One of the most interesting features of the Nero Suite is its ability to integrate a variety of auxiliary features using the variety of plugins available as add-ons. There are four major ones, and I’ll cover each one in turn:

GraceNote Plugin :

The GraceNote plugin links your copy of Nero 9 to a giant database of info about music. Basically, anything you'd want to know about your songs, this database has. If you pop a CD into Nero, it can use the Gracenote plugin to hit this big database and give you all the metadata: song and album info, artist, track numbers, recording dates, etc. Good if you're a stickler for getting all the details onto your iPod. Not necessary if you just wanna listen to the music and never look at the iPod screen, though. The good news about this one is that if bought a full version of Nero 9 from our website or from the store, you got the GraceNote Plugin for free.

DTS Plugin :

This one's important for all you cinephiles out there -- it allows you to get official DTS surround sound from your PC when you use Nero Showtime to play movies and stuff. This is apparently the "theater quality " stuff, although I can't vouch for it, since I never go to a movie theater anymore. Not because I don't like movie theaters, I just hate going by myself and can't get anyone to go with me -- maybe it's my cologne. Oh, I should mention this plugin also works with any 5.1 sound system, it doesn't have to be DTS branded. Just FYI.

mp3PRO Plugin :

This nifty add on allows you to create MP3 files that are smaller and higher quality than ordinary with Nero. At peak functionality, you can get the same quality as a 128 kbit/s MP3 in a 64 kbit/s MP3, which saves you tons of space and just generally kicks butt. Keep in mind that this one is integrated into Nero 7, 8, and 9 full versions, but if you have a Nero Essentials version, you'll want to pick this one up to get the most out of your MP3's.

Blu-Ray Disc Authoring Plugin : This one is only for Nero 9, folks, so sorry to all you owners of earlier versions, but other than that it's pretty self-explanatory. The Blu-Ray Disc Authoring Plugin allows you to, well, author Blu-Ray discs. That is, you can capture, edit, and record HD video, burn to Blu-Ray discs, and even do edits directly to a Blu-Ray disc while it's in the drive -- you don't have to copy to the hard disk or anything. Pretty darn cool plugin, if you ask me. Too bad Nero doesn't pay me enough to actually afford a Blu-Ray player, or I'd get this one myself.

Okay, so that breaks down the four major plugins for the Nero Suite, especially Nero 9. Hope you've found this little breakdown helpful. If you want more info, you can check out the official website here .