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A CD burner is the common slang for a CD-RW drive, which enables you to record and rerecord data (including audio) onto your own CDs. With these devices, you can do the following:
- Store about 80 minutes of audio per disc
- Store 700MB of computer data per disc
- Play audio CDs and CD-ROMs
 | Of course, a DVD burner can store many more songs on a DVD-RW or DVD+RW disc, and any DVD recorder can also record audio CDs or MP3 discs. |
If your PC came with a read-only CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, you can't burn your own audio CDs; for that, you need a CD-RW, DVD-RW, or DVD+RW recorder. Again, these drives are available as internal units, or you can take the easy route and buy an external USB 2.0 or FireWire recorder.
The master/slave jumpers on your new recorder will be set to slave if the drive will share a cable with an existing hard drive. If the drive is the only device connected to your secondary EIDE cable, it should remain set to master. You must move the jumper on the recorder to make that drive work as the slave.
To install an internal EIDE CD or DVD recorder, follow these steps:
1. Turn off your computer, unplug it, and remove its case.
2. Slide the CD or DVD drive into the front of your computer.
You need a vacant drive bay, which is an opening where your disk drives normally live. The drive should slide in through the front.
3. Connect the cables.
• a. Connect the cable between the new drive and the motherboard — it should fit only one way.
• Remember, a CD or DVD drive can coexist with a hard drive (both are EIDE devices), so another connector on the same cable may already be connected to a hard drive.
• b. Rummage around the tentacles of wires leading from your power supply until you find a spare power connector and plug it into your new drive.
• c. Connect the thin audio cable from the drive to the tiny CD Input pins marked on your system's sound card.
• Nothing marked CD Input? Try Line Input pins, or a different type of Input pins.
4. Screw the drive in place.
Most drives screw in from the sides, just like a hard drive.
5. Replace your computer's cover, plug the computer in, and turn it on.
When Windows boots up, it should recognize the new drive and automatically install it for you.
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