I think TOAST beats most every program I have ever seen (Roxio, Nero) for burning CDs and DVDs. For sheer simplicity it can't be beat. Highly reliable.
That being said, I noticed a bug in Leopard that has been reported elsewhere.
There are DVD-Rs that I have burnt with data using Toast that no longer mount under Leopard. Insert the disc and Leopard thinks it is a blank.
At first I thought it was the brand of disc I was using (TDK) but doing a GOOGLE search this morning I find it is something related to Leopard. Even a co-worker recently complained to me that a disc I burned for him a few weeks ago was not mounting.
I don't blame TOAST for this as I know it burned and immediately mounted afterwards, but this issue with Leopard not recognizing burned media is really frustrating. Wonder if anyone else is having this same issue.
Have not tried those additional applications though I trust that information to be spot on. I also see that upgrades tend to be very expensive.
However, you gotta love the drag and drop function of Toast. You just slide the file into the window and that's it. Additionally, I can drag any AVI file into the window and have it encode it to a DVD.
I think you get what you pay for, and at $50, you actually get more.
Jonathan, I hope you bought it as the price jumped back to $82.99.
Toast is as valuable to me for its integration with my TiVo as it is with its disc burning capabilities. There's no easier way to move programs from my TiVo and onto my iPhone than with Toast.
OSX lets you burn, but that's just about it. Toast does so much stuff it is almost impossible to believe it. It can work with video files, create menus, burn in every format known to man, create hybrid discs for basically any OS, create audio compilations, with cross fades if you want. It will convert NTSC to PAL and reverse. The list is almost endless.
As far as the extra apps it comes with, those aren't actually designed to work seamlessly with Toast (except Spin Doctor) but are just shareware apps with related features.
As far as the upgrades, this is both good and bad. You don't get much of a break, but there is no time limit. I only upgrade every other major change, which gives me about 4 years for about $50. Not bad at all.
First, I had no idea Finder burns discs. However, without even trying it, it would seem obvious to me that Toast does a whole lot more.
I have been taking AVI files and dragging them to Toast where it encodes them to PAL or NTSC complete with a menu that I can customize. Can Finder do that?
I'm not knocking your suggestion of using Finder to burn as it may be the perfect solution for someone who just needs to do that. For others that want a complete converting, creating and burning solution you need to turn to third party software.
Thanks for the responses, guys. I was wondering because Jonathan only asked about burning DVDs on his Mac; he didn't mention needing these extra features.