When it comes to creating a custom CD, DVD, or Blu-Ray disc, there are many options for those wishing to accomplish the bare essentials: burning the music and/or video data onto the discs. However, these days, multimedia suites can go above and beyond the basics with advanced functionality, like creating custom menus, design covers, and even automate the backing up of one’s hard drive to disk.

Roxio Creator and Nero 11 Platinum are the two leading software applications for digital media editing and multimedia development. Both have their own relative merits and weaknesses. Before you make the final purchase, read the following comparison of the two products to help guide your decision.

Software Features

The two multimedia suites are comparable in their ability to burn files to different types of media, back up physical drives, as well as create custom disk menus. Roxio Creator is a more straightforward approach to creating CD and DVD media, while Nero’s breadth of features and configurable settings may be a boon to media experts, but confusing to the average user. Roxio has some advanced editing media features that Nero lacks, such as audio and video editing, and, unlike Nero, supports DVD-RAM, which allows for the continual rewriting of disks. Its photo editing features are also robust and expansive.

A couple other small, forward-thinking touches to Roxio Creator make it stand out a bit more when compared to Nero. For instance, highly detailed 3D movies and even some television shows are the latest fad in Hollywood—what would Avatar be without this capability? Roxio Creator has the capability of creating 3D DVD videos, while Nero 11 Platinum has yet to support this feature. Roxio also has an option for creating menus that support touch-screens—a nice feature for playback on the growing number of devices and/or TVs that employ touch-sensitive screens.

Ease of Use

Roxio Creator employs an easy-to-understand menu system and a relatively intuitive user interface. Nero 11 Platinum, however, has somewhat of a steep learning curve, as the controls and dialog boxes can be hard to understand at first. Nero also becomes a bit unwieldy after further use, as it actually comprises 10 individual programs and tools that work in conjunction with one another—an overwhelming number for novice media editors.

Much of the interactivity in both software packages is straightforward, such as drag-and-drop burning. Roxio Creator does lack a couple of features that exist in Nero 11 Platinum, making the end-user’s job much easier. For example, Nero Platinum 11 automatically spans oversized files onto multiple discs. This is especially useful when trying to burn files that are larger than the standard DVD storage capacity limit.

Support

Support for both Roxio Creator and Nero 11 is available via email and phone, with information including support numbers and addresses readily available on both their websites. However, Nero’s online support center is much more robust—it boasts a knowledge base of common issues, user forums, live chat (which is especially helpful for those demanding an immediate response), instructional videos, step-by-step guides and more. Roxio’s website features a forum and knowledge base of common issues where users can find product guides and other support. Contacting Roxio’s technical support is also a little more complicated, requiring support codes and a few other steps before being allowed through.

Price

Both software packages are comparable in price, with Roxio Creator being marginally more expensive than Nero Platinum 11. Nero offers some of its products in a limited, free-trial version, while the full version of Roxio Creator is only available for use after a purchase.

Buy Roxio Creator NXT for $89.88.
Buy Nero 11 Platinum for $82.12.