My DVD-R burner in my Sony Vaio burnt up yesterday. It ripped down "The Core" but then when I went to write the drive light wouldn't go on and it wouldn't recognize anything on the disc. I know that there have been alot of conflict issues with people changing burners so I figured that I would ask what would be the best replacement for my old A03 Pioneer, that would install the easiest without alot of driver trouble for the apps that we all run like DVD Shrinker, Smartripper, Primo, Nero. Thanks...

You can pretty much forget Primo, upgrade to RecordNow and you should be right with whatever you choose.

I agree with Celtic Druid. Even with the newer updates Primo still has some compatibility issues with newer burners. Recordnow Max is essentially the same program but it is current with the newer burners. Anyways either the Pioneer 106 or the Sony Dru510a would be excellent replacements for your A03. Both are 4x burners and are dual format (support both + and - formats).

Yup ... I replaced my 104 recently with the 106 and it works fine, with no firmware upgrades.

Burns at 4 X and works fine with AnyDVD, DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink, Dvd2one, latest Nero, CopyToDVD etc.

Seems more stable than my old 104

The only disappointment is it only burns Ritek G03's at 1 X. G04's work fine at 4 X though.

If I am going to purchase burning soft instead of using my old versions, should I buy Nero or RecordNow Max?? Nero seems easy in that it automatically supplies the AUDIO_TS folder for you and the drop and drag is right there. Any suggestions? P.S. I just bought the A06 burner.

I use Nero 6 with my 106 and it works fine. In fact I used Nero with my 104 too and never had a problem.

Having said that, lots of folk report problems with Nero. I'm not sure how many of those are down to folk, using it wrongly, as it is a complex piece of software and it's easy for newbies to choose the wrong settings.
Nero 6 does make things a lot simpler though and seems to be more stable.
The best thing is to download the trial. If it works ok and you like it gr8, if not try another.

I've personally had nothing but bad luck with Nero's software (however I am the exception and not the rule). My recommendation is definitely Recordnow Max as it has never given me a coaster that wasn't my fault.