Billed as an all-in-one solution for burning CDs and DVDs, Pinnacle's latest is up against a crowded market that has an excellent front-runner. It doesn't quite do enough to displace Nero 6, but there's nonetheless much to admire about the way Instant CD/DVD 8 does its work.

Not least because it's really quite straightforward to use. We're up to version eight now, and so you would rightly expect that any elements of user-unfriendliness have long since been confined to the recycle bin. That's pretty much true. The menu is crisp, easy to find your way around and bright enough to keep most users happy.

It needs a good menu system too, as Instant CD/DVD 8 is the latest such burning application to magically transform itself into a whole suite of burning tools. With Nero 6 and Easy CD & DVD Creator both going the same way, it seems we're destined for a virtual lifetime of these 'throw everything in the box'-style burning applications.

So, not only do you get the tools to burn a CD or DVD in numerous formats, you can also use the program to capture video from a camcorder (assuming you have the relevant connections already in place), to edit footage in the Studio segment (which is a version of the excellent Pinnacle Studio software), to compose your own music of up to 16 channels, to organise your music files and to backup a disc (although copyrighted, protected media it will refuse to duplicate).

You can also create a virtual CD drive and, obviously, play back various types of media. There's a lot there, and it does go some way to explain why you're now paying the best part of £50 for your burning application (noting, of course, that Windows XP has a passable tool already built in).

The program also puts a small box on your desktop, and if you want to write files, you can drag them onto it and then let the program do the work. However, the bulk of the toys on offer are accessed via a menu, from which you choose what kind of project you want to take on. Then it loads up the appropriate program, and more wizards kick in.

It's hard to fault the work that Instant CD/DVD does, although we do still have a sneaking preference for Nero. It hangs together better than most suites of these sorts, though (are you listening, Roxio?) and leaves us ultimately only questioning the price.

If you actually want the majority of the tools that the software throws at you, then it's very good value for money. If you want something to just burn a few discs, it's not so good, and you're going to be paying extra for a lot of stuff that you simply don't need. It's your call on this point.

This is a good suite of burning tools, although arguably not quite the best in its field (though it's close enough for that to be down to personal preference). You get a lot for your money, but if you don't need everything that's in the box, there are cheaper options available.