CD-ROM Emulator
http://cdrom-emulator.com/home/personal/
Reviewed February 2007

What’s it do?

Adds a virtual drive to your PC, then makes an image of any CD or DVD that can be placed on the virtual drive with a drag and drop operation. Boosts performance of applications that frequently access a CD or DVD because hard drives are much faster.


Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1: Not fully. In theory, it enables you to play CDs and DVDs from easily-created virtual drives. However, Paragon's Web site claims you can "use [CD-ROM Emulator's] Grab Wizard to make an image of any CD or DVD," a statement that ignores the fact that most movies on DVD have CSS Protection, and CD-ROM Emulator will not copy CSS-protected DVDs.

Reviewer 2: Since my children have been playing games on their computer, I have been looking for a program that will allow me to copy multiple CD games to disk and allow the computer to access them as if they were the actual CD's. Until I tried Paragon's CD Emulator, I had not found a program that worked for me. Although the instructions in CD Emulator could guide you through the process with more clarity, I found this program to be effective in this and other tasks once I made it up the learning curve.

Reviewer 3: Yes, but only after I spent considerable time struggling with it. The interface seems to be well laid-out and looks as if it would be easy to follow. But in actually trying to use the program, particularly at the beginning, I found myself frequently coming to a dead end, having to retrace my steps, and trying again. It took repeated attempts with a number of different audio and data CD's before I was able to produce my first functional CD's and copy them to a "Virtual Drive."

Reviewer 4: No. The Paragon web site claims that with this software you can "make an image of any [emphasis added] CD or DVD." This is patently untrue. Any DVD that has CSS protection-as in the case of nearly all commercial movies-cannot be copied. Similarly, most games on CD or DVD are copy-protected and also can not be copied by this software. Reviewer 5: Yes. The program can capture the contents of CD's or DVD's and store them on your hard drive as files in organized fashion, allowing you to "play" back the file as if it were an actual CD/DVD. You may also simply burn the file to a blank CD/DVD or, if you are dealing with a CDRW/DVDRW, you can direct it to erase the target CDRW/DVDRW if needed, and then burn to it. You can conceivably take your game, audio, video, data and program CD/DVD's and store them directly in your computer, then store the original disks in a safe and separate location for safekeeping.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1: No. Early in the installation process, a message appeared saying that CD-VIP SCSI Adapter has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with WindowsXP. The message went on to advise me not to install the software because such installation could destabilize or impair my system now or in the future. Having never encountered such a message before, I aborted the installation and sent a message to the Paragon User Forum asking about this issue. A day later, I received a response telling me to ignore the message. I then tried again to install the program. This time, I was told it was already installed, and that I had to uninstall it before I could proceed with the current installation. I could find no sign of it in Add/Remove Programs. I then tried JVPowerTools, which did find and removed traces of the program. I then ran JVPowerTools Registry Cleaner to be sure there were no leftover registry entries, rebooted, and tried again to install CD-ROM Emulator. Again, I was told that it was already installed on my computer and that I had to uninstall it before I could proceed. I went to the Paragon Web site, searched the Knowledge Base, and found that the problem I had encountered was so common that Paragon had developed two tools (one for version 2, one for version 3) to deal with faulty uninstalling. I downloaded the tool, called CDEUninstaller, ran it, and was then able to install CD-ROM Emulator without further difficulty. Since this problem has apparently existed for quite a while, I'm surprised that no mention is made of it or how to deal with it in the Help files that come with CD-ROM Emulator.

Reviewer 2: Installation was fast and easy.

Reviewer 3: Yes. I was able to place the program icons where I wanted. The license is very strict: you can only install the program on a single computer. In fact you cannot even move it from one computer to another, without "destroying" (sic) the computer that it was originally installed on. I do think that it should be a general principle that software licenses be issued to a single user, rather than a single computer, so that it could be used by that person according to his/her particular situation and needs.

