I am making my first Mac purchase tomorrow and am curious about what software I will need. I actually have a two part question about this: 1. in general do I need Toast (or any other software) to burn data to DVDs and CDs, and music to CDs when using the Mac? Windows XP has this built into the OS, so once I started using XP I stopped using external software like Roxio. Will I need Toast or something similar to be able to backup data and make playable music CDs? 2. if I do not need to get Toast for regular burning, can I get away with just using Popcorn for compressing/burning DVD backups? On my Windows machine, I have AnyDVD running in the background and I can then rip and compress with Nero Recode. I really like the simplicity of the setup and don't really want to go through a major multi-step and multi-software process if I don't have to. I read that people use Mac the Ripper and then burn with Toast...but that if you have to compress you need to have another step in between? I don't see many people in this forum that use Popcorn, but it is cheaper than Toast and does the compressing and burning all in one take. Will I be missing out on something if I get Popcorn instead of Toast? Please keep in mind, that the only burning I do beyond basic data backups and music CDs, is just doing really basic no-frills DVD-to-DVD backups. The bottom line is that I'm tempted to go with Popcorn because of (seemingly) the ease and the price. I don't need advanced features and like the simplicity it offers. However, if I need Toast anyway to do the basic burning I mentioned in my first question, or if I will be missing out on some great features that make it worth the extra $30 or $40, I would get it. I know nothing about Macs, so hit me with any advice!! Thanks in advance!
here we go.. lol you do need compression.. and to save some money... i would rather go with toast 7. it has popcorn built in. and does whole new features on top of that.. it now does video conversion and all other features. i know you may not need or want all those. i know toast 7 is more than the popcorn but has the extra features.. and you only have one app to run. popcorn compresses then just burns. toast 7 does allow you to convert to psp, quicktime. and others. it does now have a built in ilife browser. which just means that if you have a playlist in itunes, you can open that up and burn that playlist. for audio cds you can use itunes to burn. i went with toast 7.. well.. i have toast 6 and i do have popcorn and now just got toast 7... i have all three.. but mainly use toast 7 edit: popcorn wont burn data dvds.. just movies
Thanks for responding!! Okay, well it sounds like if I had Toast, I wouldn't need any other software (except the Ripper program) for any burning I would need to do? You're right that I probably won't use a lot of the features, but I guess I'd rather buy something that will be practically all-inclusive. I'm all about the simplicity thing Okay well thank you so much for your advice! I think I'll definitely be considering buying Toast now. Thanks!
Actually, I do have one more question - when you say that Toast has Popcorn built in, do you mean that it literally contains the Popcorn program, or just the functionalities? What did draw me to Popcorn was that it sounded like you could do compress & burn in one fell swoop and not have to come back to the computer again in between compressing and burning. Can this be done in Toast, or are compressing and burning 2 separate steps?
its just like popcorn.. u can choose to keep the main movie or full disc.. onej step.. pick what you want.. hit burn.. it does the operation and then burns.. rings when its done toast 7
I had been using mtr to rip and popcorn to extract, compress, and write....and I must say that it left a lot to be desired. It gives very little control over extraction and I've run into many movies that simply could not be done with popcorn's compression and extraction "features" (Hitch, Pirates of the Carribean, Being Julia, Two Lane Blacktop, and the list goes on.....). The picture often got "jerky" when compression was needed - reguardless of the amount of compression. I have since switched to dvd2onex for both extraction and compression. Haven't found a title that couldn't be done and the compressed movies are as smooth as the original. I still use popcorn to write discs, but the disc writing section of popcorn is the same as toast (according to roxio). I highly recommend that you extract and compress with dvd2onex. Your back-ups will be MUCH improved.
