Alcohol 52% vs WinISO

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.

WinISO is a Windows tool for creating and working with disc images. It can make, convert, burn, and mount images; Standard 6 adds ISO editing and extraction, along with bootable ISO creation. It supports CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc images, and handles NRG, CCD, and MDS as well as ISO. Standard 6 can mount ISO files using virtual drives and lists support for UDF, HTS+, bridge, and unbridge file systems. The maker lists multilingual support, including Japanese, German, French, Bulgarian, Korean, and Traditional Chinese. WinISO 5.3 is free at free, but has no technical support and lacks DVD/Blu-ray support, burning, and mounting. Standard 6 has a trial with no duration stated. Its Personal License costs $19.95 as a one-time purchase for one PC, with a registration code sent by email; Enterprise costs $99, paid once for up to 100 PCs. Standard 6 technical support is listed as within 48 hours.