The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating CDs and DVDs

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A Creative COW "Real World" Book Review

	Mike Gondek Orland Park, IL USA ©2003 Mike Gondek and CreativeCOW.net. All rights reserved.

Article Focus: CreativeCOW leader, Mike Gondek examines The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating CDs and DVDs published by Alpha Books. Mike says, "...this book is a good read and a stepping-stone to more serious books on DVD technology."

Layout The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating CDs and DVDs by Todd Brakke is a quick read with good balance of type and screenshot images. It has a good index and good flow between Headlines and Subheads that organize the data. Content A large portion of the book is dedicated to CD technology and explains everything about EZ CD Creator and Nero. Some mysteries were unlocked that are missing or not explained well in the manuals for these programs. Disk and track at once were finally explained properly. The author feels that EZ CD Creator is easier to learn, but for a little more effort you will get more features from Nero. I would agree, Nero is worth the extra effort if you are a computer geek, and EZ CD Creator is sufficient for the basic user. The section on DVD technology was added in the third edition of this book. The CD technology part has been updated and covered thoroughly. For hardcore facts about DVD technology, then there are other books that are more informative. The author presents the material very clear and professionally. Todd Brakke is known for game review, and does a stellar job here with this book. Is this book for you? If you are having trouble burning CDs and get bad disks that are only good for coasters, then you need this book. Even if the last 900 CDs you burned turned out perfect, then you can benefit from learning more about how the technology works and be able to define what some of the buzzwords around this technology are. So if you want to master using EZ CD Creator or Nero, this book is just the thing. If you want to learn more about Ulead DVD workshop, Sonic My DVD, iDVD or Studio Pro -- you will have to look elsewhere Conclusion I give “The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating CDs and DVDs” four cows. For $19.95 this book is a good read and a stepping-stone to more serious books on DVD technology. You can finish this book in about four hours and no longer be considered an idiot on the topic of CDs and DVDs. Mike Gondek

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