Discs created with Toast are automatically cataloged. Using a new helper app called DiscCatalogMaker RE-which you access from the Extras pulldown menu-you can catalog the contents of any disc so that you can look up where files are stored even when the disc isn't in your system. And if you archive a lot of info on discs, you'll love the cataloging feature. The gauge in the program's lower-right corner makes it easy to see how much data you've loaded into the center window. Its data-spanning feature, which lets you save large files or folders across several CDs or DVDs, now produces discs that work with both Windows and Macintosh computers. Toast 8 also has plenty of additions that work with standard drives and discs. Unfortunately, our test system wasn't equipped to handle these abilities. Instead, install a copy of Roxio Toast 15, the Mac disc burning utility whose user interface has remained virtually untouched for five years, even as the version number jumps higher. It also lets you create Blu-ray discs if you have a Blu-ray burner attached, or LightScribe discs if you have a LightScribe drive. Toast now lets you burn TiVoToGo recordings to a DVD or convert them for use on a PSP or an iPod with video. With the toast app, I rarely have any problems, but I dont use the extras as I prefer more advanced apps for converting, or at least more than just the basic. If the improvements to version 7 felt a little light to some, version 8 impresses with significant additions.

Toast for mac review