I've used Reaper with a third party plugin. It works but it's not exactly user friendly.

I don't "master" but I use Sequoia which takes care of everything in pro audio. Nothing more is needed when it comes to recording, mixing and mastering software.

I've been using toast the past few years. And either bias peak (discontinued) or a daw for mastering type plugins. Something Im looking forward to on my new system is samplitudes ability to burn and arrange the cd. Not that CDs are hugely popular, but I like having it all organized in the same session. Adobe audition and n-track (I think) used to do this.

It's true that CD's have waned in popularity over the last few years, but it's not as if the format is totally dead. There are still plenty of people who buy them.

I don't do any actual pro mastering, (or authoring for that matter, either ) - my personal preference is to use a pro mastering engineer for that - but I can say that Samplitude has been the most user-friendly and flexible CD burning program within a DAW that I've ever used; and on the occasion that I'm doing a quick mastering/redbook master one-off burn for a client who can't afford an M.E., or who maybe just wants a few copies for themselves, Samp has always done a great job.

FWIW
-d.

Thanks everyone! I know CD's are fading away but clients still want a PHYSICAL copy of stuff when they leave and i kill two birds with one stone giving them a REDBOOK CD as they feel they are getting and "Official" master, they will pay for it and i will let them!

Well, DDP isn't a disc, it's a file set. I was able, using an older version of Nero, to burn an audio CD-R from the DDP file that retained all the text info that I had put in.

Wavelab

I suppose it's like anything else in our business - in that it all depends on how serious you want to be, and what you want to spend...

I have a colleague/friend down in Virginia who uses Sonoris. Then again, disc authoring/mastering makes up a large part of what he does for a living.

I do know that Sonoris is highly respected for their audio processing, but I'm not experienced enough with the authoring process to know what to look for in an authoring program.
Based on their reputation for coding high quality audio processing ( EQ's, Compressors), one could assume that their authoring software would also be of very good quality.

Sonoris DDP Creator is around $350 U.S.

Though I have no idea whether that's a reasonable price for a pro authoring program or not.
Personally speaking - in terms of mastering-related software - it doesn't sound all that expensive to me, as I remember a time not all that long ago when pro DDP progs were priced at over $1000.

But I really don't know enough about it; so other than simply forwarding information from a colleague who does know about this type of processing software, I'm really not the guy you want to talk to. ;)

Wavelab 8.5.3 or 8.5.2 is what I use. I also have Samplitude which I can use.

There are a couple of other programs out there but no freeware ones except this one http://libregraphic…

http://www.sonoriss…

http://hofa-plugins…

Best of luck!