Application 4: Burning Your Own Music CDs

Application #4: Burning Your Own Music CDs

CD burning is the opposite of CD ripping. When you burn a CD, you record an audio CD from the digital audio files stored on your computer's hard disk which means you need to upgrade your system with a CD-R/RW drive.

Unlike CD ripping, CD burning doesn't require you to set a lot of format options. That's because when the original file 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.

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 certified for audio use. (CD-RW discs will not play in most CD players.)

You can record up to 74 minutes or 650MB worth of music on a CD-R disc, whichever comes first. (Or, with the newer 700MB discs, up to 80 minutes of music.) Just load a blank 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 audio files on your hard drive are converted and copied onto a blank CD-R in standard CD Audio format.

Of course, you can also record your songs to CD in MP3 or WMA format. All computer CD drives will be able to play back these discs, as will some home and car CD players newer models, especially. Most older CD players, however, can only play audio CDs, not data CDs, so make sure your player can play MP3s before you choose this option.

Here's what you need to burn your own audio CDs:

Upgrade Checklist for Burning Audio CDs

Fast CD-R/RW drive (see Chapter 5)

Digital media player software with CD-burning features, such as Windows Media Player or MusicMatch Jukebox