Re: Format cd's; dvd's
Let's start with the basics. Look in My Computer and see if you see the drive. The CDROM/CDWR/DVD drive will often be drive D (but not always).
If you see the drive, try inserting a known good CD and see if it will read. Your Windows CD or some other store bought CD will serve well for this purpose.
Assuming you installed Nero that came with the drive we can go to step two. Some computers will require you to use the analog CD audio cable. It goes from the drive to your sound card. They look like this:
*Sound cards/drivers that support digital audio extraction don't require this cable.
That may solve your audio problem. Often, people just forget to connect this.
Most applications can't write directly to optical drives by themselves like they would a hard drive. Nero probably came with "packet writing" software. Once this is loaded, you can write directly to CD. I prefer not to use this method. If it were me, I would backup my quicken data to a temporary "staging area", then use Nero to burn (and verify) it to disc.
Also check your drive's documentation and make sure it supports the media you bought. DVDs come in a lot of flavors.
There are a lot opinions on this. I'm just giving you mine.
