Free Alcohol

I have no idea why these folks named their software product "Alcohol 52%" - the German sense of humor eludes me (assuming it's based on a play on words like the title of this post, or like how the name of the band "Bare Naked Ladies" would look on a concert poster) - but this little piece of software ROCKS!

Here's what it does: it allows you to create an image of a CD or DVD on your hard drive and then mount it as a virtual drive.

Big friggin' deal, you say?

Well, y'know those games and products that won't let you run them without the CD handy or in the drive? This software makes it appear to the machine that the CD/DVD is in a physical drive, and lets you use it. And up to 6 at once!

I had about 7 of those lying around, including a set that had all the original "Mad" magazines, which I can now use easily again.

Also, now you don't have to hassle CDs/DVDs you use a lot. With hard drive sizes these days, most will hold quite a few, and all you have to do is change the virtual pointers (unmount and mount drives - much like you do with your USB flash drive).

The company changed it from cripple-ware to freeware this week, which you can download here.

And, you're welcome.