Customer Reviews

Nero 7 Ultra Edition [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(59)

 

 

Windows XP SP2 and Nero 6.6 working fine.

Installed Nero 7 (lastest patched verion from the website) and what a pile of pants!

Windows Explorer now takes 10-15 seconds to open a folder display (documented many times on the web) as a result of the non documented "Nero Scout" 'utility', an indexing program for your media files. Why anyone would want to use this and the abysmal Nero Home I have no idea. Nero Home claims to allow you to use TV cards but it doesn't work with ATI Radeon AIW cards (at least not mine) and simply crashes. Nero Home has to be the very worst media player interface anyone has designed in years. It takes over the full screen making use of other programs impossible, and is difficult to exit unless you are clairvoyant (I am and found pointing at the top right corner of the screen pops up an exit X).

There is no legitimate way to remove Nero Scout from your system. It is supposed to be a support app for Nero Home, but even when you don't install Nero Home it still gets installed. Disabling Scout doesn't fix the Explorer problems.

If you want to get rid of it (and you will) you can do it by deregistering the DLL file responsible using START/RUN and the following command regsvr32 -u "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\Lib\MediaLibraryNSE.dll" (note all on one line and the " marks are important).

I can no longer load stuff in Nero Vision, it crashes everytime and has to be killed via the task manager.

Unless you are careful with your downloads you end up with Yahoo Toolbar installed too (why ??? ... they describe it as value added - I won't say how I describe it).

If you are not careful during installation it hogs all you file formats for every multimedia type.

The only part of the package I have not had particular problems with is Burning ROM which just about earns it the one star. Apart from cosmetics and the addition of new formats (BluRay etc. which no one can even test yet - let alone use) it looks pretty much identical to version 6.6 (except that it crashes occasionally which didn't happen before) and it no longer remembers what you were doning last time, so if you use a particular disc format regularly you now have to manually select it for every project - and annoyingly on DVD drives it defaults to CD formats.

Quite why a company such as Ahead feels the need to produce an application suite which is so sprawling, and all encompassing (but does few of these things intuitively or well) is a mystery to me. Their strength was the best and most consistent burning engine on the market and the sooner they get back to the core of the package the better. Burning disks is why people buy Nero. If they must bloat out the package to 100Mb+ then they could at least offer a smaller package consisting of just a quality burning application.

All in all I think Ahead have shot themsleves squarely in the foot with this release. It is obvious that there was a timetable agenda at play and the product was released before proper testing.

If you enjoy beta testing software for free (and not even getting the satisfaction that the company take bugs seriously) then you may want to buy this.

If you want to buy hassle free software then it is time to look elsewhere.

I have been a very happy user of Nero for many years (having had equally bad experiences with CDCreator from ROXIO and its previous incarnation) but this is the last time I will be paying for an upgrade for Nero, and if I find another burning application that does what I want it is time for me to move on.

What a pity ...

I used Easy CD Creator for a few years, but it had a few bugs so I decided to try Nero when I bought a new computer. This is the most bug-infested software I've ever purchased. In my experience CD and DVD creating software seems to be poorly tested upon release due to the rush to offer new features, but this is unbelievably poor. No reputable company would sell software in this unfinished state, not even Microsoft. There's supposed to be a 100MB update available to download from Nero's website. It's not there (just a "Page not found" error). I haven't gotten an answer yet as to why and I don't think I want to pay $1.29/minute for a Nero employee to explain to me on the phone why they suck so bad.

Another annoyance, though not a bug, is that the advertising on the box says Nero 7 is able to rip audio CDs, but according to the manual (inside the box), the encoders are time-limited and you have to pay extra to keep them.

Due to the extremely poorly written program, lack of technical assistance, and misleading advertising I would not recommend Nero 7. I wish I knew what to recommend instead, but CD/DVD making software just seems to be prone to major problems.

Stay away from Nero 7. You will save yourself a great deal of time, and many CDs and DVDs.

Find excellent and alternative software: Nero 6!

That's what I had to do, to revert back to Nero 6 which is an excellent software. But that
was after a great deal of frustration, a waste of $80, a waste of valuable time, a waste of
many CDs and DVDs, and having to deal with the poorest, slowest technical "support."

I believe Ahead Nero took advantages of the popular support and good reviews of its earlier
version of Nero, and marketed a product that was poorly tested and included many obvious defects.

If you would like a CD/DVD authoring system, I'd strongly recommend Nero 6 (not even the
competing products, like Roxio), but NEVER EVER Nero 7.

Nero 7's interface is essentially the same as Nero 6. The functionalities/utilities are also
essentially the same. But Nero 7 has many bugs, too many to be listed here. The very basic
(and most commonly needed) functions, e.g., CD copying fails repeatedly, with no good
explanation. The software as a whole is very inefficient (CPU wise) and takes over the CPU
immediately after it is launched.

The so-call Nero Scout is silly, useless, and annoying. You have to go thru a special
procedure to remove it. Ordinary users would have a difficult time getting rid of it
and thus would have to live with an unwanted, slow, worthless tool.

The cheapest and poorest part is the customer service.

