CDRLabs.com

i bought the Nero 5.5 upgrade + Nero 6 two and a half days ago.

i recieved both emails (Nero 5.5 key, Nero 6 free upgrade) within 3 minutes of submitting the order form!

well done Ahead!

cfitz wrote:By the way, not that this matters for the topic at hand, but OEM is not the same as bundled. You have a bundled serial number that came with your Memorex burner.

cfitz, what's the difference between bundled and OEM?

my old Nero 5.5 said in the About spalsh: 5.5.10.42 Plextor. that's OEM right?

OK, thanks, cfitz,

That will wait till I get home then I'll try it.

That's probably a bundled serial number. But Plextor has tried to promote their image as a top-tier manufacturer, so there is a chance they might have given you a full OEM license.

Craig Campbell explained the differences here (after I ranted ):

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... 8848#48848

cfitz

Hey Folks,

Thanks for the tips and help! That went faster than shxx through a tin horn.

Now, you may think that this is a Colombo show: as he walks toward the door then he turns and says: "oh, by the way, one more thing. I was just thinking...............

I also have this Verbatim badged LiteOn that I am going to install in my son-law's work PC. It is bundled with NERO EXPRESS only, which is not the more complete version that came with my Memorex. Any speculation that it might work for that also?

Thanks for the tips guys.

Got both e-mails with in seconds of the order.

I'm impressed with the look of the software so far.

I've yet to try a burn.

That will come soon enough...

04:45am to be exact.

For your son's work PC, I'd use the Nero5.5 serial # that you got, since you're not going to be using it...

CowboySlim wrote:Hey Folks,

...I also have this Verbatim badged LiteOn that I am going to install in my son-law's work PC. It is bundled with NERO EXPRESS only, which is not the more complete version that came with my Memorex. Any speculation that it might work for that also?

cfitz wrote:That's probably a bundled serial number. But Plextor has tried to promote their image as a top-tier manufacturer, so there is a chance they might have given you a full OEM license.

Craig Campbell explained the differences here (after I ranted ):

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... 8848#48848

well, looked it up there.
the OEM and OEM bundle are the same, except for the OEM bundle being restricted to the particular drive brand.

since it says in the About box 5.5.10.42 Plextor, i'm guessing it's a bundle OEM limited to Plextor drives only.
(can't test it 'cause i don't have a burner of a different brand).

anyway, it was just curiosity. i have now a full-version serial key!

CowboySlim wrote:I also have this Verbatim badged LiteOn that I am going to install in my son-law's work PC. It is bundled with NERO EXPRESS only, which is not the more complete version that came with my Memorex. Any speculation that it might work for that also?

i think that the $19 upgrade applies to Neor Express too. that's just the point - you got Express with your drive and you want to upgrade it to the full version.
try to find in the Ahead forum some thread about Nero 6 from before it was released. the upgrade issue was discussed then (with info supplied by Eberlain and Craig Campbell) and i thing they said that the Nero 6 upgrade would be for any owner of 5.5, regular or Express. so i would assume this is true for the 5.5 upgrade too!
or just check with Ahead.

but if you have a serial of the full 5.5 which you don't use anyway, maybe just use that like UALOneKPlus said.

UALOneKPlus wrote:For your son's work PC, I'd use the Nero5.5 serial # that you got, since you're not going to be using it...

CowboySlim wrote:Hey Folks,

...I also have this Verbatim badged LiteOn that I am going to install in my son-law's work PC. It is bundled with NERO EXPRESS only, which is not the more complete version that came with my Memorex. Any speculation that it might work for that also?

I'm not sure what you mean. I guess that once I put the 5.5 s/n that I bought for $19 into the Nero (nonExpress) it should work in his machine with the Verbatim?
Then use the Nero 6 in my machine with the Memorex?

I was thinking of two $19 5.5 s/ns, which would then then get two Nero 6 s/ns, one for each machine.

Anyway, I had the Nero Express loaded on my backup HDD to test it. So I booted it and did the regedit to get the NERO EXPRESS S/N. Unless Ahead tests that S/N against something to see if it is Express as opposed to nonExpress Nero and rejects it on that basis, then it should work also.

CowboySlim wrote:I also have this Verbatim badged LiteOn that I am going to install in my son-law's work PC. It is bundled with NERO EXPRESS only, which is not the more complete version that came with my Memorex. Any speculation that it might work for that also?

I think it should work, Slim. As dodecahedron said, the point of the $19 upgrade is to upgrade any of the OEM/bundled/4/5/5.5 to 5.5 retail. And since your Verbatim Nero Express is the new bundled package (see the link I gave to dodecahedron), it should be fine. Give it a try. If it doesn't qualify, they will tell you.

CowboySlim wrote:I'm not sure what you mean. I guess that once I put the 5.5 s/n that I bought for $19 into the Nero (nonExpress) it should work in his machine with the Verbatim?
Then use the Nero 6 in my machine with the Memorex?

That would not work, at least not legally. Remember, even though you start with a bundled/OEM license, purchase an upgrade to a full retail 5.5 serial number and then get a free 6 serial number, you still legally have only one license, not three. It is pretty standard in licensing terms that an upgrade does not count as new license, so once you start using the new version you have to stop using the old version, and you certainly can't give away one of the serials to someone else (legally, that is).

cfitz

cfitz wrote:...That would not work, at least not legally. Remember, even though you start with a bundled/OEM license, purchase an upgrade to a full retail 5.5 serial number and then get a free 6 serial number, you still legally have only one license, not three. It is pretty standard in licensing terms that an upgrade does not count as new license, so once you start using the new version you have to stop using the old version, and you certainly can't give away one of the serials to someone else (legally, that is).

cfitz

That's true, I agree...

