Section 61. Print a CD Jewel Case Insert with Album Art


61. Print a CD Jewel Case Insert with Album Art

Before You Begin

See Also

Add Album Art to Songs

Export a Song List

Create an Audio CD from a Playlist

 


After you've burned a custom mix audio CD or MP3 CD, what do you do with it? Do you get out a sheet of paper, or pull out the generic insert in the CD's jewel case, and painstakingly write down each of the track names along with the artist names and track lengths so that you don't forget what's on the disc? Do you scrawl the track names on the CD's surface with a permanent marker? Or do you throw it unmarked into a pile with dozens of other anonymous burned CDs, its contents to remain forever a mystery unless you stick it back in the computer to see what's on it?

We might like to think we're organized enough to keep track of all our burned music, but the fact is that as CD media becomes cheaper, and computers and burners become faster, there's less and less pressure on us to treat the process of burning music discs with delicacy and respect. CDs become disposable items, and we're unlikely to take the time to make sure that they'll last and their contents will stay known.

That's the benefit of iTunes' ability to print custom jewel cases from the playlists you used to create the custom music CDs. After you burn a disc, simply choose File, Print to have iTunes automatically print an attractive, professional-looking paper insert you can cut out, fold in half, and stick into the jewel case along with the CD so that it looks like something you spent real money on. This insert contains not only the list of tracks on the disc, but (optionally) an attractive mosaic made up of the album art from each track. You can also print track lists in other formats, such as complete tabular listings on full-size sheets of paper or tracks grouped by album.

Print a CD Jewel Case Insert with Album Art


Burn an Audio or MP3 CD

As discussed in Create an Audio CD from a Playlist and Create an MP3 CD, create a playlist and burn a CD or MP3 CD from it. Remove the CD from the drive.

Note

If you deselected some of the songs in the playlist to exempt them from being burned, they'll also be left out of the track listing printed on the jewel case insert. For best results, be sure to print the insert at the same time you burn the disc to ensure that the contents of the disc and the printed track listing are the same.


Choose a Type of Listing to Print

While you're still viewing the same playlist from which you burned the CD, choose File, Print. This command brings up the Print dialog box, where you choose what kind of track listing to print. You have three options: CD jewel case insert, which is the right size and shape to be folded in half and slipped into a standard CD jewel case, and can be printed with mosaic art composed automatically from the album art in the playlist's songs; Song listing, which prints the list of the playlist's songs and certain predefined info fields in one of several predefined tabular formats on a standard-sized sheet of paper; or Album listing, which prints a list of each album represented in the playlist, along with the included tracks from each album.

Feel free to experiment with the options in Song listing or Album listing, which can be just as useful as the CD jewel case insert option but contain fewer possible configurations. For this example, select CD jewel case insert.

Select a Theme

iTunes can print several styles of jewel case inserts, selectable using the Theme drop-down list. There are four color styles (Text only, Mosaic, White mosaic, and Single cover) and four black-and-white styles (Text only, Mosaic, Single side, and Large playlist). First note whether your printer is capable of printing color. If it is, use a full-color theme; otherwise, use one of the black-and-white themes.

Note

Whether the track listing is printed in black on a light background or white on a dark background depends on how light or dark the selected album art or the composed mosaic of album art is. If the art turns out dark, the track listing is printed in white on a dimmed version of the album art; if it's lighter than medium tone, the background is washed out and the text is printed in black over it.


Use the preview pane on the right side of the Print dialog box to get an idea of what the finished product will look like:

  • The Text only theme prints only a simple text listing of the songs on a solid-color background. The playlist name is printed on the outward-facing leaf, and the track names are listed on the inward-facing leaf.

  • Mosaic gathers all the distinct pieces of album art from all the tracks in the playlist and chooses a square number (1, 4, 9, 16, or 25, whichever is highest without exceeding the number of songs in the playlist) of these pictures at random. It then arranges the pictures into a square and uses them both for the outward-facing leaf of the insert and (in a dimmed form) for the background of the leaf on which the track names are printed.

  • The White mosaic mode is similar to Mosaic, except that the inward-facing leaf features the track names printed in black on a white background, which can be easier to read. The arrangement of album art on the cover also shows thin white lines between each of the rows of pictures.

  • Single cover works like Mosaic, except that instead of a random selection of album art composed into a square mosaic, only a single piece of cover art at full sizethe art from the currently selected songis used. For this mode, select a song in the playlist that you just burned before choosing the Print option.

  • Single side is a black-and-white print mode that creates a single sheet that fits in a jewel case without any folding. This minimalist entry is suitable when you need to put a track listing into the CD case but don't need outward-facing album art, or when you want the playlist's contents to be displayed on the CD case's cover.

  • Large playlist is a good choice for printing the contents of very long playlists. It creates a track listing using a small font that spans both the front and back side of the folded insert.

Print the CD Insert or Listing

Click Print when you're satisfied with the layout of the jewel case insert (or, if you chose one of the other layout options, the track listing).

Depending on your operating system, you'll next see the default print options for your system. Click Preview to see a full-size preview of the printed project before you send it to the printer. If you want (and if your printer supports it), take the opportunity to load heavy-duty or glossy paper or otherwise set up your printer to produce a printout that will stand the test of time.

When you're satisfied, click Print to begin printing.

Cut Out the CD Insert

The jewel case insert is printed in the middle of the sheet of paper, with registration lines in each corner indicating where you must cut the sheet to fit a jewel case correctly. Lay a ruler or straightedge along these registration marks and cut along the edge using a razor knife. (Place another sheet under the printout to prevent marring you desk's surface with the knife.) Because the artwork is printed in "full bleed" mode, with the color spilling past the cut line, the finished cutout piece should look quite professional.

Fold the sheet in half, with the printed surfaces facing outward, and insert it into the CD jewel case with the track listing facing in. Make sure to mark your CD (using a permanent marker) with the name of the playlist as indicated on the outside of the insert. Now you hardly have any excuse for losing track of what's on your burned discs!




iPod + iTunes for Windows and Mac in a Snap
iPod + iTunes for Windows and Mac in a Snap (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0672328992
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 150
Authors: Brian Tiemann

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