Getting Your Computer Ready to Burn

To burn CDs or DVDs, your computer must have a drive capable of writing to CD or DVD. Fortunately, most computers include a CD-RW (CD-Rewritable) drive you can use to burn CDs. Many also include a DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, or DVD+RW drive you can use to create DVDs.

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If you have a Mac and it includes a SuperDrive, you can create CDs or DVDs.

To determine whether your computer is ready to burn, open the iTunes Preferences dialog box and open the Burning pane (see Figures 20.1 and 20.2). At the top of this pane, you'll see the text CD Burner. If iTunes can find one or more drives capable of burning CDs or DVDs, they will be shown here. If iTunes does recognize a drive, you are good to go and can proceed to the next section.

Figure 20.1. This Windows computer has a CD burner that is ready to go.

Figure 20.2. This Macintosh includes a SuperDrive that can be used to burn CDs or DVDs.

If a drive is not shown on this pane, there are two possibilities. One is that a capable drive is installed but is not functioning correctly, so it's not recognized by iTunes. The other is that your computer doesn't have a capable drive.

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In Figure 20.2, you might notice that a menu appears next to the CD Burner text. That's because the machine used for this screenshot includes two drives capable of burning CDs. In this case, you can select from the menu the drive you want iTunes to use to create a disc.

If your computer does have a drive capable of writing to a disc but it is not recognized by iTunes, it is likely that your drive is not working. You'll have to use troubleshooting techniques to repair and configure the drive to get it working again. I don't have room in this book to cover this topic because it can be complicated. If you don't know how to do this or you don't know someone who does, you can consult one of the many books available on this topic to help you get the drive working properly.

Selecting and installing a CD-RW or DVD-RW drive in your computer is beyond the scope of this book. If your computer doesn't have at least a CD-RW drive, it is likely a fairly old machine because these drives have been standard on most computers for a couple of years. Most current machines include a DVD-RW drive, too. If you don't want to purchase a new computer that includes a writable drive, you can purchase an external or internal CD-RW or DVD-RW drive and install it in your computer fairly easily.

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In many cases, a drive that doesn't work properly can be fixed by updating the driver software for that drive. You might need to download and install the proper driver from your drive's manufacturer; some drivers will be updated automatically when you run Windows Update. If you use a Mac that included a drive when you purchased it, the drivers will be updated when you use the Software Update application.