Reviewer 4: No. While it is a relatively small 5.88MB download, I have had problems installing each Paragon product reviewed in the past and this one--now number three, I believe--was no exception. On my system I continually encounter dialogue boxes indicating that the file is corrupted and cannot be installed in addition to other such missing or corrupted files that prevent installation. As all other review panelists do not seem to encounter this problem I assumed this might be some quirkiness of my particular platform-notwithstanding that I have no other such problems with any of the other countless programs I download. Paragon support claims it is my system and not a problem with their download files as they are aware of no other such problems. However, if you will take a quick look at VNUNE Forums  or the forums at PC Pro let alone the Paragon forums themselves, you will find that these download and installation problems-specifically "corrupt download files" are not unique to this writer. My copy of this program was downloaded from a CD copied and provided by another of the NNT review panel members so that this review could be written. Support has been and continues to be utterly useless in resolving what is obviously an ongoing problem with their installation packages.

Reviewer 5: Yes. Download (It is less than a 6 Meg file) and installation were straightforward, fast and uneventful. The process was as well laid out as the rest of the program.


Good points.

Reviewer 1: CD-ROM Emulator makes it possible to store and play CDs and unprotected DVDs without having to use a physical CD-DVD drive. This could be useful in several ways. For one, it frees up the CD-DVD drive for other things. Thus, you could play music on CD-ROM Emulator's virtual drive while using the physical CD-DVD drive to play a game, read a manual, or run a software program that you don't have on your hard drive. Also, using a virtual drive is much less taxing on a laptop battery than using a physical CD-DVD drive. It also lessens the possibility of damaging the physical CD or DVD. CD-ROM Emulator would seem particularly useful for travelers with laptops. Many lightweight laptops do not have built-in CD-DVD drives; instead, the drive is located on an accompanying docking station that most people would not want to carry with them. With CD-ROM Emulator, you load the CDs and DVDs onto virtual drives before your trip, and you can then play them while traveling even if your laptop doesn't have a built-in physical drive. And even if your computer has a built-in drive, it's more convenient to travel without having to bring along a pile of disks.

Reviewer 2: Having my young children use CD based games required them to place the original CD in the drive each time they wanted to play a game. This invariably resulted in the CDs becoming scratched and eventually unusable. I was resigned to this as the price of enjoyment and learning. Now that CD Emulator is installed on their system, they can play their games from the hard drive as if they were on CD, but without the disk damage. You can create virtual CD drives on any available drive letter from A-Z. The program analyzes the disk structure and suggests the settings that are likely to best transfer the CD information to your hard drive. You can customize these settings, but the only ones I consistently tweaked were the number of data read retries, and the read speed. There is a "Max" setting which will allow the drive to read at maximum speed and will slow down appropriately in difficult to read areas. Once you have captured the data on the CD via the "Grab Wizard", it is time to "insert" the data into one of the virtual CD drives you have created. This is as simple as dragging the image to an available virtual drive and dropping it there. The virtual drive can be accessed within this software by right-clicking on the icon and choosing the explore option. In the instances with my children's games, clicking the install/setup file begins the installation of the program from the hard drive image as if it was the actual CD. With some of the marginally scratched CD's, the transferred copy worked better than the original because of the options that could be set when reading the disk. Transferring audio CD's worked well and the files on hard drive played as if they were the original. This program gives the option to take CD/DVD based data, programs, music, and videos with you as you travel without the bother of having to take the original media or the removable media drive. The Construct Wizard and Burn Wizard work together to allow you to drag and drop the files you want to burn on CD, to create an ISO image on your hard drive, and to burn the ISO image on a CD. My only complaint about that process was that the explorer window opened large directories considerably slower than the traditional Windows Explorer. Otherwise, it burned blank, unformatted CD's successfully.

Reviewer 3: The program is attractively laid out, with many interesting graphic images showing what is happening. For example, when "capturing" a CD, the "Grab Wizard" allows the option to "Show Block Read Map". When writing data to a CD, there is a colorful graphic showing the writing progress. These graphics give a good idea of how the project is progressing - much more interesting than watching the same piece of paper fly from one folder to another. Although I do not particularly like the system that Paragon uses to provide support (please see Weak Points below) they do respond to cries for help. I have found that the turn-around time is usually within 2 - 3 days, and sometimes it is better than that. However, new users should note that the support is time-limited to 30 days for the Personal Version of this program, after which you will have to purchase one of their support packages. However, they have recently upgraded their general support on the Web site with an extensive, searchable knowledge base.

