Q. I recently bought a new laptop running Vista. Now I'm having trouble burning photos to DVD. The discs I create will not play in a standalone DVD player. They play on a computer, though. I have tried different types of DVDs. Can you help?
—Jerry in Winslow, AZ, listening on KVNA 600 AM

A. I remember the early days of DVD burning. The kind of disc mattered. For example, some machines only accepted DVD-Rs. Others required DVD+Rs. You would encounter the same problems with standalone players.

These days, disc type matters much less. Most computers accept a variety of disc types. And the discs should be compatible with most modern standalone players.

Instead, we have a new complication: Vista. Vista introduced the Live File System. This is a new format for writing CDs and DVDs. It isn't compatible with all burners. And it can cause problems with standalone players.

In comparison, Windows XP uses the Mastered format. All machines should read these discs. They also have fewer problems with standalone players.

Should you downgrade to XP? Nope! You can use the Mastered format in Vista. You just need to specify it. Live File System is the default format.