I recently purchased Nero 8, having used the trial version for a while and feeling it was time to get the full version!

The suite is pretty comprehensive. It includes a media centre (for TV viewing and recording, etc), CD/DVD authoring tools, photo, sound and video editing, file and drive backup, disc copying, music streaming etc.

I have Vista Ultimate, so I'm not using any of the media centre applications, but I'm very impressed with the rest of it. The interface is a little clunky, and the reliance on wizards can be annoying, but I've found the applications work reliably and quickly, with good results. It does pretty much everything I can think of.

Using Nero Vision to create DVDs is easy if you want to use a standard template, but can be frustrating to create your own custom layout and menus. However, the finished article is excellent, and it is possible to save a custom template, so you only have to make it once! I don't use Nero Vision to create the video content itself - I find Cyberlink PowerDirector much, much better for that, but this is one of the few areas I think Nero fails.

One of the gems in the suite is BackItUp 3. I got fed up with the Vista Backup & Restore Centre, because it won't backup every file-type (one of the ones it misses is .php files, so it's no good for backing up my website). Nero's backup solution is brilliant. You have the standard Nero wizards, but otherwise it works well, quickly, quietly, and with minimal fuss. You can set up schedules, and it even has a calendar to show future jobs etc!

All in all, I'm extremely happy with it - and so far I haven't had any trouble with it in terms of Vista compatibility. Fingers crossed..