Adaptec's Easy CD Creator (last reviewed here) was, along with Nero, one of the early forerunners in the CD burning software market. But while Nero has remained quite a slimline utility, Adaptec's title - under current owners Roxio - has evolved into something bigger. Much bigger.

Instead of being one sleek utility, this time around we're pretty much looking at a compilation album of different programs based on the same theme, with Creator Classic still somewhere at the heart of things. This creation utility has always been the strength of Easy CD Creator, and it's a strength here once again. Very straightforward to use, while also offering a healthy dose of functionality, the simple drag-and-drop philosophy applies here.

As you'd expect given the title of the product, it's a breeze to work with, having seamless support for previously muddled facets such as disc spanning. Furthermore, 80 and 90 minute CDs are handled properly, no questions asked. Credit too for a Drag-To-Disc option (the program formerly known as DirectCD), which places an icon of a disc permanently on your desktop, allowing you to drag files over to it in order to compile a CD. It's simple and it works.

The same applies to the Disc Copier. There are more specialized tools that do this a little better, but for the production of backups, it worked fine on the CD-ROMs we tested it with, and throughout our tests it did exactly what it said it would do.

Where the whole package becomes muddled, though, is in the raft of other separate utilities included with these core components. Held tenuously together by a simple menu system, you do get a lot for your money, but in most cases, there are more specialist programs that tackle the various tasks better.

Take, for instance, Audio Central. The idea behind it is sound (pardon the pun), as it integrates media playback, management and ripping tools. Yet compared to Music Match Jukebox for instance, it just doesn't cut the mustard. Likewise, there's a 'lite' version of Photosuite 5 thrown in too. There's no doubting it's a nice addition, but whether it really adds to a media burning package is open to debate.

The weakest link, though, is the DVD Builder segment. Whereas applications such as MyDVD have really simplified the DVD creation job quite well, Roxio here takes steps in the other direction. Its application is confusing and really quite hard work, and it's work that alternative products quite happily take off your hands.

What ultimately prevents this package acting as the suite of programs it's billed to be is the lack of correlation between the constituent parts. Whereas Microsoft Office carries much of its foundation across each program within it, here that's not the case. Applications overlap with their functionality, and while you undoubtedly get a lot of power at your fingertips, it takes much unwelcome muddling to get at it.

That's not to say the package is without its strengths - far from it. Creator Classic and the Disc Copier functions are strong, and despite some of the afore-mentioned problems, you do get a good package for your money. However, the majority of people who look to Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 will be after a simple tool to produce CDs and DVDs and, frankly, they don't need to be spending £50 on this suite when a copy of the arguably more suitable Nero can be picked up for a lot less.

Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 is an able compilation of utilities, albeit not ones that link together particularly well. Roxio would be advised to work on making them act as a proper suite for the next release and to do some additional work on the flawed DVD Builder application.