How do I burn a copy of a CD?

How do I burn a copy of a cd?

This question was answered on December 3, 2002. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Ah, the joys of bootlegging CD's.

I am first assuming you have a CD deck which is capable of recording, or "writing" CD's (not to be confused with a CD-ROM drive, which only reads, and doesn't burn CD's) Most burners these days can also use re-writable CD's Get one to practice with, unless you are intending to create a lovely stack of CD "coasters" for holiday gift giving.

Never touch the shiny surface of any CD Fingerprints and scratches are a no-no.

Your CD-burner should have come with CD burning software Every software package of that variety which I have seen displays a "Copy CD" icon pretty prominently Many also contain copyright warnings

Used to be, when hard drives were much smaller, it took two drives to copy CD's Now, it's best to first record an image of your CD to your hard drive Create a special folder for such images I back-up software CD's, and never do delete the image, because the hard drive on my PC has plenty of room, though I suppose this, too, is a copyright issue.

Note, music CD's and data CD's are recorded in a different format This is usually not difficult to specify I always tell my clients, "Read what's on the screen!"

Nero, my favorite CD burning software, has a wizard which makes the whole process effortless Be certain your write speed is not set too high I'd suggest perusing the manual for your CD-burning software package, or check-out a little online support for details

Another note: If you install two separate CD burning software packages on the same machine, you're asking for trouble They sometimes have a tendency to "fight."

RG

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Posted by Robert of Mesa Community College on December 3, 2002

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