Hi Ellen!

I too am very new to this forum, but have been mucking around with music , CD-Rs, file format conversions, for quite some time.
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So my questions are these...

1. Does anyone have experience with these tools, and can you perhaps offer some advice?
2. Does Roxio offer the same quality EAC?
3. Will Roxio allow me to format music in shn and FLAC, and also allow me to convert it back?
4. If not, can I purchase software that will allow me to format in shn and FLAC (and back again) from a retailer, to install it myself (instead of just blindly downloading it off of the internet)?

There are many kinds of software that are available to use to burn discs. Some are very simple programs that just include the basic burning program, while others are kind of like Swiss Army Knives, which claim to do everything from creating CD covers, to making excellent pizza, to allow you to process the wav files you are about to burn. IMHO, the problem with these larger programs (of which I include Roxio products) is that they tend to install large amounts of "stuff" onto your computer to allow them to do all these neato whizz bang things. And lots of times the stuff they install for them to work right can cause other programs you already have (or even Windows itself) to have conflicts w/ it, so ..more headaches.
My philosophy is "simpler is better", hence I say yea on the Plextor but nix the Roxio software

A few freeware/cheap softwares I use & love are:

EAC , as mentioned above
dbpoweramp, which can help you in both format conversion, tagging, burning etc. Tis one needs various plugins for the different types of file formats (ez to find and install)
Prassi ONES burning program, which is only $25, and install very little junk onto your system, and is very simple to use.

Burrrn, a simple freeware burning app that you can use to burn virtually any format file onto a CD-R to play as an audio disc.

Anyways, just a few of the tools I like to use, to help your learning curve.
So now I go back to learning more about this exciting facet of music enjoyment!