In Nero 7's box, you will find a card that includes a code and contact info. It says if
you register your software, you will get special VIP treatment within the next 14 days.
I registered. Sent my first technical support request. Received a generic, canned reply
in 48 hours. But the response was from the regular tech support email address. I replied
back inquiring more technical details, but it took two (2) weeks before I received my
VIP response, again, a very generic response.

I believe this was a cheap shot by Nero to get an immediate survey of how many have
have purchased its new bug-ridden software.

There have a couple updates by Nero. But most technical problems remain. Furthermore, once
you apply the update patches, your software designation changes to a "demo" version. In other
words, the update is simply a 402MB demo version of the software that recognizes your
serial number but does not bother to remove the "demo" designation.

Once again, I will happily recommend Nero 6 but stay away from Nero 7.

First, because I had tried the demo version of Nero, I had to remove every Nero & Ahead program on the computer (add/remove programs). Then I cleaned out the temp files folder (run: %temp%), according to Windows tips everything in the temp folder can be deleted. Lastly, I ran a search for "nero" and "ahead" and deleted any found files or folders. After all this, I emptied the recycle bin, restarted the computer, defragmented, and THEN I installed Nero 7 Ultra. Afterwards I went to the website (www.nero.com) and downloaded the update (downloads, updates, nero 7). Nero 7 now seems to be working fine. I even burned my first DVD movie last night. I hope everyone else is as successful.

What I dont understand is why software companies cant just produce a product that works all on its own. If I buy a $50-100 product I expect it to work. I dont expect to have to dig through my computer files and download EXTRA software to use it. What if I hadnt had an internet connection to download the patch with?

Having been a very happy Nero 6 user, I was quite surprised when I read all the negative reviews here. I decided to ignore them and purchase Nero 7 anyway. Turned out to be a big mistake, because this software is buggy! The concepts that Nero has is good, along with all the features. The only problem is...they don't work. Most importantly, CD/DVD burning doesn't work properly. It wasn't consistent. Sometimes, I would have several new coasters. But weirdly, in some burns, Nero told me the burn had failed due to "blah blah blah" reason. But when I popped the disc into another computer, the data that I had attempted to burn was there, which is normal for a successful burn, not a failed one! Basically, Nero comes up with a whole bunch of errors that may or may not be true.

Overall, this is one product that was definitely not ready for primetime quite yet. AHEAD just needs to work out the bugs and the software would be perfect, but since they seem to have ignored my numerous emails for support, I doubt they are doing anything. I'm going back to using Nero 6...or I might crossgrade to another brand eventually.

I had nero 6 and had no problems so I decided to upgrade to Nero 7. As soon as I put Nero 7 on my computer I began having problems. This program is worse than any virus. It is full of bugs and completly ruined my registry. I lost sound, drives, and had problems running other programs. I also could not use system restore as all my earlier save points were wiped out. I spent 40 min on hold 3 different times for tech support and they just had me download tools which only fixed part of the problems. I sent 2 emails asking for help and my money back and they did not even respond. Tech support and customer service is a waste of time. I have spent days attempting to fix my computer but the only thing I can do is to reformat it to get it up and running again.
The sad part is, they know it is a bad program and that it has caused major computer problems for lots of people, but they do not care. They continue to sell it anyway to unsuspecting buyers. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. I am shocked that this company has continued to sell this piece of junk, bug infested, computer destroying program. It is a -10 star program. I think the positive reviews are from people at Nero. SHAME ON NERO...

Oh Dear! For the past 5 years Nero has been the defacto standard for copying and burning software media. If a download wasn't avaiable in .iso format then it was in Neros NRG format. It was a compulsory piece of software for any computer but that has now come to an end, with Nero 6 the last definitive version.

Nero 7 tries to convert old versions of windows into a version of Windows Media Centre edition and it fails miserable. There are hundreds of bugs, many parts of the software are limited and the initial purchase requires further investment to purchase licenses to carry on using the software that you thought you had already paid for.

This is perhaps the worst program I have ever bought. Full of bugs and ruined my computer. I will have to restore my computer from the latest disk image. Program is full of bugs. Read all of the other negative reviews for details. This is now June 15, 2006 and it is still not fixed. Nero's days may be over.

It has a lot of features, but download version doesn't come with help, need to download help as a pdf for each utility/function. Some features such as lame mp3 recording require a 'registration' which takes days to get. Help links take you to 'sales' pages where you can spend more on this mediocre software. Not a pleasant s/w to use.

Wed 06.14.2006: I attempt to use Nero 6 to back up data. Message window suggests upgrade to Nero 7 because of a "known glitch" with Windows XP. I take the bait and give Nero $46.49 for upgrade. Even with following extensive requirements for upgrade, system freezes. Nero 7 hangs up and will not install or uninstall. Email Nero customer support. Friday: no response from Nero. Use third party uninstaller. Attempt reinstall again (three different attempts in different ways.) Write Nero 7 again. Monday: Get Nero 7 automatic reply stating concern in progress and suggests same old instructions. Write back asking for refund. Early Tuesday: Get new set of detailed instructions requesting screen shots and lots of work. Write back confirming not using Nero 7 and ask for refund. Wednesday: Nero 7 declines refund of defective product. Nero 7 uses legal language to support lack of customer support.