OAK's "SimpliCD" review - Page 2

Installation/First Look and feel

- Package/Installation

OAK provide the retail package, which contained a CD among with a nice, guide/manual for SimpliCD. Oak's SimpliCD software costs $49.95 (downloadable version) and $64.95 for the physical shipment version.

The installation process is very easy. Insert the CD, and the installation guide will pop-up, press the big red button side to the appropriate selection.. From there you can select installation language. SimpliCD version 1.0 supports only English. All subsequent versions of SimpliCD will support the following languages: English, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. SimpliCD currently supports Win9x/ME, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 and Win2k.

OAK is testing with beta releases of Windows XP and plans to officially support it when officially released by Microsoft. For our test purposes we installed both SimpliCD and SimpliCD ReWrite software. You can also view the SimpliCD guide, which explain the program's features/capabilities in depth. After installation you will have to reboot.

- First Look and Feel

The SimpliCD really intergrates with Windows (in our case WinME) and provides drag'n'drop access through Windows Explorer and desktop. This is the first time that a software offers such capabilities - maybe exept from Windows XP internal CD Recording ,from Roxio, software.

After the reboot you will notice a new icon placed in your desktop with the name "SimpliCD ROM". If you press right click above it you will see 2 options. The first option is "Burn Disc" and the second is "Guide Me". Even if you wish, you cannot remove the SimpliCD ROM icon from the desktop. SimpliCD ROM component of SimpliCD is integrated into the operating system.

Also a new icon (with the OAK logo) will appear in the task launcher. If you press right click above it you can instantly access all major functions of SimpliCD: CopyCD, Rip AudioCDs directly to wav, mp3 or wma, make Audio/Video/Slide Show/Data CDs and erase and see the drive's properties:

SimpliCD is comprised of four core components: SimpliCD ROM, SimpliCD Copy, SimpliCD ReWrite and SimpliCD Recorder. They are actually 4 different software modules which of course have different purposes.

Lets meet the first component SimpliCD ROM....