CD Anywhere allows you to quickly access the contents of a CD-ROM by first copying the disk's image to your hard disk. A virtual CD drive, part of the installation, can then access the image and run the software or play the music without needing to place the CD itself in the player. You can store up to 22 CDs, the limit being the number of letters available for virtual drives.
The package follows the recent practice of not supplying a printed manual. The manual is on the CD as an Adobe Acrobat file but is not accessible prior to installation. The manual begins with clear explanations of terms used, including definitions of physical and virtual drives, concepts central to the function of CD Anywhere.
Fortunately, installation went smoothly, including having the application installed on a non-default directory. An icon was left in the system tray.
CD Anywhere can be initiated from the Systray icon or the Start Menu and virtual drives can be accessed from Windows Explorer or the CD Anywhere Manager.
DVDs: DVD drives and DVD-ROMs are supported with two caveats—images can't be created from many DVD disks due to copy protection, and files larger than 2 GB are supported only through NT/2000/XP with NTFS.
Music CD: CD Anywhere detects the nature of audio disks and starts a special process. A screen appears for CDDB, Inc., to download track and artist information for that disk. CDDB says, "This service is FREE. Your support, by providing some information, helps us provide a better service. CDDB, Inc., pledges that it will not release any personal information to anyone else without your permission...period." Color me paranoid, but I passed on the offer.
Succeeding windows let you select individual or all tracks, options on jitter correction and bad sectors, then compression/format. Processing the CD into the virtual drive took about as long as playing it. Select "Ignore all bad sectors" for unattended processing— otherwise, CD Anywhere will pause for your decision when a bad spot is found.
Windows Explorer displayed a track listing of cdname_1 through cdname_n using the name I had specified for the virtual CD. The MP3 format I had selected was played using Microsoft Sound Recorder.
Accessing the same virtual CD through the CD Anywhere Manager was via Windows Media Player with, surprise, the album title, artist and track titles displayed. Even though I had bypassed this CDDB option with CD Anywhere, Microsoft probably used my "always on" DSL connection to download the information.
CD Anywhere comes in both Personal and Network editions. Use the Personal edition for a single system, or use the Network Edition to have multiple users simultaneously share virtual CD images that reside on your network.
CD Anywhere 2
V-Communications
2290 North First St., Suite 101
San Jose, CA 95131
(408) 965-4000
Free Trial
