DirectCD for OS X coming; update not expected
updated 01:39 pm EDT, Mon April 9, 2001
Although it is trying to resolve issues with the current version, Roxio does not anticipate another release of its DirectCD authoring software, but says that Roxio is working on an OS X-compatible version.
Macintosh Product Manager Victor Nemechek writes that the company is not anticipating another release of its DirectCD software because of a number of "different sporadic problems that are virtually impossible to diagnose and solve," although it will continue to work toward a resolution for known issues and problems. It is however, developing a Mac OS X version of its product, which is due later this year. In a letter to users, Nemechek writes:
Dear DirectCD for Mac Users,
There have been lots of inquiries about the status of DirectCD for Mac lately. I am here to end the speculation and update you on the product's current status.
In the past, Roxio has stated that we were working on a new version of DirectCD that would fix some minor bugs and add support for new drives. Indeed, we did build a new version, and submitted it to Beta testers and our QA team. During testing we uncovered many problems that caused DCD, Toast, and/or the Mac OS to crash, sometimes with loss of data. These problems are difficult to diagnose and fix because of the many variables involved. Every combination of Mac OS version, Toast version, DCD version, CD Recorder firmware version, FireWire or USB bridge firmware version, and UDF version caused different sporadic problems that are virtually impossible to diagnose and solve.
We at Roxio do not feel comfortable releasing a product that we know has a fairly high probability of crashing your system and possibly corrupting your data. We will continue working on these problems, but I do not anticipate a resolution in the near future.
On a more positive note, we plan on starting development of DirectCD for Mac OS X later this year.
Sincerely,
Victor Nemechek
Macintosh Software Product Manager
Why?
04/09, 02:02pm reply delete
Just curious, why bother at this point? With built-in Disc Burner (of course, once 10 supports it), why would anyone want to pay to get something they can have for free?
The time to upgrade it was years ago -- granted, B.R. (Before Roxio).
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Re: Why?
04/09, 02:48pm reply delete
Well, we need toast. Sure drag and drop is great, but when it comes to disc images and audio, Toast Owns.
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Disc Burner is 1 session
04/09, 03:07pm reply delete
The problem with disc burner is that it doesn't allow CD-RW functionality, ie the ability to write and erase a CD-RW disc any number of times without having to erase the disc. DirectCD does this on the PC side, but there is NOTHING on the mac side with this funcionality.
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Because
04/09, 03:13pm reply delete
DirectCD is really a random access CD-R writer. Disk Burner keeps a disk image as big as the CD on your disk which is written to, then you can burn that to a CD later. Two different products. Of course, Apple should buy out DirectCD and integrate it with OSX (and add CD-RW erase support like Windows users have)
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What about WriteCD-RW?
04/09, 04:29pm reply delete
Software Architects was supposed to have released WriteCD-RW by now that would fill this void left by Roxio. The press release at http://www.softarch.com/us/press/wcd.html said it would be released at the end of March 2001. Nothing yet on their web site. Anyone know anymore details? I am VERY interested in this software as DrirecCD is "falling apart" on my system.
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bend over
04/09, 05:46pm reply delete
If Roxio's upgrade policy for Direct CD owners is similar to the apparent "upgrade" policy for Toast (there apparently isn't one i could find on the Website -- if you want OS X ready Toast Titanium, you pay full price...Thanks Roxio!), be prepared to be buying the program "new" again.
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reality check
04/09, 07:01pm reply delete
really this isn't great news at all. translation:
- the current version of the software has so many bugs, so they are giving up.
- development for the OSX version has not even begun.
sigh... good thing toast wasn't "impossible" to debug too, huh?
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upgrade exists
04/09, 08:37pm reply delete
I wrote Roxio about there being no posted upgrade price and was sent a reply stating that I could purchase Toast 5 for a low price of $59.95. They provide a link for purchasing at this price with a discount code. So if you want to upgrade and own Toast already write and see what they have to say.
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Upgrade
04/09, 09:09pm reply delete
I got an email offering me $40 off the list price of $99 with the discount code. However, I was somewhat dismayed to see that taking advantage of this offer entails buying directly from Roxio who then tacks on $10 for shipping effectively making the discount only $30. h*** for that amount I would rather have a mail-in rebate. I really like Toast and will probably upgrade but this sours my impression somewhat. If you're going to offer me $40 off, give me $40 off.
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More up-front?
04/09, 11:36pm reply delete
Complaints on various combinations of versions of DirectCD, Toast, Mac OS and firmware... what a cop-out. If you take DirectCD out of the picture, they still have to worry about the interactions with different OS versions and firmware. It is perfectly normal and reasonable to only support the latest version of Toast with the latest version of DirectCD - especially if you sell them as a bundle, like they do with their PC products.
I wish they'd come out and say the truth. They only had a small handful of DirectCD customers anyway, and the effort involved to maintain the software at all on MacOS was just not worth it. By the end of the year, we should see DVD-RW or whatever it will be called; DirectCD (or DirectDVD?) would be a very useful product, indeed, when you have rewritable DVDs, so I can see why they might want to start fresh on a new OS.
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