Thanks largely to being bundled with several manufacturers' CD and DVD writers, Nero Burning Rom (later expanded into the Nero suite) has been many people’s media-management application of choice for some time.

Because of its regular updates it has been able to stay very much at the front of new developments in digital media.

Nero 8 is the latest edition of the program and it focuses much of its energy on the revised layout of the Startsmart interface, which appears at the beginning of the program, and from which all the other features can be accessed.

You can now access quick burning tools directly, including data and audio disc creation, CD ripping and disc copying. There is also a small launcher icon at the bottom-left of the window that allows the user to directly open any of the tools or applications bundled with the suite.

Those who are new to the software will find the tabbed list at the top of the window divides everything up easily. Categories here include Rip and Burn, Create and Edit, Home Entertainment, and Backup. You’ll also find a Start page where it's possible to manually add the applications that will be used most often, so Nero has done an impressive job of making the wide range of software included here very straightforward to access.

It includes the ability to burn, play or rip almost any kind of media disc out there, you’ll find support for the high definition Blu-ray and HD DVD formats here too. The program can also be used to create media projects by editing photos or audio, create slideshows and make video discs, and there’s support for Labelflash burning - where a suitable CD or DVD writer can burn text or a logo into the top of special discs - built in.

The most innovative part of the software is the Home Entertainment suite, where you’ll find a capable interface that is not entirely dissimilar to the one supplied with Windows Media Center. Like Media Center, it gives the ability to play back and record live TV as well as sharing and streaming audio and video files across a home network. To do the latter, you'll need compatible hardware.

As well as this range of dedicated applications there’s a toolbox that contains a range of utilities to test the disc creation hardware on the computer, manage the Nero program itself and rescue files from optical discs that may have become corrupted due to scratches or damage. The new version of Nero is also fully optimised for Windows Vista.

Vista compatible: Yes