CCCCD - Teaching Learning Center

How to Author a CD.

In this tutorial we will cover the basics of CD recording, the media, and how to author two typs of CD's.

Part I: Creating an Audio CD
Part II: Creating a Data CD

Background Information:

CD Recording

What is an Audio CD? Audio CD is a collection of audio (.mp3 or .wav) files which are played in a regular CD player.

What is a Data CD? Data CD is a collection of various data files that can be accessed by a computer’s CD-ROM drive.

Media:

CD-R (recordable compact disk): a blank media to which files (audio or data) are written. The files are most commonly written in a single session; the addition of files in some cases is possible, but the deletion is not. CD-R’s are played on practically all computers.

CD-R Audio: CD-R’s that are most suitable for audio files.

CD-RW (re-writable compact disk): a media which allows the files to be added or deleted at any time. CD-RW’s have to be specifically formatted and can only be read by computers which have CD-RW drives.

Software

Third party software is not a required, but makes the job of authoring a CD much easier. In this tutorial we will use Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5. Other software will have similar functionality.

Part I: Creating an Audio CD.

1. Opening Roxio Easy CD Creator 5

Go to Start > Programs > Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 > Applications > Easy CD Creator

2. Creating a new CD Project.

Go to File > New CD project > Music CD

3. Adding the audio files to the CD

Browse to the folder where you have the .mp3 or.wav files.
Select the files that you want to add to the CD.
Drag the files by holding down the left mouse button and releasing above the marked area.

4. Once the files have been added, you will see how much available space you have left. If you want you may add more files until there is no more space available on the CD.

5. Naming the CD and recording.

In the Title field, enter the Title of the album.
In the Artist Name field, enter the name of the artist that you want to be viewed.
Click on record.

Part II: Creating a Data CD.

1. Starting a new project.

Go to File > New CD Project > Data CD

2. Add the data files to the CD

Browse to the folder in which you have the files that you wan to add.
Select the files that you want to add to the CD.
Drag the files in the window below.

3. Final step

After adding the selected files, you can see how much available space you have at the bottom of the screen.
Click record.