For most people, simple burning software is all we need on a day-to-day level. Some of the popular burning applications have migrated in to multimedia production suites over the last few years, which means they ship on a DVD-based installer, rather than a simple download to burn data and audio CDs.

Some software developers have recognised this and there are now many smaller simple burning tools that do a few things well – burn data, audio CDs and produce disc labels. Nero have also recognised a need for this market and have released a free basic version of their burning suite.

Nero Free is a simple cut-down version of the full burning package and enables you to burn discs, quickly. Quite a few features are missing. With any free burning software, you won’t be able to work with MP3 files or burn a DVD, due to the lack of an MPEG-2 codec. If you need these features, you’ll need to upgrade to the full version.

There’s no time limit on this application and it’s completely free.