10.6. Duplicating CDs Neither Windows Media Player nor iTunes will help you quickly duplicate a CD. (You can, of course, go through the whole rigmarole of ripping any commercial CDs you own, creating a playlist, and then burning a CD from that playlist, as explained earlier, but where's the fun in that?) So when it comes to making quick copies of your CDs, push Media Player and iTunes aside. Plenty of third-party programs like Nero Burning ROM (www.nero.com) and RecordNow (www. roxio .com) will duplicate CDs for you, quickly, easily, and legally. GEM IN THE ROUGH
Burning Labels onto CDs | | A fairly new technology called LightScribe helps solve the problem of identifying burned CDs and DVDs. Previously, you had two solutions: write the album's name onto the CD with a magic marker, perhaps adding an artistic rendition of Jimi Hendrix above it; print a label, apply it to the CD, and hope it doesn't gum up your $200 car stereo. LightScribe solves that by adding a third solution: Reinserting your disk upside down and telling your CD or DVD burner to fire up its laser, etching a digital picture or title onto the disk. The results, shown here, don't look half bad. It's not color , but it's smudge-proof, won't peel off, and it's certain to boost your status among your CD-burning peers. You need three things before etching Jimi Hendrix photos onto your discs: -
LightScribe burner . Your CD or DVD drive must come with LightScribe technology. You can't add it to an existing burner. Many companies have added LightScribe technology to their CD and DVD burner's arsenal of tricks. (Hewlett Packard's an early adopter.) -
Software . LightScribe must be written with LightScribe software, which is usually tossed in with the drive. -
Media . You need special LightScribe blank discs. Regular discs lack the special coating needed for the laser to burn. Unfortunately, blank LightScribe discs command a premium price, costing up to 10 times as much as regular discs. As more drives incorporate the technology, the price should drop quickly.  |
You don't even need to own two CD drives to make copies. Most third-party CD burning programs can copy the CD to your hard drive; when you remove the original CD and insert a blank CD-R, the program copies it from your hard drive to the CD-R, and then erases the hard drive copy. |
