Nero has announced that it will release the next version of its popular CD/DVD burning suite on October 1.

Nero 8 will include a new interface for burning and ripping audio and video discs. The software is optimized for Windows Vista, and includes support for creating Blu-Ray and HD-DVD video discs.

Other updates include:

• Upload videos to Youtube, MySpace, and My Nero with one click
• Nero RescueAgent lets you restore deleted files and recover data from damaged discs.
• Run Nero DiscCopy gadget from the Windows Vista sidebar to copy discs with one click

Nero 8 will cost $100 if you buy the retail box. Or you can save $20 by downloading it from Nero’s website.

HD DVD fans are cheering while Blu-Ray fans are booing. The reason? Paramount and DreamWorks have decided that for the next 18-months, they’ll exclusively be releasing movies on the HD DVD format. Paramount has released at least 30 movies so far on both formats which makes sense, but they say that this change and exclusive commitment with HD DVD which includes Paramount pictures, DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, and more, was the result of “extensive evaluation of current market offerings.”

What this means is that the hugely successful movies like Transformers and Shrek 3 which are due for release in the coming months will only be available on HD DVD. Blu-Ray fans aren’t the only ones upset about this, Michael Bay is furious. He’s the director of Transformers, and on his site he says “I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-Ray Sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me.”

Now we know that there really isn’t a clear winner, at least not yet. While Blu Ray has been out-selling HD DVD, the latter ends up being more affordable for the consumers. Not only that, HD DVD’s are cheaper to manufacture. While plain old DVD’s work for me, I know there are many of you who are just ready for this battle to end, so you know who the “winner” is. And then you can go about buying movies in one format… enough of the competition already!

[VIA]