Burn a CD

Have you ever wanted to burn a CD but didn't know where to start? Don't worry, it's not as tricky as it seems: take a deep breath, and whether you're using a PC or a Mac, go to Step 1 to see how to do it.

Steps

Burning on a PC

  1. Open your optical drive drawer. On the front of the computer (or side of your laptop), there will be a small "drawer," with a rectangular button to the lower right. This is your CD-burning device (It might be a CD or it might be a DVD, which can burn both). If you don't see this, your computer doesn't have the capability of burning a CD directly. However, an external CD or DVD burner can easily be hooked up through the USB slot.
  2. Get a recordable CD disc. There are two types of CDs that you can use.
    • A CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable) can be burned once, and can not be erased. This type disc is usually used for permanent storage. For example; a music CD, a picture CD, or any other type of data that you want to keep permanently.
    • A CD-RW (Compact Disc Re-Writable) is a rewritable optical disc format. This type of disc can be burned, erased, and then burned again. This type disc is usually used for temporary data storage.
  3. Decide on the type of CD you plan to burn. There are many different types of CDs that can be burned and how you proceed depends on which type you are going to burn:
    • Music. This is the type of CD that is normally burned for use in a home or automobile CD player.
    • Data. This type of CD is most often used to store files that can be used by a computer, and is similar to a standard hard disk. Use it to store writing docs, spreadsheets, databases, and any other file type. Note that while you can store music files on a data CD, you cannot use it in a standard home or automobile CD player.
    • MP3. This is a data CD containing only .mp3 compressed music files. Because it is actually a standard data CD, only CD players that specifically support .mp3 playback will be able to play the music on this CD. The advantage is that you can fit about five times as many .mp3s on a data CD as you can on a music CD.
    • Disk image. A disk image file is a file that contains an exact copy of a disk. The most common type of disk image is an .ISO image (International Standards Organisation) , which simply means an exact copy of the original disc, stored on your hard drive. One can then burn a CD from the .ISO image and create a usable CD.
  4. Decide on what software you will use to burn your CD. There are many different programs that are designed to burn CDs. Some are built into the computer's operating system, while others are individual programs. These programs range from very simple to very complex. Some of these are free, while others have to be purchased. As this varies by manufacturer, it's best to check the documentation that came with your computer to get the details from the user's guide.
  5. Burn your CD. Once you've figured out that you can burn a disc, and that you've got the software to do it, it's time to get down to the actual burning. The actual steps will vary depending on what software you use, but the general process goes like this:
    • Open your CD drive drawer. Press on the small rectangular button on the lower right of the drive, on the front of your computer.
    • Place the CD-R into the tray, face up.
    • Press the drawer to close it.
    • Launch your CD-burning software.
    • Follow the on-screen instructions to add content to the CD-burning software.
    • Click the "burn" button, and wait while the computer does its CD-burning thing.

Burning a Music CD With iTunes (Mac and PC)

  1. Create a playlist. From the File menu, select New>Playlist or type Command-N (Mac) or Control-N (PC).
  2. Name your playlist. Then drag the songs you want to add to your CD to the playlist area.
  3. Sort your playlist. From the Sort menu at the top of the playlist's songs, choose the type of sort you want to perform. You can choose an automatic sort order, or you can arrange the songs manually.
    • When you're finished populating and sorting your playlist, click the blue Done button shown in the top right of the Playlist window.
  4. Insert a blank disc into your drive. Click on the gear icon at the bottom left of the playlist, and select Burn Playlist to Disc.
    • Alternately, you can select Burn Playlist to Disc from the File menu.
  5. Adjust your settings. In the resulting window, set your burn speed and disc format.
    • Preferred speed: by default, iTunes will use the fastest speed the burner can handle. If you have problems with the burn, try selecting a slower speed here.
    • Disc format: Burn an audio CD, MP3 CD, DVD, or data CD.
    • Gap between songs: sets an audio gap between each song of the duration you select.
    • Use Sound Check. This analyzes all the tracks you've selected, and adjusts the volume of each track so that they all are of the same apparent volume. This is especially handy if you're burning a disc for your car.
    • Include CD Text: Enable this if your CD player can display track information.
  6. Click on "Burn." The playlist will be burned onto the CD. When you're notified of completion, remove your CD and enjoy!

Burning a Data CD on a PC

  1. Insert a blank CD into the CD/DVD drive. In the resulting dialog box, click Burn files to data disc.
    • Name the disc in the Burn a Disc dialog box.
    • If you need a disc that will play in computers with an older version of Windows, or in media devices such as CD and DVD players that can read digital music and video files, click Show formatting options.
    • Click the Next button.
    • Your disc will be formatted for burning using the default LFS (Live File System) format. When finished formatting, an empty disc folder will open.
  2. Add content. Into the empty disc folder, drag the files you wish to burn.
    • You can drag the files onto the disc icon, or into the disc folder. The files are copied as you drag them.
  3. Click Close Session. This will prepare the disc so that it can be used on other computers

Burning a Data CD on a Mac

  1. Determine if you have an optical drive on your Mac. Many of the new models require an external optical drive connected to the Lightning port. If you're using a tower, press the CD Open/Close key on your keyboard (above the Delete key—an upward-pointing arrow with a thin line below it), and the drive drawer should open up. If you have a drive, it will be able to burn a CD.
    • Still not sure? From the Apple menu, choose About This Mac. Click More Info to open System Profiler, then click on System Report.
    • Under the Hardware list, click on Disc Burning. If you see a drive there, and in the CD-Write: row it says -R, -RW, then you can burn CDs.
  2. Create a Data CD. Place a blank disc on the tray, and close the drive either by pressing the front face, or by pressing the Open/Close key. If you see a dialog pop up, choose Open Finder from the pop-up menu, and select "Make this action the default" if this is how you will usually burn blank CDs.
    • The disc will appear on your desktop.
  3. Double click the disc icon. This will open a window that you can drag files and folders into. This will not remove the files from your computer, but will only copy them onto the disc.
  4. Organize your files on the CD. Arrange and rename the files as you want them to appear when you insert the burned CD. Once the disc is burned, the location and names of the files cannot be changed.
  5. Burn the disc. From the File menu, select Burn [discname], and then follow the instructions.



Tips

  • Make sure that the blank CD is not scratched or soiled. A bad blank CD will result in a bad or unusable CD.
  • Do not use any applications while the burning is processing to prevent your computer from stalling due to high CPU usage.
  • Some older players cannot play CD-R or CD-RW discs.
  • Use a good quality disc. Some low quality disc will give poor results.
  • See the "Related Articles" section. There are many specific Wiki-how articles that give instructions for each type of CD, software, and operating system.

Warnings

  • Downloading, burning and distributing pirated content is against the law. Doing so may earn you a fine or even jail time.

Related Articles

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