CD burning basics

Copy or create your own musical compilation

By Marc Saltzman

It’s not that we’re old-fashioned or anything, but when our generation wants a music CD, we buy one. Today’s generation makes them.

“I burn CDs for my car all the time because I can pick and choose the bands, the songs and the song order,” explains Lisa Mazzitelli, a Grade 6 schoolteacher and mother of two from Orangeville, Ont.

“Often there are only a couple of good songs on a store-bought CD, so I like to create a ‘best of’ mix and can easily make a new one each night for the morning drive to work,” she adds.

If the music is kept in MP3, AAC or WMA (Windows Media Audio) formats, way more songs can be burned onto one CD. But these compressed music files will only work on car, home or portable players capable of reading them.

If you burn songs in traditional CD format, one pitfall is that approximately only 80 minutes of music will fit onto one disc — just like one you would buy in a store. But at least you get to choose the songs and their order.

Before you start burning

To burn a CD, you’ll need both hardware and software. Hardware requirements include a computer (any new PC purchased over the past eight years should be fine) and a recordable CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, which should be installed in your computer. If one isn’t installed, an external drive that connects to your PC via a USB or FireWire cord can be purchased separately.

On the software side, you’ll need a CD-burning program. A powerful one is Windows Media Player 11.

Differentiate between CD-R and CD-RW discs

Most CD burners can record onto both CD-R and CD-RW discs and can store the same amount of data (about 700 megabytes). Similarly, DVD burners record onto DVD-R and DVD-RWs (which store 4.7 or 8.5 gigabytes of data depending on the format) as well as CD formats. You can only record on a CD-R disc or DVD-R once, while CD-RW and DVD-RW discs are re-writable (like a cassette tape) so they can be re-used. For this reason, CD-R and DVD-R discs cost less than CD-RW and DVD-RW discs. Both types are cheaper when bought in bulk.

Step 1: Copying music from a CD to the computer

It’s time to put the music onto your hard drive. Grab the CDs you want to copy and pop the first one into your computer’s optical drive. Windows Media Player should automatically open and start playing it. If it doesn’t open, simply click on the Windows Media Player icon from the Start menu.

A tab at the top of the player says Rip. Use the mouse to uncheck the boxes beside the individual songs you do not want copied. Then from the Rip tab click Rip. The name of the CD should appear next to the Rip command as well. Remember these songs will sit on your hard drive and will automatically be added to your Windows Media Player files.

Step 2: Choosing a musical format

You may also choose the quality (called bit rate — the higher, the better) and format of the recording. While not as popular as MP3s, WMA files are smaller in size but retain much of the CD-quality audio. To change the recording quality, go to the Rip tab and select your format and bit rate from the drop-down menus.

Step 3: Making a CD playlist

Because we’re not just dubbing a CD (which is also possible within the Windows Media Player program), users must select what songs to copy to a blank disc.

Pop in a blank CD-R or CD-RW (or DVD) disc. Click the Burn tab on the top of the screen. Click Library on the left-hand side and choose which songs, albums or playlists to copy by dragging them to the Burn List on the right-hand side.

Step 4: Putting your songs in order on the CD

Once you’ve selected what songs to be burned (by adding them to the Burn List), it’s time to change their order. You can do this by clicking on a song, holding down the left mouse button and dragging it up or down on this playlist.

Step 5: Burning the CD

Next, go to the right-hand side of the screen, click the picture of the CD and make sure you select Audio CD. This step is important; otherwise, the program will automatically convert all your PC-stored music (MP3 or WMA, for example) into a format that will work on any CD player.

Once this step is done, simply click the Start Burn button at the lower right of the screen and your “burned” CD will be done in minutes! Be sure not to use the computer while it’s burning the CD or else it may affect the outcome.