Alcohol 52% vs InfraRecorder

Alcohol 52% creates virtual CD/DVD-ROM drives so users can play discs without the physical media. It supports up to 31 virtual drives and can mount optical images in formats including CCD, CUE, ISO, BWF, CDI, MDS, and NRG. The listed downloads are for Windows, excluding Windows 98 and ME. A free 15-day evaluation period is available, with capabilities limited only by the number of virtual drives available. The Free Edition is also listed at free and is marked not for business use. A paid single licence costs 27.00 USD once and includes lifetime free upgrades; online activation is required. The maker describes home users backing up game CDs and movie DVDs, as well as librarians and school administrators archiving recordable media. DVD titles protected with CSS cannot be backed up due to legal restrictions. Support options include manuals, FAQs, a support forum, and direct email contact. The privacy policy says users may choose to join the Bright Data network for some premium features and can turn that setting off in the app.

InfraRecorder is free CD/DVD burning software for Microsoft Windows. It creates data, audio, and mixed-mode projects and writes them to physical discs or disc images, including ISO and BIN/CUE formats. Disc copies can be made directly or through a temporary image. The program blanks rewritable discs using four methods, supports dual-layer DVDs, and can import multisession data before adding more sessions. Audio and data tracks can be saved as WAV, WMA, OGG, MP3, or ISO files. A Windows Explorer shell extension adds context-menu commands for recording images or saved projects and opening or editing them. Documentation describes a customizable Explorer-like interface, drag-and-drop project handling, and a separate Express application. UDF support remains in alpha, so InfraRecorder cannot create UDF-only filesystems. The project is licensed under GPL version 3, while its graphics are outside that license. SourceForge lists the project as Beta, and the files page lists ir053.exe, 4.2 MB, as the latest version. The listed audience is End Users/Desktop.