I agree with both of you. To do so, I'd have to shut my eyes when I click on the "I Agree" option button.

New plan:
1. If he wants the Nero 6, I'll get another $19 s/n for the Verbatim.
2. If not, he'll get the Memorex with Nero 5.5 and I'll put the Nero 6 in the Verbatim (both are LiteOn LTR-52246S models).
Can be done with open eyes like these:

Thanks again cfitz (et all).

I wound up buying the $48 US ($69 CDN) full serial #.

I didn't want to take a chance that I'd get a bundled serial # back from Ahead. I've got both a Lite On & NEC drive that I need to ensure work with the software.

It's a shame there's so many bugs left in the Nero 6. I reverted back to 5.5 until they're cured.

It seems the limited time is now up the 5.5 ordering is gone all that is there is Nero 6.

Spazmogen wrote:Thanks again cfitz (et all).

I wound up buying the $48 US ($69 CDN) full serial #.

I respect your decision, but your fears were unfounded. The full retail 5.5/6 serial numbers I purchased using my bundled serial from my Memorex drive work on both my Memorex drive and Yamaha drive. This is as it should be, since I purchased an upgrade from bundled to full retail.

cfitz

It was good while it lasted though !

Hell, I saved $20 US ($28 CDN) just by buying the full 5.5 serial # yesterday. Today, the 6.0 is $69.99 US.

I'm glad cfitz PM'd me. Otherwise I'd have missed this one.

David wrote:It seems the limited time is now up the 5.5 ordering is gone all that is there is Nero 6.

So it seems. Too bad, it was nice while it lasted.

cfitz

cfitz wrote:

Spazmogen wrote:Thanks again cfitz (et all).

I wound up buying the $48 US ($69 CDN) full serial #.

I respect your decision, but your fears were unfounded. The full retail 5.5/6 serial numbers I purchased using my bundled serial from my Memorex drive work on both my Memorex drive and Yamaha drive. This is as it should be, since I purchased an upgrade from bundled to full retail.

cfitz

Thanks. But I'm not sure it's free & clear yet.

from HERE
"We have got some problems in the current demoversions with the serialnumbers.
This problems will be fixed with the next update which will go online at saturday, the 2nd of August.
Please do not enter your bought serialnumber before saturday after installing the newest update."

I'm not sure how to read that. It's ambiguous.

Are they aware of the serial # problem, or of the bugs in the program or both?

I'll bet that that bug is the one reported here: http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11899

LOL

I see cfitz and I are having the same conversation over 2 different threads.
HERE

dhc014 wrote:I'll bet that that bug is the one reported here: http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11899

I also suspect that the problem reported in the link you gave is part of the bug Ahead is working on. There may be others as well.

cfitz

Spazmogen wrote:LOL

I see cfitz and I are having the same conversation over 2 different threads.
HERE

Yeah! And Dave has joined in as well, since he linked to that same thread.

cfitz

cfitz wrote:

David wrote:It seems the limited time is now up the 5.5 ordering is gone all that is there is Nero 6.

So it seems. Too bad, it was nice while it lasted.

cfitz

Thanks again for the tip, cfitz. I now have my Nero 6 serial # awaiting to be installed on a more stable version of the software.

BTW - you have dual processor P3 PC's?? I never knew anyone with dual CPU's before. Does it make a huge difference in speed? Is it faster than a P4 machine?

UALOneKPlus wrote:Thanks again for the tip, cfitz.

You're welcome.

UALOneKPLus wrote:I now have my Nero 6 serial # awaiting to be installed on a more stable version of the software.

Sounds like a lot of us are taking that strategy.

UALOneKPlus wrote:BTW - you have dual processor P3 PC's?? I never knew anyone with dual CPU's before. Does it make a huge difference in speed? Is it faster than a P4 machine?

LOL Someone else asked me that recently as well. The answer is: no, it isn't that big a deal and certainly nothing to be envious about. This is an older system with dual 1 GHz P3 processors, 133 MHz FSB, 512 MByte SDRAM and an el-cheapo ATI RAGE XL 4 MByte PCI video card. Not exactly the stuff that gamers and over-clockers dream of...

Moreover, a big majority of consumer programs aren't written to take advantage of multiple processors, so it really looks like a single processor 1 GHz P3 box to those programs.

I'm sure there are plenty of single processor P4 boxes out there that can run rings around this thing. Here are some Sandra 2003.7.9.73 benchmark results if you want to see how badly your computer can beat up on mine:

CPU Arithmetic Benchmark:
Dhrystone ALU = 5381 MIPS
Whetstone FPU = 2643 MFLOPS

CPU Multi-Media Benchmark:
Integer iSSE = 9986 it/s
Float iSSE = 13017 it/s

File System Benchmark:
Drive Index = 17880 kB/s

Memory Bandwidth Benchmark:
RAM Bandwidth Int Buff iSSE = 630 MB/s
RAM Bandwidth Float Buff iSSE = 671 MB/s

Cache & Memory Benchmark:
peak rate = 14544 MB/s


One nice thing it has is a hardware RAID controller that I have set up with two 40 GByte hard drives set up in RAID 1 (mirror) configuration for redundancy. It saved me a couple of weeks ago when one drive failed. I just got a replacement drive, swapped it for the bad drive, rebuilt the array by copying the data from the good drive to the new drive, and continued on my way without any data loss.

cfitz