Virtual CD 4

Virtual CD 4's gimmick is simple enough: CDs and DVDs can be imaged, or copied, to your computer's hard disk and thereafter accessed without further recourse to the physical discs. All you need is a 'virtual drive' on which to play them, and the program installs one at the outset.

Applications can be installed and run, games and audio CDs played, pictures and videos viewed, and so forth. To all intents and purposes, virtual CDs and drives look and behave just like the real thing.

And the point of it all? Virtual CD is designed primarily for gamers and mobile workers, eliminating the need to swap CDs mid-game or carry a bolt-on CD or DVD drive around with your laptop.

Others may be attracted by the simple convenience of having CD-based files and applications permanently on hand.

Also, no doubt, others will use Virtual CD to make illicit copies of software. Indeed, the developers make much of the fact that copy-protected CDs - or at least, those with bad sectors built in to fool standard ripping software - can often be copied. A close look at the relevant licensing agreement is in order if you want to stay the right side of legal.

In use

Virtual CD opens in easy-copy mode by default: having identified the source CD, it makes a 1:1 copy on the hard disk. In the case of audio CDs, it will also - with your permission - access the online Gracenote database and download full title and artist details.

However, some tasks require a foray into expert territory. Audio CD tracks, for example, may be saved either as data files or as sound files. The former method produces an exact copy of the source music but requires more hard disk space and only works with recent CD drives that support digital extraction.

Sound files, by contract, can be compressed to save space, but then, you could achieve similar results with a free MP3 or WMA encoder.

DVD-ROM support

The new support for DVD-ROM in this release is welcome, as more and more applications are being shipped in this format and DVD drives are becoming steadily more commonplace.

Virtual CD also claims to support the DVD video format but the manual is commendably blunt about the possibilities: "If the source CD is a video CD with CSS (Contents Scrambling System) copy protection, then no combination of settings will work ... there is no way to get around this copy protection technique due to legal technicalities".

Trial and error

Virtual CD employs a quirky but logical interface, with a clear indexing system for locating and managing your virtual CDs. Unfortunately, it doesn't sit well with packet-writing software, as this can mistake virtual CDs for their physical counterparts and insist on formatting them.

Nor will it work at all with some older CD drives, specifically those that do not support the RAW mode of reading data. Two of our test units failed at this particular hurdle, so we'd strongly suggest that you try out the 30-day free trial available from the website before shelling out for the full product.

Standard CD recording software may be equally adept at copying audio, data and game titles, but Virtual CD's disc/drive emulation tack earns it convenience bonus points. One to consider if you have more free disk space than you know what to do with.

Contact
No customer sales number; www.virtualcd-online.com

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!