Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Freeware
DiscTop
This is probably one of the coolest freeware applications on the Mac that I've seen in a while. Have you ever placed a disc in your Mac's drive, only to shut it down with the disc still in there? I know I have a couple of times. Now you will never do that again, thanks to DiscTop. When you load a CD or DVD into your Mac, DiscTop displays a disc-like icon on the desktop, letting you know that you currently have a disc inserted. When you eject the disc, the icon zooms off the screen. The coolest thing about DiscTop is that when you insert a known DVD (say, The Simpsons Movie) you can set the artwork via an Amazon search and display it over top of the DVD icon. DiscTop even asks you what type of Mac you use and then positions the disc accordingly. For instance, I have an iMac Core Duo (early 2006 model), so when I use that profile DiscTop will make sure the disc's icon is positioned where the optical drive is located. Very cool!
If you want to give DiscTop a spin it's freeware and available at the developers website.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
mars said 9:43PM on 1-11-2008
I downloaded this app several years ago when you TUAW first featured it and i had nothing but problems with it, it eats processor power like crazy, and then the novelty wears off real fast.
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Ben said 6:07AM on 1-12-2008
I first picked this up from TUAW ages ago as well, and had exactly the same negative experience as mars.
All eye candy, no useful purpose, and I haven't missed it once.
Has anything changed to make TUAW recommend it again, or are the new bloggers just not bothering to check the archives?
elitemrp said 9:43PM on 1-11-2008
Does it auto eject on shutdown/sleep? That would be even awesomer
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elitemrp said 9:43PM on 1-11-2008
Does it auto eject on shutdown/sleep? That would be even awesomer
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Shannin said 10:08PM on 1-11-2008
whats wrong with leaving a CD/DVD in the drive?
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Cory Bohon said 10:12PM on 1-11-2008
There's nothing necessarily "wrong" with leaving the disc in the drive (other than these slot-loading drives can have discs get stuck in them occasionally).
But I was thinking more along the lines of, what if you end up needing the CD/DVD once you have your computer shut-down; then you have to restart it to get the CD and shut-down again.
PSM said 11:02AM on 1-13-2008
I had heard long ago that with a laptop you don't want to leave the CD in because in moving the laptop around you could either scratch the disc or damage the drive from the disc moving around inside. Could be one of those urban legends, though.
Shannin said 10:15PM on 1-11-2008
ooh ok, i dont have a mac yet (only an iPhone & a few iPods). so i dont know all about this stuff.
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Steve said 10:20PM on 1-11-2008
1) Maybe I'm missing something, but why not just set your desktop to show CDs?
2) DiskTop was also the name of one of the best Finder browsers ever for Classic Mac OS (think Path Finder without the bloat). Just thought it deserved a shout out:
http://www.prgrsoft.com/pages/disktop.html
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Michael Rose said 10:26PM on 1-11-2008
Man, I miss DiskTop. File Buddy 9 is close but doesn't quite have the elegance, and Path Finder makes my eyes hurt...
james said 10:22PM on 1-11-2008
outside of putting image art on the desktop i don't see the big deal. you can also show cd/dvd in the preferences for the finder.
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Maxwell said 11:07PM on 1-11-2008
What elitemrp said: Does it auto eject on shutdown/sleep?
And what Steve said, part 2, and Michael Rose echo'ed. DiskTop, the original = yeah!
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ZeroCorpse said 11:08PM on 1-11-2008
`Got a kernel panic with this.
I think I can live without it... Even if it is kinda neat.
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Hai Vu said 1:49AM on 1-13-2008
Based on what you described, I don't think disktop helps anything: my desktop is usually covered by tons of applications. Furthermore, disktop does not actually reject the disc, or displaying a message to remind me doing so upon powering down/logoff; that means I am still prone to forgetting to reject. Final point: if you choose to show any inserted CD/DVD on your desktop, you have a better chance seeing the disc icon because it is shown on the right side of the desktop; whereas the disktop icon is in the middle, covered by other applications.
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Matt P said 1:09AM on 1-12-2008
I personally don't see the point in this software, I already have a cd/dvd image on the desktop when I have a disc in, why would I need a bigger reminder that I have one in. And if I need it out, I can wait the 30-60 seconds for it to start up, but I rarely shutdown my computers normally keeping them in sleep mode.
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Think Adrian said 4:38AM on 1-12-2008
"Have you ever placed a disc in your Mac's drive, only to shut it down with the disc still in there? I know I have a couple of times. Now you will never do that again, thanks to DiscTop."
I don't see either why DiskTop would solve this problem...
When the computer's turned off, I won't know if it has my CD/DVD anyway...
If I know, holding down the mouse button when booting is help enough so I don't have to wait for Finder to load.
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2shae said 6:17AM on 1-12-2008
I like DiscTop and I've never had a bad experience with it and never noticed it having any effect on my performance and certainly never had a Kernel Panic from it.
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Ryan Maxwell said 6:21AM on 1-12-2008
hold down the mouse key when you power on your mac - CD will eject.
Hardly a 30 second wait to get that disc
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dave said 6:52AM on 1-12-2008
Anyone else get an error saying it doesn't work on Intel?
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Big John said 1:16PM on 1-12-2008
You mean just like the icon when you insert any disc in the drive? The one Finder places on the desktop?
I guess that's cool.
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