It should be so very simple. All you want to do is burn an audio CD, after all. Yet some mastering tools make even the most basic disc burning tasks seem complicated, forcing you to navigate through a confusing set of complicated options before you can finally achieve your goal. Fortunately there's now an answer in Nero 7 Essentials, which delivers a range of core CD and burning functions with the absolute minimum of hassle.

To burn that audio CD, for instance, you would click Audio > Make Audio CD within Nero SmartStart, the central launching point for all Nero tools. Drag and drop your audio files onto the resulting screen, check a box to normalise the volume if necessary, and click Next > Burn. Easy.

It's just as straightforward to build MP3 CDs, audio DVDs, data CDs or DVDs, in fact the screens involved are almost identical: figure out one (something which will take you no time at all), and you'll know how to use them all.

Nero haven't discarded every configuration option, of course: they've just moved the more advanced functionality out of the way. And so if you know what you're doing then within three mouse clicks you can be configuring your maximum CD and DVD overburning size, generating short lead-outs to help you cram more data onto a disc, and a whole lot more.

And of course there are plenty of other tools to explore. The suite can also help you build Photo Slide Show CDs, for instance; create Video and Super Video CDs (not Video DVDs); burn disc image files; copy discs; design CD/ DVD labels and covers; stream video, music and photos over a local network, and more.

Upgrade to Nero 8 and you'll gain the MPEG-2, AC3 and MP3 encoders missing in Nero 7 Essentials: but that's just the start. You also get Blu-ray authoring and playback, with quality 3D menus up to 1080i. The Electronic Programme Guide support lets you record all your favourite TV shows on your PC (if you've a TV tuner, anyway); there's the ability to create password-protected CDs or DVDs to protect valuable files, and a handy Windows Vista DiscCopy gadget for one-click copying. The downloadable version of Nero 8 usually costs £49.99, but you can upgrade for only £39.99, a 20% discount: click Start > All Programs > Nero 7 Essentials > Nero Online Upgrade to read the details.