CyberLink Power2Go 8 is a cut above most of the other burning suites in this category, sporting both a classier interface and more tools, such as the ability to mount a ripped disc image, encryption for your burn projects, and system backup and recovery. But all these extra goodies make the app pricier than most of the competition, at $69.95 for the Platinum Edition. Despite this higher price, you don't get Blu-ray movie authoring. If you can give up the backup features and Dolby sound for your movie projects, the Deluxe version drops the price down to $49.95. But, even at this lower price, can it compete with more complete suites? Read on to find out.

Setup

Getting Power2Go's SEE IT installer involves a larger download than most competitors, at 442MB. For comparison, NCH Express Burn ($49.99, 3 stars, $59.95) is less than a single megabyte, while Ashampoo Burning Studio ($49.99, 4 stars) weighs in at 180MB. After the long download, setup took 5 minutes on my test machine, a 3.4GHz quad-core with 4GB RAM and a Lite-On iHAS422 burner. Thanfully, it didn't try to install browser toolbars and other piggybanking software, as most other apps in this category do.

Interface

Power2Go's user interface is the class of the bunch: It's both clear and attractive, with seven large icons across the top to get you to each of the program's main functions: Data, Music, Video, Photo, System Recovery, Copy, and Utilities. Hovering your mouse cursor over any of these displays relevant choices in the lower section of the app's borderless gray window. The app adds entries to the AutoPlay dialog that pops up whenever you insert media that it can perform operations on. Like Ashampoo Burning Studio , CyberLink also offers a desktop gadget for drag-and-drop burning.

Music
I could rip a CD, and the program helpfully and automatically filled in the album and track titles, but the default form was oddly WMA at 96kbps. When I switched the format to MP3 at 192kbps, ripping the whole Buena Vista Social Club CD took just 2:03 minutes—nearly identical to the result I got with Ashampoo Burning Studio and NCH Express Burn . Burning the same 60-minute album to a blank CD took just 2:25 minutes. Power2Go displayed elapsed and projected remaining time for the burn, which is reassuring.

Similar Products

Our Current Picks for The Best Disc Burning Software

In more audio news, Power2Go offers conversion of audio files among WMA, MP3, and WAV. It can even create a "mixed mode" disc—one that contains both a standard audio CD alongside data files.

Video Projects

Power2Go has one of the better interfaces around for creating a video compilation complete with title and menu pages. I could preview the video clips, choose a playback mode (all clips or menu), and even customize the menu elements and its tree structure. Three templates are included, but you can download loads of menu templates free from CyberLink's DirectorZone. But I couldn't rotate or trim my clips, as I could in Ashampoo Burning Studio.

There's an even bigger drawback, however; Power2Go can't create menus for Blu-ray disc projects, even in its expensive Platinum edition. If you have a lot of HD content, this is a deal-killer. Of course, most people won't be burning Blu-ray, as the media is much more expensive, and Power2Go is one of the more accomplished apps when it comes to menu authoring for your DVD movies, but it's nevertheless a big empty checkbox in the list of Power2Go's capabilities.

Burning my test movie consisting of four clips of different formats took just 2:50 minutes, and the resulting playback quality surpassed what I'd experienced with Ashampoo Burning Studio and NCH Express burn. Those apps took 5:42 and 7:46 respectively for the same video disc project. Elapsed time and projected time remaining were displayed, but the latter wasn't reliable or consistent.