Physical media may be on the way out, but for now everyone still needs a good disc-authoring utility. StarBurn v.10 can rip, burn, and author just about any kind of optical media, from CD-R to DVD-RW to Blu-ray. It normally sells for $495(!), but today only you can get StarBurn Network Edition free of charge from Giveaway of the Day.
StarBurn (Windows only) can decrypt DVD and Blu-ray discs, turning them into image (ISO) files you can archive or burn. It can create data and video discs, compress audio files, erase rewriteable media, and so on. It also offers network burning capabilities, meaning you can tap any networked DVD burner from your PC, without having to copy files to another PC first.
The only catch, if you can call it that, is that you have to download and install the program today (August 5). (When you install the program, make sure to disable all the “additional tasks” except the first one.) With that done, StarBurn is yours to keep. If you miss the deadline, you can still snag the freeware version, which has most of the same features (minus network burning and DVD decrypting).
I just used StarBurn to test-rip a commercial DVD, and it worked like a champ. This is definitely a great freebie to grab if you need a robust disc-authoring tool.
VERY DISAPPOINTING!
