Windows XP [Electronic resources] : Visual Quickstart Guide, Second Edition نسخه متنی

Burning Music CDs

If you're a fan of heavy-metal bands, you're aware that they insist on putting at least one cringe-inducing ballad on every album. If you have a CD burner, you can take your revenge by creating personal CDs of music that

you like, without appalling filler tunes.

To burn a music CD:

1. As described in the preceding section, create a playlist of tracks to be burned, in the desired playback order.

2. Click Burn on the Features taskbar.

3. In the Items to Burn pane on the left, select the playlist or category of tracks that you want to burn.

4. Uncheck the check boxes for tracks that you don't want to burn.

5. Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW into your CD drive.

6. If necessary, when using a CD-RW disc, click the Erase Disk button to erase the CD.

7. If you want to change recording or data CD settings, such as the CD write speed or quality level, click the Display Properties and Settings button () on the toolbar.

8. In the Items on Device pane on the right, select the type of CD that you want to create (Figure 10.31 ).

Typically you'll choose Audio CD. HighMAT Audio doesn't work in every CD player, and Data CD isn't appropriate for music CDs.

9. Click Start Burn (or press Alt+B).

The process takes a bit of time and disk space.

Copying Music to a Portable Player

The process for copying music to a portable playersuch as a Rio, Nomad, or iRiveris the same as the process for burning a music CD. Just connect the player to your PC, and choose its name from the drop-down list at the top of the right pane (in step 8). Some players play MP3 but not WMA files; see "Ripping CDs to Your Hard Drive" earlier in this chapter. If you own an Apple iPod, go to Copying Files and Folders to CDs" in Chapter 5.

Burning Problems

CD burners are so cranky and skittish that you should close all other programs, leave your PC alone, and not stomp around until Media Player ejects the completed CD. If you still get music files that skip and pop, try slowing the burning speed: Choose Tools > Options > Devices tab; select your CD drive; click Properties > Recording tab; then select a slower speed than Fastest in the Select a Write Speed list.

You also can try switching to analog ripping: In the same dialog box, click the Audio tab and select Analog (below Rip). If that doesn't work, check Use Error Correction and try again.

To make an exact duplicate of a CD, try Nero Burning ROM ($70 U.S.; www.nero.com) or Exact Audio Copy (free; www.exactaudiocopy.de). If you're recording from vinyl LPs, try WAVclean ($30; www.excla.com/WAVclean/English) or WaveCorrector ($45; www.wavecor.co.uk). The TweakMP PowerToy (free; www.wmplugins.com) provides automatic volume leveling for CD burns.