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Nero 9 review

£49 inc VAT

Manufacturer: Nero

Our Rating: We rate this 4 out of 5 User Rating: Our users rate this 1 out of 10

By | 13 October 08

Nero 9 is an extremely competent suite for burning CDs and DVDs of all types, as well as for playing, importing, and manipulating video and audio, including HD.

Nero 9 is an extremely competent suite for burning CDs and DVDs of all types, as well as for playing, importing, and manipulating video and audio, including HD.

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But Nero 8 was competent, too, and while the improvements in Nero 9 are most welcome, they're probably not enough to warrant upgrading from the previous version.

The most noticeable changes are the elimination of "Ultra" from the title, the replacement of the circular while-you-wait animation with Bezier waves, and the decision to make BackItUp a separate, optional install.

Regrettably, the multimedia-networking MediaHome 4 module is now sold separately, too.

Other Nero 9 changes are meatier. The Nero StartSmart application launch centre sports added entries for playing files (audio and video), as well as for the new AutoBackup background backup function. Both modules are integrated into the launch centre itself, which eliminates the need to start up separate applications.

AutoBackup (the reason BackItUp is now optional) can back up locally or to Nero's new online service. Nero has also revamped its ShowTime DVD playback module so that the interface is less obtuse. Other tweaks are in the help, and more help is available online.

Overall, however, Nero 9 does not provide the sweeping redesign we've been hoping to see for this application; the interface, which could benefit from a face-lift, remains largely unchanged.

One convenient new feature is the ability to save audio tracks from videos to MP3. Also appealing are the use of Gracenote instead of CDDB for track, artist, and album information; a TV gadget for the Vista Sidebar; Ad Spotter, which helps you find and delete commercials in video recordings; and Pre-scan, for previewing and chaptering video straight from DV cameras.

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Nero 9 Expert Verdict »
Post Review

Reviewed by iceage555 on Monday 01 December 2008

1 star rating

Duration of ownership: 20 days

Strengths:
None

Weaknesses:
Nero 9 was a complete disaster for my system (Windows XP SP 3). The latest version 9 is very disappointing. It requires Microsoft .Net, very slow in use and full of mistakes.

Overall Evaluation:
I wouldn't use this software even for free, but I paid J54.00 and I'm unhappy. It's waste of time and money.

Reviewed by TCMuffin on Wednesday 12 November 2008

1 star rating

Duration of ownership: 36 days

Strengths:
Nothing

Weaknesses:
Took hours to attempt installation which then fails. Even with uninstall tool provided by Nero, impossible to uninstall without hacking registry. Installs Ask Toolbar even if select do not install

Overall Evaluation:
Waste of time and money - shockingly bad software. Don't buy this software. As other reviewers have said, it takes hours to install, if you can get it to install at all. I have a high specification laptop running Windows Vista 32-bit Business and I'm an IT consultant with 34 years of experience. It took me several days of registry hacking to 'successfully' install this update.

See more Nero 9 reviews on Reevoo.com

DVD-ROM drive required for installation
­Windows XP SP2 and SP3/Vista/Server 2003
­Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
1GHz Intel Pentium III or equivalent AMD and Intel processor (2GHz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent AMD and Intel processor for Windows Vista), 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM for Windows Vista)
­1.5GB hard drive space for a typical installation of all components
­CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc recordable or rewritable drive for burning
­DirectX 9.0c revision 30 (August 2006) or higher
up to 9GB available hard drive space for DVD images and temporary DVD files
­Graphics card with at least 32MB video memory and minimum resolution of 800x600 pixels and 16-bit colour settings. 24-bit or 32-bit true colour is recommended
installation of the latest WHQL certified device drivers is strongly recommended
online connection required for Nero online services. DSL-1000 or faster is recommended for video services
Microsoft .NET 3.0 runtime environment
  • Overall: We give this item 8 of 10 overall

Nero 9 is definitely a better product than version 8, and for new users it's a great tool. But considering the cost of the upgrade, we suggest saving your pennies for version 10. Versus the similarly priced Roxio Creator 2009, the story remains largely the same: Nero is less friendly, slightly more powerful in audio and encoding, and decidedly faster. Roxio still provides better templates. Both suites support Blu-ray BD-MV authoring with menus through additional plug-ins.

There are currently no price comparisons for this product.
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