CD Burning (single-session CD-R's) - XvsXP.com

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CD Burning (single-session CD-R's)

Overview

As CD burners have become standard over the past few years, the ability for the user to easily save files to CD has become increasingly necessary. Thus, both operating systems include built-in support for burning data to CD-Rs (recordable or "write once" compact discs).

Mac OS X

When you insert a blank CD-R, OS X displays a dialog asking how to proceed:

From the list of actions, you can select an application that supports burning, such as the Finder, iTunes, or Disk Copy, or browse to choose another application. You can also run a script: for instance, if you created an automatic backup script, just insert the CD and the computer will perform the backup for you.

If you check "Make this action the default," then the action you select will automatically happen every time you insert a blank CD, bypassing this dialog. You can alter your default selection at any time from the CDs & DVDs pane of System Preferences. You can specify different actions to take based on the contents of the CD (blank, music, or picture).

Burning is integrated directly into the Finder. When you insert a blank CD-R and open it via the Finder, it appears in the Finder's sidebar:

Then, to add files to the CD, simply drag and drop them onto the sidebar item. File icons will sport arrows to indicate that they are aliases to the actual files on the hard drive, and are not yet stored on the CD.

Once you've added the files you want, there are several ways to burn the CD:

Click the Burn icon in the Finder's sidebar
Choose "Burn..." from the Action menu in the CD window
Click the "Burn" button at the top of the CD window underneath the toolbar

You can then specify the title of your CD, along with the speed at which you wish to burn the files.

Specify the name and burn speed of the CD

When the Finder is finished writing your files to the CD, it will mount and appear in the upper part of the sidebar.

The Finder also has "Burn folders" that let you "put together" a CD to burn later. This is convenient if you want to make multiple copies of the same sets of files at different times. To create a Burn folder, go to File > New Burn Folder, and then drag items into the folder. Whenever you need to burn the contents of the Burn folder, you can simply insert a blank CD, browse to the Burn folder, and click the Burn button below the window's toolbar.

Burning is also integrated directly into iTunes, which can create regular audio CDs or MP3 CDs. Select a playlist in iTunes' source list, and the click the "Burn CD" button in the upper-right corner of the window:

iTunes will ask for a blank CD. Insert it, and the burning process begins. Alternatively, you can insert the blank CD first, then choose "Open iTunes" from the Action drop-down menu in the window that appears (shown at the top of this section). In this case, the process will start once you click the "Burn CD" button.

Windows XP

When you insert a blank CD, XP will present you with this window:

The easiest way to burn a quick CD is to open a "writable CD folder" in Windows Explorer. Select "Always do the selected action" to always perform this action when a blank CD is inserted, bypassing this dialog.

Simply drag the files you want to burn into the window that opens. They will appear seim-transparently as "Files ready to be written to CD"; in addition, they will be overlaid with downward arrow icons:

To begin burning the CD, simply click "Write these files to CD" in the sidebar. You'll begin the CD Writing Wizard:

In addition to letting you name the CD, the dialog will present different options depending on the type of content you are burning. For example, if you are only burning music files, it will ask if you want to create an audio or data CD (if you choose audio, it will send you over to Windows Media Player to compose the track list and complete the burn from there). For pictures, it will offer to add a slideshow viewer, which will appear automatically when the CD is inserted into another Windows machine. In most cases, however, burning will begin immediately.

Burning is also integrated directly into Windows Media Player to create audio CDs and MP3 CDs. You can perform the entire burn process there by choosing "Select media to Copy to CD using Windows Media Player" from the dialog shown when you initially insert a blank CD (seen at the top of this section). It is not necessary to start the process in Windows Explorer for these types of CDs.

Conclusion

The process of burning a simple CD-R is nearly identical on both operating systems. Upon inserting a blank CD, both present a dialog asking what action to take. From there, the user drags the files they want into the CD "folder" and clicks Burn. A dialog will appear asking for a name for the CD and a few other options. The process is quick, straightforward, and easy on both operating systems. XP lacks an ability to create "Burn" folders, however.

Mac OS X: 9
Windows XP: 8

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