Status of SimplyBurns

1) Present

1 a) Current feature set

• Modes:
  • Audio CD project
  • Data project (Filesystems: ISO9660, Joliet, HFS+, UDF)
    • Warning: There are some issues
  • Duplication mode (NEW !)
  • Burn image mode (Formats: ISO9660, DMG, CUE/BIN, cdrdao's TOC/BIN)
  • Disc ripping mode (NEW !)
• Persistence:
  • Data and audio CD projects are documents
  • Therefore they can be saved
  • Therefore they can be edited "in parallel"
• Data editor:
  • In data projects, the user can edit the tree of filesystem data
  • In audio CD projects, the user can edit the list of tracks.
• Drag and Drop:
  • One can drop files from the file manager (e.g. Finder) into the audio/data editor.
  • One can drop files from iTunes into the audio/data editor
  • Copying nodes from one project document's editor to another
  • Move nodes within a document's editor.
• Awareness about disc usage:
  • The information of how much space would be used if one would burn the data in the editor is displayed in the document representation.
• Erasing rewritable media
• State of the drive:
  • Awareness: Information is displayed like f.ex.
    • whether medium is present
    • tray is open
    • medium present.
  • Control: Eject medium, open/close tray
  • Burn/Erase progress is shown in the dock icon
• Configuration of burn settings:
  • Write Speed
  • (no) simulation
  • (no) buffer underrun protection
  • (no) verification
  • leave session open or close
  • Audio projects also have: burn mode (DAO / TAO)
• Localization: See localization page

1 b) Internal

• Universal Binary
• Automated unit testing

 

Warnings (soon to be fixed)

SimplyBurns is a very young project, and of course far from perfect in many respects.
There are some issues, which have highest priority and will soon be fixed:

• Issues concerning Data Projects
  • Links / Aliases: Not yet handled correctly
  • Current State of Multi-session burning
    • Multiple HFS+ Sessions: Works !
      • Setup:
        • Session 1: HFS+ titled "One"
        • Session 2: HFS+ titled "Two"
      • Consequences:
        • On the Mac, this will show two Sessions "One" and "Two" (because multiple HFS+ sessions appear as multiple partitions)
        • But afaik Windows does not recognize HFS+ filesystems per default. So Windows won't show anything (But Linux and perhaps other Unices can !)
    • Multiple ISO9660 Sessions: Warning: Not supported yet !
      • Setup:
        • Session 1: ISO9660+Joliet titled "One"
        • Session 2: ISO9660+Joliet titled "Two"
      • Consequences:
        • There are no HFS+ partitions, so Mac OS X only displays the first ISO9660 session, the second one is ignored.
        • On Windows, it's the same thing
    • Multiple HFS+/ISO9660 Hybrid Sessions: Warning: Not supported yet !
      • Setup:
        • Session 1: HFS+ / ISO9660+Joliet titled "One"
        • Session 2: HFS+ / ISO9660+Joliet titled "Two"
      • Consequences:
        • On the Mac, this will show two Sessions "One" and "Two" (because multiple HFS+ sessions appear as multiple partitions)
        • On Windows, only the first session "One" will be shown.
    Note (multi-session): This is mainly because Apple's - nevertheless excellent - DiscRecording Framework, which SimplyBurns relies on, does not yet support reading the old ISO9660 TOC and burning a new TOC based on it.

    I hope that it will be extended in the future to support this.
    Soon to come: Meanwhile, in future versions I will make SimplyBurns display a warning in those cases.

2) Soon to come...

Asides resolving issues (like listed here and there), in the next revisions you can expect:

2 a) Internal changes

2 b) Features

• Extended support for disk images:
  • "Burn" projects into an image
• Support for CD Text
• Replacement for absolute paths: Use of aliases and relative paths instead of absolute paths (which are currently used)

3) Ideas for later extensions

• Cover Art Support: Assisting the user in creating the front and back cover for audio CDs or data CDs/DVDs
  • F.ex. via two image placeholder areas in the user interface
  • Or by automatically rendering a the filesystem tree or track list
• Semiautomatically check for updates (on menu item activation)
• Perhaps: video support
• Perhaps: sharing one optical device within the LAN

4) Don't be afraid... I won't bite ;-)

If you feel like if something is missing what you'd need, you're most welcome to submit a feature request or do it yourself. You can also contribute your modifications if you wish that they're integrated into the code base, which would of course be the jig-thing :-)