OSNews

"With that being said, however, K3B does a pretty damn good job; unless Nero has features and applications which the 'free' burners don't have, such as encrypted dvd play back, dvd video creation and video conversion, its going to be a hard sell considering that most users who use Linux are technology savvy already, and happy to use slightly more complex applications if they're free."

This is a result of the typical "Windows" philosophy. Instead of having tools that do one task (and do it very good), "Windows" users demand on tools that to everything. Maybe this is due to a lack of the ability to perform a complex task in less complex steps and then combine the results? Feel free to look up "eierlegende Wollmilchsau" in your dictionary, this is what "Nero" can be described best. While "Nero" is quite okay for simple tasks where it's not up to compatibility, it's okay. Unexperienced users can handle it well. But it does not create standard ISO9660 + RockRidge extension CDs, nor does it create standard full CD images (binary format); maybe the Linux version does.

Functions like video editing, playback, encryption and conversion do not belong to the stuff a CD mastering tool should do. I've seen VCDs coming out of "Nero" that you could describe as anything... but not a VCD. Sadly, you can use "Nero" to create the strangest results... which we call "Bierdeckel" in Germany - a CD you can put your glass of beer on. :-)

In my personal opinion, K3B is a better solution. Along with some KDE tools, it's really awesome. (Okay, would not be my choice.) But to come back on topic, Gnome / Gtk can be used to do the same, no matter which CD / DVD recording application you use, gmencoder, gstreamer and even Gimp provide means to create nearly every imaginable media content.