Click N Burn Pro 2.0 review: Click N Burn Pro 2.0

In Click'N Burn Pro 2.0, Stomp has created a program strong enough for power users but intuitive enough for newbies. With Click'N Burn, you'll have no trouble performing basic CD-burning functions, including copying a disc, making a music CD, and backing up files. But the program has you covered for much more. It creates MP3 discs and video CDs and even burns to multiple drives. If you're running a Windows PC, this is the CD burner for you--and at a reasonable price. But since Click N' Burn doesn't have a current Mac edition, Mac users should turn to Roxio Toast.In Click'N Burn Pro 2.0, Stomp has created a program strong enough for power users but intuitive enough for newbies. With Click'N Burn, you'll have no trouble performing basic CD-burning functions, including copying a disc, making a music CD, and backing up files. But the program has you covered for much more. It creates MP3 discs and video CDs and even burns to multiple drives. If you're running a Windows PC, this is the CD burner for you--and at a reasonable price. But since Click N' Burn doesn't have a current Mac edition, Mac users should turn to Roxio Toast.

Create, copy, and save with ease
Click'N Burn Pro's installation routine is standard and takes only a few moments to complete. Every time you launch the program after that, a menu prompts you to choose which function you want to perform: copying one CD to another, burning a music CD from files on your hard drive, or backing up data. Whichever function you select, you must then decide which interface you want to work in: the Starter Interface (best for newbies) or the Full Application (best for pros).

The Starter Interface is smaller than the full application window and much more user friendly. We prefer it, since it gives you easy access to basic options such as choosing the drives you want and setting recording speed. The full application sports a standard, clunky Windows Explorer-type look, with a treelike organization and an imposing row of buttons along the top. The full interface seems overwhelming at first but actually gives you access to a variety of advanced functions. For example, it lets you view each drive's technical details and erase CD-RW discs.

It's quite easy to copy one CD to another. From the Starter Interface, press the Disc Copy button in the upper left corner. From pull-down menus at the bottom of the screen, set the recording speed and press the Go button.

You follow a similarly simple process to create audio or data discs from material saved on your hard drive. First, you must tell the application what type of recording you wish to make, and Click'N Burn gives you a blank list into which you enter the files--either data or music--you want to save to CD. Then, just press the Go button to start recording. For music files, you can set the amount of silence between tracks or create CD Text, a short title that displays on newer CD players when the CD starts.

Yet another feature sets Click'N Burn above the competition. The program lets you burn MP3 files onto CDs. In this handy compressed format, your CD will hold up to 10 hours of music (other file types yield about 77 minutes, max). The program also accepts MP3, WAV, and WMA files but won't read WMA files created in Windows Media Player 7.0 or later. A Click'N Burn representative informed us that the company is working to clear up the licensing issue that caused this problem and will release a patch soon. Click'N Burn and Roxio Toast also create mixed media CDs, so you can put audio and video on the same disc, for instance--an important feature for people who work in several different formats.

More power for power burners
If you have a bit of CD-burning experience, you'll enjoy Click'N Burn Pro's high-end tools and features. The program feeds music to up to four CD-burners at once: Just plug four burners into your computer, and Click'N Burn lets you choose to record to all of them. If you, say, publish your band's music yourself, this process lets you make lots of discs quickly. And at $49.95, Click'N Burn is a terrific bargain for budding do-it-yourselfers. Nero Burning ROM is the only other app that supports multiple drives.

If you're not ready to save a whole disc's worth of music at once, the DJ Burn feature lets you create a music disc one song at a time, recording in different sessions on different days. You need only take the disc out when each session is done and reinsert it when you want to record another song. While the CD is still a work in progress, you can play it only on the computer you're creating it on. But once the disc is full and you've finalized it (just press the Finalize Disc button), you can play it on any device that accepts music CDs, including the CD player on your boom box.

Unfortunately, Click'N Burn is lacking when it comes to video creation. Although it can make video CDs that your PC and some DVD players will play, it can't record to DVDs. Only Roxio Toast for the Mac can do that.

Many extras
Purchase Click'N Burn Pro, and you also get a suite of handy related applications. Click'N Design 3D comes with the bunch and is one of the richer CD-label-creation tools around, providing templates for a variety of jewel cases. Click'N Edit Sound LE lets users edit music, and Veritas Simple Backup makes it a breeze to run routine saves of whatever data you need to back up.

For power and ease of use, Click'N Burn Pro stands alone. You'll find few apps in this price range that can beat its basic CD-creation tools and also let self-publishing bands create multiple copies of a CD in a flash. Unfortunately, there's no Mac version yet, so Mac-philes should check out Roxio Toast instead.