Reviewer 4: CD-ROM Emulator does allow you to create libraries of non-write protected CDs and DVDs that can be stored on your hard drive without the need to use your CD-DVD drive. It will allow you to take applications written on DVD or CD, copy them, and store them on your hard drive, thus eliminating the need to repeatedly access the original DVD or CD. In both instances, access to these applications or libraries will be faster as accessing data on your hard drive is generally much faster than through your CD/DVD burner/drive. This could be very useful for gamers (see note above regarding write protected games) as they could simply load each game from their "virtual drive" rather than have to insert the actual media each time they want to play a game. Because you have up to twenty-three virtual drives you can create, the old need of "insert CD, eject CD, insert CD" and so on can be a thing of the past. Possibly the best application of CD-ROM Emulator, however, is for laptop owners who would be able to avoid the need to carry around multiple CDs and by using less of their optical drive will prolong battery life.

Reviewer 5: Running the initial phases of the program is simplicity in itself, even without referring to the help section. The Manager screen, which is the first screen you see, lists wizards on the left hand side of the screen. This is where you get started. The Grab Wizard will initially be your most used utility to "grab" the content of the source CD/DVD and to store it on the hard drive. The process, simply put, is to feed the CD/DVD into its drive, select a target (you are told the size of the file), select the type of file it is by category, and click next. The emulator will then read the contents of the CD/DVD and place them in the selected target destination. This process takes around 10-15 or fewer minutes for most CD/DVD's. It is a "leave-alone" process, without intermittent screens requiring your input, so you may walk away and do something else while the process takes place. The Burn Wizard burns CD/DVDs from files stored without the need for a separate program. The Construct Wizard gathers files and assembles them only to one virtual CD. The Erase Wizard prepares prerecorded CD/DVDs for re-recording by erasing the previous contents. The Find Wizard assists in location individual files that have not already been cataloged. By using this program, you can access multiple virtual CD/DVD'S at one time, using them in combination if you wish. In fact, as with other selected files, you may share your virtual CD/DVD's with other users over a network The read speed is 200x as compared to 8-24x of many ROM readers, creating much faster loading. Unlike a physical CD/DVD, a virtual CD is not subject to damage. Power usage is vastly less in recalling data from a virtual CD/DVD than from a physical one since little in the way of mechanical operations is required, thereby extending the life of the battery. There are virtually no limits on the size of the virtual library with a limit of 23 virtual drives and an unlimited number of files. There is also a compression function included. Emulator supports RAW, which maintains pixel separation to maintain fine detail of picture files .jpeg's in particular. The learning curve of the program is relatively flat. Only when you get into the sorting, removing, cataloging, mapping and allocation processes does it get the slightest bit difficult. It is here that the help section will probably need to be called on. It describes, succinctly but adequately what the functions are and defines their purpose and how to run them. With time, even a beginning user should master this program. Given the scope of the program's abilities, I found it quite straightforward to use. A command line mode is also available for more advance users to establish further operating parameters. The files burned to CD with files grabbed from another CD were accurate in all respects with no perceivable loss of performance


Weak points.

