Bundled Together, With Powerful New Features, They Turn a Desktop PC and a CD-R/RW Drive Into a High-Capacity Storage Device -- and a Virtual Recording Studio

Concurrently, NTI released FileCD 2.0, the latest version of its high-performance packet-writing software. CD-Maker Professional 5.0 comes bundled with FileCD 2.0 and, together, they turn a desktop PC and a CD-R/RW drive into a high-capacity storage device -- and a virtual recording studio.

``CD-R/RW drives have proven themselves as premier audio, video and data storage devices, said Bill Yao, NTI president and CEO. Now, both casual and power users are seeking additional features and utility. To meet this demand, NTI has added significant new capabilities to CD-Maker and FileCD.''

New Features Include:

FileCD 2.0 offers reliable support for UDF (an emerging standard for optical media drives), as well as ISO formats. In either format, FileCD does not conflict with Windows file system drivers.

FileCD 2.0 provides the option of recording files to CD-R/RW by using the Windows ``Send To'' function -- or by dragging and dropping from Windows Explorer or the FileCD window.

CD-Maker 5.0 supports the ``overburn'' feature provided in new CD-R/RW drives that allows extra information (beyond standard media specifications) to be burned onto a CD.

CD-Maker 5.0 supports Super Video CD (SVCD), which utilizes the higher-quality MPEG-2 format (instead of MPEG-1) for recording videodiscs.

CD-Maker 5.0 has an advanced cache buffering algorithm that minimizes data buffer under-run errors (which produce unusable CDs). Advanced caching is particularly useful when a high-speed recorder is added to a low-speed PC, or when many background system functions are running during the recording process, stressing system resources and CPU cycles.

CD-Maker 5.0 allows recording ``Live Audio'' directly to a hard drive in WAV format. This enhancement lets the user review the audio, before recording, and ``condition'' it with CD-Maker's pop/click and hiss filtering features. It also allows a user to store audio on a hard drive before recording it at the rated speed of the CD-R/RW drive. This is important for users of CD-R/RW drives that do not support 1x recording and/or do not have ``burnproof'' protection.

CD-Maker 5.0 supports playlists (M3U files). This allows users to burn their favorite music selections onto a CD by dragging and dropping the playlist file onto the audio layout. This feature provides fast, easy, convenient recording of groups of music selections.

CD-Maker 5.0 integrates an enhanced version of JewelCase Maker, which now takes CD layout information including CD Text, as input in the design of CD jewel cases and labels. This desirable new feature streamlines the design process, making it easier to create labels based on CD contents.