Roxio Takes Vista Compatibility to New Level

Since we’ve just seen how some hardware manufacturers might be dragging their feet on Vista compatibility, it’s only right we take a look at application software as well. And if there’s one third party application you might assume is as compatible as can be with Microsoft’s latest OS, it would be Roxio’s Easy Media Creator 9. Yet readers say that not only does the program have many problems working with Vista, the fixes promised by Roxio are beginning to look like so much vaporware.

From the day Easy Media Creator 9.0 was introduced last September, Vista compatibility has been a point of emphasis for Roxio and parent company Sonic Solutions. Roxio was touted as a “Windows Vista Premier Launch Partner” during the Vista rollout, and Sonic even bragged that its DVD burning technology was being incorporated by Microsoft in Vista itself. Then in early May Roxio announced that the presumably already Vista-compatible program had received the Windows Vista Certification logo from Microsoft and that the “Windows Vista Certified version of Easy Media Creator 9 is now shipping to major retailers and e-stores and is available direct from Roxio.”

In spite of the Microsoft certification, however, readers report that Easy CD Creator 9.0’s Vista compatibility has left much to be desired. “I’ve used Roxio products in the past, so when I saw 9.0 was Vista certified, I ran out and bought it for my new PC,” writes one reader. “When I next go to boot up my system, I get an error from Vista saying there’s a conflict with an incompatible driver — Roxio’s DLA driver. This is Vista compatibility?”

The reader was in for a bigger shock when he contacted Roxio tech support. “They told me the version I have isn’t the one that’s certified for Vista,” the reader wrote. “This is in spite of the fact that on the package I just purchased it says it’s Easy Media Creator 9 and that it is Vista compatible. But, no, they say the real Vista compatible version is 9.1. If I want, I can go online right away and ‘upgrade’ — pay them more money, in other words — to get the 9.1 version. Or I can wait for a free patch that will make 9.0 Vista compatible. This is unbelievable! What does Vista certification mean if it can be this bad?”

The reader is hardly alone in his suffering, which means at least he was ultimately able to get help from other customers on Roxio’s discussion boards to work around the DLA driver issue. But the boards also reveal that there are any number of other compatibility issues with Easy Media Creator 9 – and perhaps 9.1 as well. “There are all sorts of bugs in 9.0 that require the patch that Roxio has been promising ‘soon’ for many months now,” says another reader who bought his version early in the year. “The drag-to-disk feature doesn’t work correctly. The Dazzle DVC90 that comes in the ‘Deluxe’ suite doesn’t work in Vista. Many in the forums have had problems just trying to copy disks.”

The second reader says that it’s been clear to all, including Roxio, since Vista first shipped that Easy Media Creator 9 has serious compatibility problems. “It was being sold as being Vista compatible, and they knew it wasn’t,” the reader wrote. “Roxio claims Microsoft changed something in Vista at the last minute. Rather than focusing on fixing it though, they decided to go for Vista Certification from Microsoft. They are supposedly now selling the 9.1 certified version. But some posters in the forums have claimed that the version you get downloading directly from Roxio is still 9.0.”

In fact, identifying just which version of Easy Media Creator 9 you’re buying seems to be a challenge in itself. Microsoft’s Vista Certification page lists the build they tested as 9.1.45, but it’s not clear whether that version is actually available from Roxio or in stores yet. What is clearly not available as I write this on July 16th is the “9.1 update” — the promised patch that will provide the needed fixes for all those who bought Easy Media Creator 9 in the mistaken belief that it was Vista compatible.

“My specific concern here is why such an ‘update’ is taking so long after the 9.1 certified version has been announced as being available?” the second reader writes. “If they are selling 9.1, why is it so difficult to post a 9.0-to-9.1 patch? And if it is difficult for some reason, why couldn’t they just let registered 9.0 users download 9.1 for free and forget the patch? While the Roxio representative in the support forums keeps saying that the free update is coming, others say Roxio has told them there are no plans to update 9.0 to 9.1. And Roxio is already working on version 10 that is built for Vista, so they may have no incentive to ever get version 9 working properly. Help!”

Unfortunately, there may be no help coming. After all, be it hardware or software, any vendor can decide that it will make more money on new products by dragging its feet on Vista-compatibility promises for its older products. The real lesson Roxio is teaching here is that those who believe that a “Windows Vista Certified” logo means there will be no problems are perhaps themselves certifiable.

What Vista compatibility issues have you encountered? Post your comments on my website or write me at Foster@gripe2ed.com.

Read and post comments abut this story here.