Nero is too expensive, but is a nice app.
I can do everything I need to do with
DVDecrypter (reads any dvd, burns DVDS, can do direct ISO rip-burn copy)
DVDShrink (reauthors and compresses DVD9s to fit on one DVD-R-has issues with subtitles)
Foobar2000(mass transcodes, tags, plays music)
EAC(Rips, tags, burns, compresses music)
All of these are free, and though it's not as streamlined of a system as something like NERO, it is not lacking in quality of features.