Reviewer 1: Though CD-ROM Emulator worked reasonably well with non-copy-protected DVDs, I had difficulty getting the CDs I added to CD-ROM Emulator's virtual drives to play in Windows Media Player. Each time, Media Player produced an error message saying "There is a problem with your media device. Make sure it is working correctly or contact the device manufacturer." I had no problems playing those same CDs in Windows Media Player when I didn't use CD-ROM Emulator. I also had no problem importing them into iTunes and playing them that way. (I submitted a question about this to Paragon's support staff. After five days, they responded inadequately; after a very lengthy and at times frustrating exchange of messages and two re-installations of the software, I finally succeeded in getting CD-ROM Emulator to play my CDs using Windows Media Player. CD-ROM Emulator's naming of CDs and DVDs also proved problematic. When you add a disk to the program, you can call it whatever you'd like. However, when you put it in a virtual drive, CD-ROM Emulator ignores the name you gave it and provides what is often a very generic name such as "Audio CD" or "NEW." It's thus often hard to tell the contents of each virtual drive. Recently, when I tried to add a CD, I was told "Folder already contains image with this name. Do you wish to overwrite?" Thinking this probably referred to an earlier attempt to add this CD, I permitted the overwrite-and found that I had replaced a totally different CD that appeared in my listing as "Amor" but was apparently known to CD-ROM Emulator as "Audio CD." In dealing with these problems and others, I was frustrated by inadequate documentation. There is a Help file, but many questions I had were not covered there. For example, when I added DVDs or CDs to CD-ROM Emulator, I was seemingly given the option of compressing the file to save space. But the attempts I made to compress files made no difference in the file size. It turns out that the compression works only with files that are not video or mp3, but that's not made clear in the documentation, which doesn't even have an entry for "compression." Also, the Help file includes an explanation of a service called FreeDB that apparently provides information about the disks you add to your CD-ROM Emulator collection, but the support staff has acknowledged that the information and links provided in the Help file are no longer accurate. The support person did not offer me updated information, saying merely that updated information would be provided in the next version. Sometimes, inadequate documentation can be offset by fast, knowledgeable responses in the software program's User Forum, but this wasn't true for CD-ROM Emulator. My question about compression received no response until almost a month later. Indeed, the forum carried almost no discussion of CD-ROM Emulator. Almost all the questions concerned other software programs made by Paragon. One added annoyance is that each time I used the forum, I had to re-type my username and password; unlike every other forum I know, Paragon's has no "remember me" feature. Compounding the shortcomings of the forum is the fact that paid customers are entitled to only 30 days of free support from the company. After that, you either have to pay for support or rely on the inadequate Help file, Knowledge Base, and forum. Also, the free support is often very slow. I wrote to Paragon about three issues; twice, they took five days for their initial response, while the third time the initial response came after eight days.

Reviewer 2: This program could use some more guidance for the new user. When you enter the program for the first time, you are sent directly into the section where you set up the virtual drives on your hard drive, but you are given no guidance about what you should do there or what the parameters are. The help section tells you a lot of details about the program but I found myself disoriented about the big picture. The process to update your version of CD Emulator is more difficult than for most other programs I have used. It is a common practice to allow you to download a trial version and then activate it with your registration number; this program requires you to set up an account on their server and then to register your software before you can download a fully functioning update. In future versions, I would like to see more control over the default settings. For example, I was often trying to copy scratched disks; therefore I wanted to have the maximum number of retries and to set the copy speed to "Max". Every time I attempted to copy a CD, I had to reset these settings manually and it would have been nice to have been able to set the default once. While this program made available drive letters for the virtual drives that did not conflict with existing physical drives, it did make available a letter designated as a network shared drive and overrode the previous settings for the share.

Reviewer 3: In spite of the attractive layout, and apparent simplicity of the program, the process is not particularly self-evident. When I was finally able to copy my CD's, produce the images, and get them set up on a "Virtual Drive", I more or less stumbled there by accident. Once I had the process figured out, I was pleased with the results. But refining my project and to getting the program to give me the results I wanted took a lot of experimenting and trial-and-error. In general, I do not like to have to register my support requests online. My preference is to be able to communicate with direct email. In the case of Paragon support, in addition to having to go through a Web-support system, you are required to log on and use a password supplied by Paragon. Each time that you go to the site, to see the status of the request, you have to go through the log-on/password process. This even occurs when you are following a link that they have sent to you by email. However, as it turned out this time, I wanted to send a rather large file containing images to explain the difficulty I was having. This would not have passed through my regular email ISP, so it was fortunate that I could go directly to the support via the Web site.

