I know this probably doesn't constitute a decent blog, so I'll make up for it tomorrow. What I have here for you is a problem I hope one of you can help me resolve.

I went to burn a DVD this evening. Did the same shit as usual with the DVDshrik thing, got it to put the disc contents onto the hard-drive, went to go burn the disc as I have a hundred times before. It got all the way to 98%, then stopped working.

Fine. No "24" on DVD for me. Not a big deal. I moved on to the next task...a copy of the classic "Big Trouble In Little China"...did the same song-and-dance, and the same thing happened: dropped the burn at 98%. Pissed, I figured it was something wrong with the discs. I popped in a DVD that did burn earlier THIS SAME EVENING to see what would happen. Alas, the same thing occured. I've wasted a fair chunk of time doing this, and it seems to be all for nothing.

Why would this happen? I'm using Nero 9 as my primary means of burning. Its never done this in the past. It was working fine earlier this evening, also. I tried a bunch of other movies I know burned fine before and they all did the same thing. For some reason, 98% is the "sweet spot" on the finishing part. I checked the Nero site, which was no help. I tried re-installing the program. Natta. Even the trusty internet forums don't seem to have a solution. I'm super pissed!! I can't resolve this issue!

Anyone have any suggestions to fix this problem? I've been increasingly frustrated with Nero lately, as it seem to be hit-and-miss with torrent files it will or won't burn. How does one fix this? if it can't be fixed, any suggestions on a bigger and better burning software? It seems like a minor inconvience, but I do a ton of DVD ripping, and this could seriously hamper my computer enjoyment. Are there any free programs that burn as good or better than Nero? I don't mind paying for something else, but it would have to be easy-to-use and reliable.

You guys seem like a bunch of tech-savy folks, so I'm putting it in your hands. Suggestions, please! I'm at my wits end here!

Thanks for any help you can give,

-The Big Bad