Most of the features in the Roxio Ultimate package can be found in other well known software, and obviously comparisons with Nero are hard to avoid. Roxio Ultimate does indeed have most copying and editing capabilities you could want and most of them are perfectly functional... copying CDs, backing up files, audio file editing and so on. But where it falls down is with the video side of things. This Ultimate version claims to be 60% faster than a previous version. If that's the case, I dread to think how slow the previous version was, as it's very slow. I have a top spec PC set up as I'm a video/film editor and run other packages without any problems at all. But Roxio video editing really crawls. I'm not sure what the problem is causing this, but it rendered it completely useless for me.

If you are serious about video editing, more than just having fun with home videos and photos, then you probably wouldn't be looking at an editor of this level, but if you are just wanting to have fun, I wholly recommend that you avoid this software and use the free Windows Movie/DVD Maker. The Roxio video editor has no features whatsoever that you don't get for free on Windows.

Even worse than this, however, is the simple operation of DVD playback. It's so sluggish that the image doesn't even refresh fast enough to even give a smooth image! Unforgivably bad. I thought I might have a hardware glitch when I saw the playback, so immediately tried the very same disc (Star Wars) on Nero and Windows Media Player and there was absolutely no problem. I was quite staggered.

Another problem with this package include the installation time, which is very, very slow. I notice others have commented on this as well. Quite why the core Roxio software needs 5GB of space I don't know.

Perhaps the biggest bugbear, however is that on the big "tick box" list of features on the packaging, it compares the Ultimate package with the Standard. Under "Burn HD Video onto Blu-ray discs" it says that the Standard edition requires a plug-in but that the Ultimate version has it included. But if you read the small print at the side and bottom, it says the Ultimate edition ALSO requires you to purchase a plug-in from the website. So, it's not included. Considering that the packaging advertises its Blu-ray capabilities, I find this extremely misleading.

Roxio offers a wide collection of audio and video editing and burning features, but there are better alternatives which run faster, require less space on your computer, and don't try to overstuff the features. I uninstalled it and will purchase Nero in future. I'd love to recommend Roxio, but I can't.