Most people have two questions about MP3
CDs. First, why would anyone create one? Second, how would you
go about creating one? To address the first question, we must
consider that with MP3 players flooding the market, compact
discs are dying as an audio medium. However, unlike MP3
players, a CD is extremely cheap and offers an ultraportable
high-storage capacity, ranging from 650MB to 800MB. Many newer
home CD players, aftermarket car CD players and computer CD-ROM
drives can now play a CD of MP3s. It is simple, affordable and
advantageous to burn a collection of approximately 200 MP3
songs to a CD. So to create your own MP3 CDs, use the following
tutorial.
Before you start, you'll need to gather these
elements:
- iTunes for Windows or Mac
- CD burner
- Blank CD-Rs or CD-RWs
- MP3 files (songs)
Follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Download and install freewareWe'll use Apple's iTunes (4.8 or higher) for this tutorial.
Read the full review of iTunes 6 here.
Step 2: Insert blank CD
You can use one of two types of blank CDs for burning:
- CD-Rs (CD-recordable) are WORM (write once, read many) media. This means that once you burn a file onto a CD, you cannot erase it. CD-Rs come in 650MB, 700MB, and 800MB capacities.
- CD-RWs (CD-rewritable) are like huge-capacity floppy disks. They allow users to add and delete files over and over. Be aware that CD-RWs are less reliable than CD-Rs and may not be compatible with the CD drive you are using.
Step 3: Edit preferences
In the Preferences menu, navigate to the Burning tab under the Advanced tab. Configure the Burning options.
- Preferred Speed: Assuming you have a fairly new PC or Mac that isn't suffering performance issues, set your burner to write to the CD at 16X-to-20X speed (or lower, depending on your CD burner's rating). Even if your burner is rated at more than 20X write speed, you gain little or no benefit by going beyond that mark, and the risk of buffer underruns becomes significantly higher. If this happens, your CD will usually be corrupted and partially or wholly unplayable.
Step 4: Create a playlist
Click the plus (+) sign in the lower-left corner of your screen. Name the playlist whatever you want. If you already have created your desired playlist(s), skip to step 6.
Step 5: Add songs to your playlist
Fill up your playlist with as many songs as you want. At the bottom of the screen, you can see the number, the length, and the size of the songs you have added to your list.
- Beware of overburning: Overburning is writing beyond the manufacturer's declared capacity on a CD-R or CD-RW disc. This is achieved by trying to fit more than the advised capacity onto a disc. It is better practice to underburn by 20MB or so. For example, if your CD has a capacity of 750MB, then you would burn 730MB of 750MB of your CD.
- Another warning: Some cheaper MP3 CD players may recognise only flat CDs. A flat CD just contains straight MP3s and does not have folders dividing the MP3s by artist or album. If you create a playlist by dragging and dropping outside of iTunes, you may want to drag individual files rather than folders.
If necessary, edit song titles, artists and albums. You can do this by clicking the song in the appropriate column and typing directly into iTunes. This information will be embedded in the MP3 file, and if your CD player has a screen, it will display this text. Step 7: Sort the playlist
You can sort by desired criteria (song name, artist, album, and the like) by clicking the column heading, or you can manually order your playlist to your liking. Next, right-click your playlist's name. Select "Copy to play order" to correctly order your playlist when burning the CD. The program will burn songs in the order they appear in the list. Step 8: Burn MP3 CD
Right-click your playlist and select "Burn playlist to disc." iTunes scans the playlist to determine whether it can fit on the CD. If not, iTunes will pop up the error window shown below. In that case, you must either burn your playlist on more than one CD (the MP3 CD button) or go back (the Cancel button), remove songs, and try burning again. Step 9: Wait
If the playlist is valid, iTunes will automatically (without prompting) begin burning the CD. For optimal results, do not use the computer for other tasks while burning. When burning finishes, you will be able to insert your MP3 CD into a computer or a CD player and listen to hours of tunes. You will also be able to transfer these files to another computer or device as MP3s.
steph
18/09/2006 07:26 PM
very reliable - thanks for the diy, i have been wondering how 2 make an mp3 cd for quite some time.. thanks again!
