Here are some CD/DVD burners which are light weighted and the best part is they are free.I consider them real alternatives of NERO.

  1. CDBurnerXP This is by far the most popular free alternative to the expensive Nero Software. Works on Vista as well, and here’s a features-highlight from CDBurnerXP:

Multi Language Interface Support for Blu Ray/HD DVD BIN > ISO converter included

Download CDBurnerXP 2. InfraRecorder This is the software that I currently use on my computer as a Nero alternative, and I must tell, it’s damn simple and straightforward. Has all that you might expect in a CD DVD burning softwares like Nero. Some highlights from this Nero alternative include:

Support for Multi-Session Very Light on Resources Support for not just ISO, but also BIN and CUE images Burning on Dual Layer DVDs is supported

Download InfraRecorder 3. DeepBurner (Free Edition) Another good alternative. Available both as a regular and portable app. So if you want something you can carry around on your USB Flash Drive then check this one out.

Supports both internal and external CD/DVD writers. Burn any data, copy any disc. Create multiple disk copies. Make ISO CDs. Print CD labels.

Download DeepBurner 4. Ultimate CD/DVD Burner This simple solution can serve all your basic CD burning needs. Similar to above Deepburner, there is a portable version. The only thing I don’t like about this one is interface, it reminds of Windows 95.

CD Photo Albums creation Easy Backup CD creation Disk copying ISO Creation and Burning

Download Ultimate CD/DVD Burner 5. Burn At Once Burn At Once is another good CD/DVD Burning Application. It can copy discs on the fly and has the following unique features:

Tagging of media by importing data from FreeDB Multi Language Support Drag and Drop Interface

However, it looks like support for this application is stagnant at the moment. Download Burn At Once 6. Burn Aware Free Edition This relatively new software is creating waves, and it’s intuitive interface is attracting users. It’s very light on resources, and supports every other format that you can imagine (including Blu Ray). Burning is fast because this software burns data directly on to the medium, instead of waiting for ‘hard disk staging’ Download BurnAware 7. ImgBurn Another software that’s worth mentioning here is ImgBurn. It’s a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that can be installed both on Windows and Linux PCs. It’s probably the most extensive out of all. If you’re looking for something advanced and with lots of features ImgBurn seems like a good candidate. Download ImgBurn thnks to Shanker Ganesh for sharing his knowledge