Does anyone still remember Nero Burning ROM?

Recently I was listening to my favorite podcast Nerdland. And right in the last minutes of the June monthly overview episode, Jeroen Baert came up with a fun fact that didn't make it into the show notes. It was about the software Nero Burning ROM, which can be used to "burn" CDs. The fun fact was a reference to the Roman emperor Nero who supposedly set Rome on fire, hence: "Nero Burning Rome".

Many people probably won't know the software, but for me this brings up a mountain of memories. I used to be an extreme computer nerd (now just a computer geek 😀) and lived largely in my own little world. In the rural area where I grew up, there were few children at my school who had a computer at home, let alone a CD writer.

The early 90s was the era of burning CDs, with Nero Burning ROM. One day my father brought home a CD writer from his work. Nerd + computer + CD writer = BAM, the perfect combination. The whole school knew me in no time, a serious adjustment and social upgrade for a shy 15-year-old boy.

I eventually became the first student to put his final project on CD, which impressed the teachers.

Who would have thought that a technical passion could have such a social impact?