Windows Media Center brings together all your favorite entertainment for you to enjoy on your PC, on your TV or on the go.

Create custom music mix CDs

Combine the best songs of your favorite CDs; make a music mix for your workout; put together good driving songs to play in your car—there are tons of reasons to create a music mix CD. With Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, you can burn mix CDs and they take only a few minutes to create.

To burn a custom music mix CD, follow these steps:

Insert CD-R or CD+R media into the CD drive of your Media Center PC.

Tip: Be sure to get the type of CD that is compatible with your writeable drive and CD player. For example, some CD-RW and CD+RW media do not work in most CD players.

Press the Green Start Button on your remote to open the Media Center Start menu, and then select My Music.

Media Center Start menu with My Music selected

Select the first artist, playlist, song, or genre that you want to burn to the CD, and then select Create CD/DVD.

Classical music genre page with Create CD/DVD selected

On the Disc Format page, select one of the following options, and then select OK:

Tip: If you select Data CD, you can record more songs on the CD than you can if you select the Audio CD option. With the Data CD option, you can fit about 200 songs on a single CD.

If you want to be able to play the CD in standard CD players, as well as on a computer, select Audio CD.
If you want to play the CD on a computer, or if you have a CD player that is capable of playing WMA files, select Data CD.

On the Name This CD page, use your remote to enter a name for the CD if you want to change the default setting. To enter the name, use the number keys on your remote to type the title of the series you want to record. For example, to type an “a” character, press 2 once. To type a “b” character, press 2 twice. Media Center displays an index to all letters on the screen.

After you enter a name for the CD, select OK.

If you want to add more songs to the CD, go to Step 6.
If you are finished selecting songs to add to the CD, go to Step 7.

To add more songs to the CD:

On the View CD page, select Add More.

Navigate to the artist, playlist, song, or genre that you want to add to the CD. After you do this, select each song that you want to add to the CD. Watch the minutes remaining area at the bottom of the screen to determine whether you can add more songs.

Repeat the previous step to add more songs to your CD. When you have added all the songs that you want to copy, select View CD.

Album Details page with View CD selected

On the View CD page, select Create CD.

In the Initiating Copy dialog box, select Yes.

Initiating Copy dialog box with Yes selected

You can wait for the CD to finish writing, or you can select OK in the Creation Progress dialog box to continue using your computer.

Creation Progress dialog box with OK selected

After Media Center creates your CD, it is ejected automatically. Remove the CD from the tray, and then close the tray.
When the Completing Disc Creation dialog is displayed, select No if you do not want to make additional copies of the same CD. To make additional copies, so you can have a music mix CD for your car and another for your home, select Yes.

After you burn your custom music mix CD, don’t forget to label it. The easiest way to label your CD is by writing directly on it with a permanent marker. You can also purchase labels at an office supply store, print them, and then follow the instructions that are included with the label to stick it directly to the surface of the CD.