Last week, after touting the virtues of Tiger’s Burn folders, I asked the question: “Do we still need Toast?” On Friday, Roxio responded with Toast 7. Apparently they’re not quite ready to fold up their jewel cases and go home.
This is a major upgrade to Toast Titanium. Not only have they improved their existing workflow for creating discs, they’ve added goodies such as an iLife browser, H.264 compression, a Dashboard widget for audio recording, DivX to DVD burning, DVD copying, and tons more.
Toast 7 debuts at the end of the month. It’s going to cost you though… $99 for the box, with a $20 rebate for existing users (gawd I hate rebates).
So now the question isn’t so much, “do we need Toast?”, rather, “are the new features worth spending $99 for?” (and hoping that the rebate actually comes). I have to say, Roxio has made a compelling argument for “yes.”
Burn Folders for the Enterprise...
Honestly, comparing Toast on 10.3 to the internal burning setup, Toast wins hands-down... But, on 10.4, for companies who primarily burn DATA-only CDs/DVDs, Toast is an extra $100 on the cost per seat for Mac users that only provides benefits at the higher end of AV production (and, of course music/video piracy for general office staffers).
I'd like to see more context thrown on articles like this... WHEN should people think about Toast, and WHEN should they feel confident sticking with the OS Internal burner?
RE: Burn Folders for the Enterprise...
That's a good point. And one of the things that I keep an eye on with weblogs, which are more informal than our articles, is seeing if more information is required. We'll see what other folks say. I'll follow the discussion.
My experience buying at the Roxio web site
On June, 26, 2005 I ordered Toast 6 as an upgrade to Toast 5.
The website showed the upgrade price (80% of full price) on the several screens leading up to placing the order, but when I clicked the Purchase button the confirmation page showed that I was charged for the full price.
Upon complaining about the overcharge, I was send a rebate form (for Easy Media Creator 7 Upgrade). I mailed the rebate form to Roxio, but a couple of weeks later, I got a postcard advising that my rebate had been rejected (because I had attached no receipt).
I sent several emails to the Roxio order department to get back the extra $20 they charged me. The order department sent me an e-mail saying this was not their problem or area of responsibility, and that I should send an e-mail to the sales department.
I sent several e-mails to the Roxio sales department.
I never got a reply from the sales department.
I never received the $20 Roxio overcharged me.
I am very dissatisfied with Roxio:
1. Roxio charges 80% of the full retail price for an update to the previous version of Toast. No other company has ever asked me that much to upgrade from a prior version.
2. Roxio's on-line order page shows misleading price information before you commit to the purchase.
3. Roxio's rebate process does not work.
4. Roxio do not respond to customer complaints in a timely manner.
James udo Ludtke
RE: My experience buying at the Roxio web site
Did I mention that I hate rebates...
So sorry for your experience, indeed. But I appreciate you posting it here.
The floor is open if anyone else wants to chime in, pro or con.
Burn Folders for the Enterprise...
VIZIT.
Toast is not an extra $100 per seat. Toast has the ability to share burning Data/Audio/DVDs with any computer connected on a network.
We have four 'puter in our facility, All machines burn discs to the G5's superdrive. No other software allows for that, that alone is worth $100
Burn Folders not quite there yet for me
Loved to discover the Burn Folder thanks to this web site. Tried it right away. It was cool... but I hoped right off it would either automatically erase the disc first .. or ask for permission to erase. Most of my discs are tempory .. moving them from DVD players or computers and then reusing them ..
Thanks for the heads up .. I will still need to click on Toast to erase the discs ..but maybe soon ... !!!
New Features & Pricing
It is great to see Roxio is still improving Toast & has further improved on the UI & integration that made Toast a hit. It seems like they have integrated Popcorn with Toast Titanium 7. The new version looks great but owning both Toast & Popcorn, paying $80 or so for the upgrade seems a bit much unless they have a separate plan for Popcorn.
Finally, it is great to have a well integrated DivX en/decoding option on Mac and hoping the quality of those photo slideshows has improved.
New Features & Pricing
And yes, I hate those fugly rebates, never made it. So in the end paying whuptie $99.
My experience buying at the Roxio web site - the saga continues
A couple of hours after posting my experience on this site, I finally got a reply from the sales department. As the subject it showed "Message rejected". In the short body it said "...Note: This channel is for Volume License Purchases only. If you are looking for single unit's please call Inside Sales at 1-866-280-7694...You can also contact them via the web by going to http://selfserve.roxio.com".
First I tried the website. The site provides only technical support. There is no link feedback box for the sales department.
Next I phoned the telephone number (paying for the long-distance charges). When I selected the customer support option (#3) I was told by an automated message that to contact customer support I would have to dial 1-905-482-5200.
When I phoned this number the customer support rep told me that I would have to phone 1-866-280-7694, the number, which had just directed me to this number. After telling the service person that I had just been sent from that number to this number, she kindly agreed to call that number herself to find out what was going on. After a 15 minute hold, I was transferred to another service rep, who finally listened to my trials and tribulations trying to get my rebate.
The short answer was now that Roxio does not offer Toast upgrade rebates for customers living in Canada--never mind that I had paid the full retail amount and shipping charges in US currency. The best the rep could offer, was a $9 rebate if I ordered the upgrade to Toast 7. That is an offer for a $90 upgrade for a software I bought about two month ago for $99. What a bargain! Would you have taken it?
If I can help it, I will never do business with Roxio again.
To continue my numbered list:
5. Roxio's organisation is intentionally, or un- intentionally, disorganized, resulting in a run-around, before you finally can reach a customer rep.
6. Roxio takes international upgrade orders at their web-site, without disclosing that the upgrade price will not be honoured for some, or all, international locations.
Items 1 to 6 depict a business practice that has been observed in companies before they went out of business.
sometimes piracy is justified
Roxio has stolen from you. It's time to take back what they've stolen. Just get a copy of Toast 7 through whatever channels you prefer. (I don't make a practice of this, so I can't recommend any.)
Besides stealing your money, they've stolen your time. What's that worth? So maybe Toast 8, 9...
My experience buying at the Roxio web site - the saga continues
This is why credit card companies allow you to cancel the charge.
Not only will you get your money back, but it will also impact Roxios credit card handling capabilities.