Gear CD and DVD Burning/Recording Software

By Alan Lummus 
February 18, 2004

Short Summary:

If you're looking for full featured, reliable burning/recording software for your CD or DVD recorder, you need look no further than GEAR Software, Inc.'s extensive range of recording solutions. Whether you're working in a Windows, UNIX or Linux environment, as a single user or part of an enterprise department, GEAR provides a cost-effective solution.

GEAR Software, Inc develops, publishes and sells CD and DVD burning/recording software that does one thing exceedingly well: it enables its users to control virtually every aspect of recording a CD or DVD, whether for personal or commercial use. GEAR supports virtually every CD or DVD burner on the market, and, without a lot of extraneous bells and whistles, it operates through a straight forward and easy to understand user interface. Each program work exactly as described in GEAR's excellent user manuals and the wide range of GEAR software is priced so you can pay only for those capabilities you actually need. Whether you're just burning a few CDs as backups for your important data files, or preparing a premaster tape for sending CD or DVD masters to a commercial pressing plant, GEAR offers a cost effective solution regardless of whether you operate in a Windows, UNIX or Linux environment. For its UNIX users, GEAR even provides support for IDE and SCSI recording hardware most commonly associated with the Windows environment. In short, if you're looking for premastering software to enable you to create and burn CDs or DVDs, you owe it to yourself to explore GEAR's product offerings.

When I first received the Windows versions of the GEAR software for review, I just wasn't very excited. I've been recording CDs and DVDs for more than 10 years, and I typically record 2-4 discs every day, usually for music related to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus or for backup of my personal or professional data files. I've used a variety of burning software and hardware over the years, most of which get the job done reasonably well. So who needs another piece of software that does the same thing? And how about the price tag I saw first that lists the "Mastering Edition" at $749.00? Hey, the "bundled" software that came with each of my CD and DVD burners was free! Why would anyone pay that kind of money for recording software?

Suffice it to say, the GEAR software CDs sat around for several months before I got around to loading them up. By then, I noticed there were newer versions advertised on GEAR's website, so I called the company and was put in touch with the Product Manager of GEAR's Windows product line, who was most helpful. He provided me with the most recent versions of GEAR's Windows products, and I was ready to begin my testing.

Manuals written by someone whose native language was English
Now, I'm one of those strange birds who always begins by reading, or at least attempting to read, the user manuals for any hardware or software I'll be using for the first time. It usually doesn't help a lot, but I do sometimes pickup handy tidbits. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that instead of the typical cryptic "techno jargon" translation from some impossible to identify foreign language, I discovered the most straightforward user manuals I've ever encountered! These manuals, clearly written by someone whose native language really was English, not only provide a complete introduction to the software and its use, but also a quite comprehensive guide to the burning process itself and detailed explanations of each step along the way. If you're new to burning CDs or DVD's, these manuals alone could be worth the price of the product.

With that pleasant surprise behind me, I proceeded to install the least expensive of the GEAR products, "GEAR CD-RW." If you operate in a Windows environment and don't need the capability to burn DVDs, or work in the field of commercial CD duplication, this handy software will provide all the functionality you need to do anything you can imagine with your CD-R/RW recorder, and all for only $39.99! Need to rip a track from an audio CD? How about copy a CD, or create a video CD? Back up data files to CD? Make a standard audio CD, playable in any standard audio CD player, from your collection of MP3 files? No, problem! The program performed flawlessly on all five burners I tried, which included internal and external SCSI, external USB-2, external FireWire (IEEE-1394), and internal IDE. The software ran equally well for me under Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP Professional and XP Home. Following are comments on the products reviewed:

• GEAR CD-RW Edition, Retail 1 user version, version 6.05
• GEAR DVD Standard Edition, Retail 1 user version, version 6.05
• GEAR PRO Professional Edition, Retail 1 user version, version 6.05
• GEAR PRO Mastering Edition, Retail 1 user version, version 6.05

Dual-Layer DVD-ROM Images
GEAR's DVD software is among a very few products that presently support the creation of dual layer DVD-ROM images. While that isn't of much present use to personal users, the next few years should begin to see the retail availability of both hardware and media that will support that emerging technology, which will effectively double the amount of storage available per side of a DVD. To me, this is just another example of how GEAR is leading the way in disc recording technology, and it could be of significant value to you if you are engaged in commercial DVD production.

Audio Track "Ripping"
As to quite minor nit-picking, I was surprised to find that the otherwise most fulsome GEAR user manuals did not provide any information on a term and procedure widely: "ripping" an audio track from a disc and recording it to your hard drive as a WAV file. GEAR refers to ripping as "track copy," and the method for performing this function was not at all intuitive. With an audio CD loaded, to access that capability from the menu one has to click <Recorder>/<Disk Information>, then click on the "Session," then highlight the track or tracks. Finally, an icon appears that stands for "Copy Track," and you can proceed. Alternatively, you could click the "Disk Information" icon in the tool bar, then highlight the Session, then highlight a track or tracks, and the same "Copy Track" icon appears. This really should be more intuitive. There should be a better explanation in the manual that is searchable using the term "ripping." Finally, if you have multiple records connected to your computer and would like to make multiple copies of a project simultaneously, GEAR's software currently doesn't support that feature. If you need that capability, you might want to examine "Nero Burning ROM" from Ahead Software as a possible solution.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention GEAR's great website (http://www.gearsoftware.com). There's a comprehensive glossary of DVD and CD related terminology, as well as really well-written "how-to" guides for a wide variety of functions and processes. Regardless of your experience level, there's much helpful information there for anyone recording discs, whether personally or commercially.

GEAR's complete range of recording solutions is available for purchase on their website, and it's also available from a limited number of resellers and distributors around the country and in other parts of the world, as detailed on their website; however, you won't find their software in any local D/FW stores. GEAR's online shopping cart is secure and works well, so you shouldn't have any problems purchasing it there. Since GEAR's software is available by Internet download, with file sizes ranging from approximately 10 to 20 MB, you can purchase and download their software to your local computer faster than you could drive to a local store to pick it up anyway. If you insist upon a physical CD, they offer that as well, at an extra charge for shipping and handling, shipped via your choice of FedEx, UPS, or USPS.

In conclusion, each of the GEAR burning/recording products I tested was rock solid in its performance. Each performed exactly as advertised, was a joy to use, and utterly dependable. GEAR offers the widest selection of premastering capabilities and operating platforms of all recording software developers of which I am aware, enabling each user to pay only for those facilities they need. If you spend any time burning CDs or DVDs, check out this great family of software. Oh, and one last thing...if you need "coasters," this product's not for you!

-- Alan Lummus      

The author of this review, Alan Lummus, is the SIG leader for NTPCUG's e-Commerce, FrontPage and Audio-Midi SIGs, and Alan is also a member of, and the audio archivist for, the Dallas Symphony Chorus. He is also a commercial webmaster, developing and managing several commercial websites and affiliate programs selling a wide range of products. Alan began using PDP 4's, 8's and 11's, and IBM mainframes during his college education at the University of Texas at Austin in the 1960's, and he's been using mini and micro computers ever since.

Alan may be contacted by e-mail: Click to e-mail Alan Lummus