Burning Your Own CDs

Unlike ripping songs from a CD, burning digital music to CD doesn't require you to set a lot of format options. That's because whatever format the original file is in, when it gets copied to CD it gets encoded into the CD Audio (CDA) format. All music CDs use the CDA format, so whether you're burning an MP3 or WMA file, your CD burner software translates it to CDA before the copy is made.

There are no quality levels to set, either. All CDA-format files are encoded at the same bit rate. So you really don't have any configuration to do other than deciding which songs you want to copy.

How CD Burning Works

The easiest way to burn a CD full of songs is to assemble a playlist beforehand (in your CD burner program), and then copy that entire playlist. You can record up to 74 minutes (650MB) worth of music on a standard CD-R disc, or 80 minutes (700MB) on an enhanced disc.

tip

To play your new CD in a regular (non-PC) CD player, record in the CD-R format and use a blank CD-R disc specifically labeled for audio use. (CD-RW discs will not play in most home CD players.)

After you've decided which songs to copy, load a blank CD-R disc into your computer's CD-R/RW drive, launch your CD burner software, and then follow the program's instructions to start translating and copying the song files. After the ripping begins, the digital music files on your hard drive are converted and copied onto a blank CD-R in standard CD Audio format.

Burning CDs with Musicmatch Jukebox

Most CD burner software works in much the same fashion. Since you've just learned how to use Musicmatch Jukebox to rip CDs, you might as well use it to burn your CDs, too. Follow these steps:

1. From the main Musicmatch window, select those songs you want to copy to CD. (Hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple files.)
   
   

   tip

   

   Windows Media Player can also be used to burn CDs.

2. Click the Burn to CD button; this opens the Burner Plus window.
   
   

3. In the Burner Plus window, click the Click Here to Add Files Currently Selected in Your Library button. (Alternately, you can drag files from the main Musicmatch Jukebox window onto the Burner Plus window.) The songs you selected are now displayed in the Burner Plus window, as shown in Figure 32.3
   
   

   Figure 32.3. Getting ready to burn a new CD.

   
   
   

4. To add additional songs to the burn list, click the Add button and select songs from the Open Music dialog box.
   
   

   tip

   

   To create labels for your custom CDs, use a label maker program like cdrLabel (www.ziplabel.com) or the Neato CD Labeler Kit (www.neato.com).

5. To change the order of songs on the burn list, select a song and drag it to a new position.
   
   

6. If you've added more songs than you have room for, select some songs to delete and click the Remove button.
   
   

7. When you've added all the songs you want to burn, click the Burn button.
   
   

The songs are now burned to your blank CD. When the burning process is completed, the CD is ejected.

Some new PCs come with a limited version of this program, called Easy CD Creator, preinstalled. This version is perfect for copying CDs it just doesn't have the added DVD copying capability.

Copying CDs

Making a copy of a CD is pretty much a combination of ripping and burning. That is, you rip the files from your original CD to your hard disk, then burn those files to a new CD. Just make sure you rip the files to WAV format, to retain the original audio fidelity.

An even easier solution is to use a program specifically designed for CD copying, such as Easy CD & DVD Creator (www.roxio.com). This program makes copying an audio CD pretty much a one-button operation; just click the Disc Copier button and follow the onscreen instructions.

The Absolute Minimum

Here are the key points to remember from this chapter:

• The process of copying songs from a CD to your hard disk is called ripping; the process of copying digital audio files from your hard disk to a blank CD is called burning.

• For best audio quality, rip files using the WAV format; for best compatibility with music player programs and portable music players, use the MP3 format.

• You can use the Musicmatch Jukebox program to both rip digital music files and burn audio CDs.

• To make an exact copy of an audio CD, use the Easy CD & DVD Creator Program.