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Reef
03/10/2006 04:23 AM
I have been trying to figure this out for a while as well. This worked great! Thank you.
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Peter Sampson
23/12/2006 08:40 AM
Thanks, I felt stupid not knowing.
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Renee
30/12/2006 05:50 PM
Thanks so much! That was really helpful! xXx
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Gmortsh8
29/01/2007 02:17 AM
I have ordered MP3 CDs that contain old radio programs. I am told they will play beautifully on my computer and on a portable MP3 player neither of which I want. I want them to play on my CD player in my car (factory) and I'm told they won't. Is there a way I can convert them using my computer and burning the new CD's myself? Thank you for your help!
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manman
18/02/2007 06:36 PM
This is great
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tom
19/03/2007 12:49 AM
Take the files off the cd `using windows explorer copy and paste` Open windows media player. click burn, put the songs you wish to put on a CD in the `burn playlist` and then enter a blank CD, this will convert the tracks for use on a normal CD player (as long as it plays CD-R or CD+R`s. Enjoy
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meadsy24
08/05/2007 03:15 AM
My car has MP3 CD capabilities and the owner manual says you can create a max of 99 albums (367 Tracks) on one MP3-CD for playing on car system. However when I create my play list in MP3 format (Data CD) via Windows Media the amount of tracks allowed is much less than above before the message "May Not Fit" appears against tracks. Why is this? What am I doing wrong? Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks
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musadaq
15/05/2007 02:26 AM
thank u
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jabeen
07/06/2007 10:21 AM
Thanks DIY. I felt silly n stupid when i didnt know what others were talking about. :)
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crazygemini1919
13/08/2007 10:11 AM
all my songs are mp3 and edited preferences.. i know everything is right but after it checks my playlist my cd pops right back out and a message pops up that says "an unknown error has occoured"...?? any help??
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Casey07
17/08/2007 03:41 PM
i had always wondered why i could only fit 20 songs onto a cd, then i read this article and now i can fit well over a hundred on one cd! thanks so so so much for the tips!
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casey2007
17/08/2007 03:45 PM
i feel like an idiot, this whole time i had been wondering why i could only fit 20 songs onto a cd using iTunes, i now know it is because i had Audio CD ticked instead of MP3 CD. Thanks so much DIY for this tip!
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deskjockey
22/08/2007 02:36 AM
Excellent. It worked first time and I now have over 6 hours of music to listen to on one CD on my new car CD/mp3 player. Thank you
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aziz
07/10/2007 05:07 AM
Thank you 1000 time
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Dmonster
02/01/2008 02:38 PM
This is the BEST!!! Thanks for explaining how to do this.. I was one of those who could only ever fit <20 songs on a cd, lol.
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Dmonster
02/01/2008 02:39 PM
This is the BEST!!! Thanks for explaining how to do this.. I was one of those who could only ever fit <20 songs on a cd, lol.
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Dmonster
02/01/2008 02:46 PM
This is the BEST!!! Thanks for explaining how to do this.. I was one of those who could only ever fit <20 songs on a cd, lol.
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pepejani
10/02/2008 07:25 PM
These are nice clear instructions but what I need to know is if there is still space on the MP3 disc and I later want to add more files, how can I do that. I keep getting message to insert NEW CD.
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Tom Cooper
19/02/2008 03:49 PM
I have a CD burner, I have a list of 100 favoret songs saved as separet mp3,s on XP Can you advise me what software i must purchase to burn these to CD. thank you.
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Shtantawi
03/03/2008 04:32 PM
Good one.. but there is just a little note.. you didn't mention the steps of changing the preferences from audio CD to MP3 CD, it took me a long time to cofigure that, please add it for further use.. and, thanks..
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AndyM
16/03/2008 05:51 AM
QUESTION - what's the difference between a data CD with MP3 files on it and an "MP3 CD"???
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