Reviewer 4: First and foremost, support-while existing-is useless. As I stated above vis a vis installation problems, Paragon support should be renamed "AOL Emulator Support" because the first suggestion (and often the last!) is that it must be your machine/equipment/software/hardware. And when you write back to tell them that this is not the case as you have no problems with any other software, they simply respond again with the equivalent of "it's your fault, not ours" as if they never read your follow-up. There is only a meager thirty days of free support after which time you must chose from an ascending scale of paid support which can only be described as usurious. The least expensive which is $100.00 (this, remember for a $30.00 program!) up to $200.00 and beyond. I say "beyond" because the cost for highest grade of support, "Platinum," is not published. I can only assume financing is available! There is a FAQ file which is virtually useless as is the "Community Forum" which, while active, had little activity vis a vis this program. Aside from this-and this should be enough to keep any one from wanting to spend their hard-earned dollars on a program of such limited usability-the GUI is totally unintuitive. I really hate-and this is admittedly a personal pet peeve-to have to read a manual simply to get a software program working in its most basic functions. CD-ROM Emulator gave me no choice but to download the lengthy (and terribly written) User Manual that can only be downloaded by searching through the Web site. In short, do not expect to install this program-assuming, of course, you are able to do so-and then begin to use it. Expect to invest a few hours reading and then working with the program before you are able to semi-successfully use it. Other annoyances: Although it is recommended that you use Windows Media Player to play those CDs you have created, I could not get Windows Media Player to do so. While it performed flawlessly (well, as "flawlessly as WMP ever performs!), it would consistently produce an error message. I was able to play the virtual CDs on WinAmp player, however. Once again, support's only suggestion was that there must be something wrong with my copy of Windows Media Player. I must admit that in attempting to test this program over a period of approximately 90 days-many of those days spent trying to obtain support-I did not dig as deeply into this program as I usually do. With the severity of the aforementioned problems, I saw no need to waste further time. Because of the support issues alone, I cannot recommend this product under any circumstances.

Reviewer 5: There must be some, but none compelling that I found. I would urge the publisher to develop a "quick start" section not only as a general guide but to also serve to make a beginner more comfortable about working in an environment that so few are familiar with.


Other comments.

Reviewer 1: CD-ROM Emulator lacks a way to check for updates from within the program. When I went to the Web site, I found that the current version was released in 2004. The EULA (End User License Agreement) is absurdly restrictive, stating that "once a copy of the software has been used on a computer, it may not be used on any other computer, unless you have permanently stopped using (e.g., sold, destroyed, or relinquished possession of) the computer on which the software was first installed and have removed the software from the original computer." Thus, having installed the software on my desktop, I am not permitted to remove it from my desktop and install it on my laptop or on a new desktop as long as I still own the computer on which the software was first installed.

Reviewer 2: This program is a "diamond in the rough". It has powerful and useful capabilities but the learning curve is steep since not all of the screens and processes are intuitive. As the documentation and workflow are refined, this has the potential to be a truly great program.

Reviewer 3: Once you are able to work your way through this program, it becomes interesting, if, for one reason or another, you want to put a collection of CD's or DVD's directly on your hard drive. However, I had to spend much more time than I normally would have done to get it to function. The Help is of the standard kind, with explanations of each of the functions and the parts of the program; but, it isn't really of any assistance in providing the user with a step-by-step description of how to actually use the program. Paragon should develop either a manual, or, perhaps, flash tutorials on the Web site, which would guide a new user through some of the basic processes of using the program well.

Reviewer 4: This reviewer refuses to pay for software or hardware support and thinks so should you. For too long, the computer industry and its subsidiaries have been allowed to operate as if they are an exception to the rules of consumer rights. They feel free to offer no guarantees; they feel free to monopolize pricing; they feel free to all but violate antitrust statutes; they feel free to charge you for upgrades (and even in some instances, updates). I am not anti-capitalistic. The manufacturers of hardware and software have every right to charge for their products what the market will bring. However, to sell their products at market prices and then not include accepted consumer protection in their products is, to me, unethical. My rule: If a developer believes in the product they will be happy to provide support for the product. If their support costs are so high to make offering free support impractical then they best look at what is wrong with their product-not ask the consumer to pay for the right to be volunteers to their research and development team.

Reviewer 5: I really enjoyed working with this program. It is the first time I have used one like it, but was able to acclimate quickly, once I grasped the concept of "virtual". I already enjoy the freedom of sorting, hunting for, protecting and carrying around portions of my CD/DVD collection - and being limited to single use at a single location otherwise. I enjoy the security of knowing that I'm not totally reliant on keeping safe and available a physical disk. I think the price is fair, more than compensated for by the convenience, safety and use extensions provided. A trial is also available.


Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1: No.

Reviewer 2: Yes.

Reviewer 3: I do not expect to.

Reviewer 4: No.

Reviewer 5. Yes, and I will recommend it to others.

OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, XP Home

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