documentation, both paper and electronic, of any CD recording package on the market.
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It's nice sometimes to get a program with a user's manual. And I'm not talking about the six-page user's pamphlet that is so common today, I'm talking about the epic manuals of old. Big, thick, heavy, and complete, with Gone With The Wind-like ambition and sweep. That's what comes with Asimware Innovations' justreleased HotBurn 1.0 recording software for Windows 95/98/NT. Asimware has for years supplied the Amiga user commu nity with its MasterISO software, and now they are supporting Windows 95, 98, and NT with HotBurn. Of course, an excellent manual is not necessarily indication of an excellent program, but in this case there is a close correlation. The exhaustive manual is just the beginning of the comprehensive help available with this CD recording product and the satisfying user experience it delivers.
installation and operation: like a heat wave
HotBurn comes on CD and installs easily. Once started, the graphical main screen gives the user several choices. The main screen is more like a Java script Web menu with animated text and graphics than a normal Windows program window. The screen offers the user several choices in three categories: Wizards, Layout Managers, and Other Options. The self-explanatory Wizards are Create a Data CD, Create an Audio CD, Copy a CD, Erase a CD-RW Disc, and Perform a System Test. The Wizards for each task are easily navigable and always give the user a chance to change preferences while stepping through the Wizard. The program takes care to make sure that your recording endeavors are successful. It detects whether the screen saver is on or not and suggests that you turn it off [although todays PCs are capable of burning through a screen saver initiation, and many other tasks, in fact]. The system tests are thorough, including read, write, and hard drive transfer speed tests.
HotBurn has a compete feature set in each category; for example, the copy disc function allows users to copy directly from disc to disc, from disc to disc through hard disk buffering, from disc to hard drive image, and from hard drive image to disc. The program supports both Joliet and RockRidge file systems [including a translation table) as well as the ISO 9660 file system. Data discs can be made bootable for Intel-based machines and also for Power PC and Macintosh, as long as you have a bootable image available on floppy disk.
The Layout Managers take you directly to the Layout screens, bypassing the Wizards. There are Layout Managers for Create a Data CD, Create an Audio CD, and Create an Advanced CD. The Other Options are Utilities, Open a Saved Project, About HotBurn, and Exit HotBurn. The Data Layout Manager allows you to add files from the Windows Explorer or from HotBurn's own file manager. The Volume option allows you to enter complete Volume information for the Data CD, which is welcome in a day when some recording programs limit the volume information that can be entered.
The Audio CD Layout is likewise easy to use by dragging and dropping audio files that you want to record into the Layout window. Asimware's Amiga roots are reflected in the fact that among the audio file formats supports are Amiga MAUS files, in addition to WAV, SVX, AIFF, CDDA, and RAW files. You can easily adjust the blank space between audio tracks and change the order of the tracks. HotBurn will let you preview tracks from within the Audio Layout window. Other audio functionality includes the ability to insert index points and IRSC numbers, plus support for 4-channel mode.
The Advanced CD Layout screen allows for easy mixing of different types of tracks. Again, just drag and drop the files into the Layout window. The CD Drives button gives you a good overview of the attached recorders and inserted discs, showing disc present, free space, used space, device type, device name, device ID, either SCSI or ATAPI, BIOS revision, and current assigned drive letter. Here you can also examine the number and type of tracks and sessions on the disc and their respective lengths. A Capabilities tab shows whether a recorder supports Track-at-Once and Disc-at-Once and the CD-DA byte order of the recorder.
a ripping good read: HotBurn's masterful manual
The 356-page user's manual is probably the most complete and comprehensive CD-R software manual ever produced. Its 20 chapters and 9 appendices not only cover, step by step, each function of the program, but also cover general CD Layout, Track-at-Once and Disc-at-Once recording, file system specifications, ISO 9660 character sets, audio disc specifications, track types, sector formats, and data buffering. Drive error codes and troubleshooting tips for these errors are also covered in the appendix.
The Data CD Wizard clearly shows number of folders and files and the free space available on the disc for more data. Clicking the + button allows you to quickly add more files. The Disc Properties component graphically and numerically reports disc content, type, capacity, and available and used space.
Included on the installation disc is the complete manual in Adobe Acrobat format for those who prefer an online manual to a paper one. This presumably anticipates bundling deals, where the paper manual is unlikely to be included because of its size.
The Help System in the program uses Microsoft's new HTML Help System, which looks like the traditional help file except that you need to have Internet Explorer to open it. The included help for HotBurn contains the whole of the manual, indexed and easily accessible. This is a nice system, but it apparently is limited to Internet Explorer, so users of Netscape or other browsers will be unable to take advantage of it unless they download and install IE, which many users will be understandably reluctant to do.
me burning hot, hot, hot
Overall, Asimware has done a great job in putting together a top-notch CD recording program. Charter members of its fan club include Sony, who's recently bundled HotBurn with its full recorder line. HotBurn's polished elegance bespeaks maturity well-beyond its version 1.0 designation-testimony to the core code's years of service on the Amiga scene. With Wizards and easy-to-use Layouts, HotBurn is flexible, powerful, and feature-rich, and has the best documentation, both paper and electronic, of any CD recording package on the market. With version 1.0 this good, Asimware is well on the way to making a real impact in the Windows CD recording market. With a price of $54, and an introductory special price of $44, HotBurn may be one of the best values in CD recording software available today.
Robert A. Starrett ([email protected]) is a contributing editor for EMedia Professional, co columnist for THE CD WRITER, and an independent consultant based in Denver, Colorado. He is the co-author of CD-ROM Professional's CD-Recordable Handbook.
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Copyright Online, Incorporated Feb 1999