How to Burn Music to Audio CD

Burning or burning music to an audio CD is useful if you want to gather all your favorite songs in one place instead of having to switch between different albums. A DIY audio CD is also fully functional and works like store-bought CDs, so you can listen to it on any sound system, CD player or computer. Note that an audio CD is different from a data CD (or MP3) because a data CD cannot be played on a regular stereo. If you have access to a CD-RW/DVD-RW player, music files, blank CDs, and a media player, you can proceed to burn the CD.

Table of Contents

Use Windows Media Player

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Insert the CD into the disc player on your computer. You need to make sure this is a CD-RW or DVD-RW player. The letter ‘W’ represents the word ‘writeable’ and this type of drive is capable of writing data to disk.

The information is usually printed on the front of the player, but you can also see it at the link Contrp Panel > Device Manager > Disk Drives .

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Open Windows Media Player (WMP) at Start > All Apps (or All Programs on Windows 7 and earlier) > Windows Media Player . This is the Windows backup media player.

The next steps in the tutorial are based on WMP 12. Other versions of the software are also applicable but the location of the action buttons may be different.

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Click the Burn button on the right. A pane will open to the right for you to create a to-write list.

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Drag and drop the audio file into this list. Files must be in a format supported by WMP (.mp3, .mp4, .wav, .aac being the most common). When burning to CD, the software will convert the files to lossless format.

Audio CDs have a playtime limit of 80 minutes. This industry standard is established by the manufacturer. This means that the number of songs that you can burn to a CD will depend on the length of the track.
The disc packaging may mention 700MB capacity, but this number applies in creating data CDs. A data CD works similarly to a storage device and can only be read by a computer.

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Click the menu in the Burn pane. A menu will open with different recording options. Select “Audio CD” (Audio CD).

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Click the “Start Burn” button. The CD burning process will begin. Once done, the disc will automatically be ejected from the computer and ready for use.

If burning is canceled or interrupted, you will have to use a new CD and proceed again.

Use iTunes

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Open iTunes. You can go to Applications > iTunes or open the app dock. On Windows, you can launch iTunes at Start > All Apps (or All Programs on Windows 7 and earlier) > iTunes . It is OSX’s backup media player, but is also very popular on most platforms thanks to the popularity of Apple mobile devices.

The next steps in the instructions are based on iTunes 12. Other versions of the software also apply, but the position of the action button may be different.

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Create playlists. Go to File > New > Playlist , enter a name for the playlist and drag the songs you want to listen to and drop them here.

You need to make sure that the check box to the left of each song has a check mark. Only songs that you mark in the playlist will be burned to disc.

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You need to make sure that all songs in the playlist are authorized for this computer. Songs that you have purchased on the iTunes store will be linked to your iTunes account. Double-click each song to make sure it plays. If there is an unauthorised song, a window will pop up asking for the username/password of the iTunes account you used to purchase the song. Once the information is entered, the song will play as normal and be ready to burn to CD.

iTunes restricts a song to only 5 different computers.

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Insert a blank CD into the player. The computer will automatically recognize the blank disc.

You can check the drive’s compatibility in the “Burn Settings” menu. If you see the drive listed at the top under the “Disc Burner” heading, it means it’s compatible.

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Open the “File” menu and select “Burn Playlist to Disc”. The “Burn Settings” menu will open.

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Select “Audio CD” from the list of formats. This is to ensure that the CD will play on any regular CD player.

If you select the “Data” format, the CD will be used as a file storage and can only be played on the computer.
With the “MP3 CD” option, you will need to use a CD player capable of reading that format. You should not be confused because although MP3 is a popular file, Audio CD is the standard format supported on CD players in general.

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Click the “Burn” button. The CD burning process will begin. Once recording is complete, the disc will automatically eject and be ready to play.

If burning is canceled or interrupted, you will have to use a new CD and proceed again.

Use other free audio CD burning software

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Choose the right software for you. If you don’t want to use iTunes or WMP, there are tons of third-party software out there for this. Maybe you just use open source software or like some media player feature set, maybe you don’t even listen to music on your computer so you don’t need a media player.

When downloading any software you should also visit the main website of the developer. This will ensure that the installer is not tampered with or loaded with additional/malicious software. If the developer doesn’t provide downloadable files on their site, there are plenty of reliable mirror sites out there as well.

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Try another media player. VLC Media Player and Foobar2000 are two popular media players thanks to their speed, wide codec (file type) support, and customization. In essence, these programs are still media players, so the process of burning an audio CD is similar to using WMP or iTunes.

Foobar2000 is Windows-only.

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Try a dedicated burning program. InfraRecorder and IMGBurn are two free dedicated burning programs for those who don’t need playback support. These programs are known for their comprehensive range of burning options such as a mix mode that allows users to create hybrid audio CDs (also known as hybrid CDs) or data discs.

Since the above programs support more sophisticated burning features, this option is recommended only for advanced users or those who do not want the media player to take up too much of their storage space.
Both InfraRecorder and IMGBurn are Windows-specific. “Burn” is a simple and powerful option for Mac users.

Advice

You should pay attention to the blank CD you buy. Low-quality CDs can be difficult to read on some CD players.
You can erase music on a CD if you use a rewritable CD-RW disc. Launch Windows Explorer and click My Computer > DVD/CD-RW Drive, right-click and select “Erase” to erase all data. You can reuse this disk for a new purpose later. Regular CD-R discs are not rewritable.
Performing the write at a slow speed will be less error prone. You can set the burning speed in the “Burn Settings” menu.
If you plan to burn multiple CDs, use a marker and write on top of the disc to avoid confusion.

Warning

You should clean the CD regularly to avoid technical errors.

Things you need

CD-RW or DVD-RW player (built-in or external).
Blank CD-R disc
Digital music files
Media player software (WMP, iTunes, WinAmp, VLC, etc.)

Steps